Time to think about winterizing...

[Rocketcaver]

My Capes and binatas need to come in for the winter.
My average date of first frost is 10-05, so I need to get cracking.
I have been trimming and tidying them up this weekend, and notice that most pots have been colonized by various types of small insects.
I really don't want to move all these bugs inside so they can colonize all my other plants.
What to do?
Just give them a good spray of Neem oil and hope for the best?
It occurs to me that maybe I should re-pot them, and while doing so clean off the roots and give them a good spray with Neem oil.
Good idea or bad idea?
Any better ideas?

 

[mcantrell]

Yeesh, I just got a weather alert as well, big cold front will take us from highs in the 90s to highs in the 50s over the next 2 days. Not sure what to do, I don't think my outside plants are dormant yet. Figure once we go for the first week with lows in the 30s I'll uproot the plants for winter naptime in the fridge...

As for your bugs, yeah, I'd do neem oil, or just repot and toss out the old media. Wash off the roots and it should be ok.

 

[F R e N c H 3 z]

You could also try submerging the whole pot in water up the the stem of the plants for 24 hr and drown out or flush out the unwelcome residents.

 

[CPlantaholic]

Hey, when I brought everything in from outside last year, I used a really high neem oil concentration and let the plants sit in a bug-free area on our porch before I brought them in. To my suprise, all the bugs in the soil were killed, and the higher conc. neem didn't harm the plants at all.

 

[Rocketcaver]

So did you just spray the surface of the soil heavily?

 

[CPlantaholic]

I mixed several tablespoons of neem into a gallon of water, shook vigorously, and then just poured it generously several times onto the media surface of all my sundew pots. If you are worred a plant has aphids, then you can spray the leaves, but I've never tried spraying neem before, as I haven't had that problem yet.