lodgers on my Fukien tea

petmcgratt · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:44 pm Post subject: lodgers on my Fukien tea

My wife was misting my fukien tea today and see noticed what looked like little snails on the bark of the tree. I have posted s couple of images to see if someone can tell me what they are and how I might go about keeping them of the tree.

Also I do not seem to be able to upload images directly to bonsai help as the file sizes are far too big

Thanks
peter
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s31/petmcgratt/20070425_0001_1.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s31/petmcgratt/20070425_0001.jpg

TB420 · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject: Re: lodgers on my Fukien tea

Hey Peter, you can't post pics directly to This forum. Only forum you can't. Gotta be a paid member for that privilege. Sure look like little snails to me. Diatomaceous Earth is a very effective natural solution. It is made from fossilized sea shell dust and works for many crawling insects. I know it has other uses that in agriculture, so check around as see, maybe a web search. I know that you can get bigger bags for a good price. It can be put in your crawl space or around your foundation to help keep bugs out of the house, and I will be putting a ring around my greenhouse since I recently saw a line of ants crawling in a line up a greenhouse bench. Can't have that. I know that it is used for filtration, and I believe that it can be purchased at a pool supply place. For pool filters.

http://www.wormsway.com/detail.asp?sku=DEA710

Tom

petmcgratt · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:57 pm Post subject: Re: lodgers on my Fukien tea

Thanks for the reply Tom. You also mentioned that you got to be a paid member for the privilege of posting pics directly. I have already paid my annual subscription so I thought it should not have been a problem. Is there another subscription to pay in order to post pics directly on Talk Bonsai.

Is there any slug or snail repellent I could use on my tree that will not do any damage to it.

peter

TB420 · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:29 pm Post subject: Re: lodgers on my Fukien tea

Nope. You can post pics directly to any one of the forums that are open to paid members only. My feelings are so that unpaid members do not clutter up Talk Bonsai by posting picture after picture. At the bottom of the reply page of every forum but TB is attach pics, and add attachment. If you had posted this in the The Classroom or another forum you could have attached it directly

Diatomaceous Earth can be used safely in the perimeter of your pot. You can pick off the current ones and they should not come back. I know that you can control slugs with a small tray with beer in it close to your plants they come for the party and the yeast in the beer and drown in it. Not sure about snails, I will check around and hopefully someone a bit closer to your local will come along with a solution.

Tom

petmcgratt · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:42 pm Post subject: Re: lodgers on my Fukien tea

Thanks again Tom. I will need to do something quite quickly because my wife does not fancy me keeping it in the house for much longer.
Would it be possible to leave my Fukien tea outside during the day and bring it in at night. Or is it still too early to leave it outside at all. Would it survive outside. I think it is recommended that it gets about 1 hour of natural sunlight during the day but can this be extended without any detrimental effect.

peter

Dick · Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:03 am Post subject: Re: lodgers on my Fukien tea

Yes, they are snails...ground snails not needing a pond. They come in on tropicla plants and in the soil of the plants espcially if they come from a tropical area. Just pick them off when you see them and they will stop causing any damage, which usually isn't too much anyway.

TB420 · Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 4:19 am Post subject: Re: lodgers on my Fukien tea

I have 1 small Fukien in my greenhouse. I have it on a lower where it does not get full sun, but ti does get more than an hour. It is not doing the greatest, but I will get it out soon. Mine is outside (in a GH) but will soon be outside period. I will tell you in a few weeks how it responds to being in mostly shade all day. It can be moved outside in the day. I am not sure of the low temp cutoff but I would guess a nighttime temp of 50f (10c) would be about the coldest I would submit it to, and as soon as I type that I can tell you that mine did fine all winter in my GH and it did get as low a 44f (6.6c) although I kept it about 50f at night.

Tom

petmcgratt · Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 4:37 am Post subject: Re: lodgers on my Fukien tea

I will wait until I hear from you in a few weeks Tom. The night time temp here is probably falling below 10 degrees at the moment. In another few weeks it should be warmer.

thanks
peter

Stymie · Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:18 pm Post subject: Re: lodgers on my Fukien tea

15C is a realistic minimum for optimum condition. That doesn't mean that they will die between 10 and 15 but they will not be as robust. My daughter's Carmona is kept in a North facing kitchen and it does great without any sun. She has an Aga cooker though. Laughing