Pickerel, aphids, and Orthene

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We just got a pickerel plant starting to grow good in our pond. Suddenly aphids engulfed the thing.

I pulled the pickerel out of the pond and sprayed it down with Orthene, a systemic. The active ingredient in Orthene is acephate.

Have any of you experimented with spraying a plant down with Orthene, then quarantining it, then re-introducing it to your pond? My wife is very leery of letting me put the pickerel back in the pond.
 

addy1

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http://www.arvesta.com/canada/files/documents/ORTHENE-TREEORNAMSDS.pdf

AQUATIC ORGANISM TOXICITY: Acephate is practically non-toxic to freshwater fish. The 96-
hour LC50 for ORTHENE Technical was found to be higher than 1,000 ppm in rainbow trout,
bluegill, and channel catfish. The following LC50 values for ORTHENE 75 S Soluble Powder
substantiate the low toxicity to fish:
Bluegill: 1,725 ppm
Black Bass:
Catfish: 2,230 ppm
Mosquito Fish: 9,550 ppm
Goldfish: 750 ppm
 

j.w

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Whenever I had the Pickerel Rush in my pond it attracted aphids like a magnet so I pulled it all out :lol:
 

addy1

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I put some in last year, it did not survive the winter, have not gotten around to putting any more in
 

j.w

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It always made it through the winter here but the aphids made it look so horrible that I could have cared less if it didn't make it. I tried hosing it off w/ a hard blast of water and those bugs just kept coming back for more. Fish loved it when I hosed them off in the water tho :lol:
 

addy1

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It was put in new right before it started freezing, don't think it had time to settle in.
 
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The aphids don't bother my pickerel. But man they are eating 2 of my lilies alive, don't really bother my red one tho so it must not taste as good. Constantly hosing them off and they are surrounded by water. Yet every day I go out I see a bunch on them. Have been looking for something to spray on them. Saw a post somewhere about using something like Volk oil or something.

So is it safe to use that while they are in the pond? Very curious because I would love to get rid of them.
 

koidaddy

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They make a pond safe spray that has a garlic base. I found this while doing research for my aqua-ponic garden. I am going to make my own batch soon.
 

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The pickerel plant is in a standard black plastic tub (about 3 gallons?), with a fair slug of dirt in the tub to allow root expansion. It's all I can do to get it out of the pond, then it takes the two of us to move it around. I might have to come up with a cherry-picker of some sort.

Anyway, the pickerel plant & tub is setting in a bigger tub now, with the bigger tub full of water so that the pickerel is seeing the same water level as when it was in the pond. I think I'll move it back to the pond in the next day or two. Hopefully the fish won't die. Hopefully the aphids won't come back for a few weeks.

If it's too much hassle I'll just toss the plant, as mentioned by others.

We need a list of plants that those danged aphids don't like! I'm trying some Lizard's Tail, which seems to be doing well and not aphid-ridden. Yet. Also some 'Strawberries & Cream' ribbon grass, which apparently likes to be partway out of the water.
 

addy1

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I have not seen many aphids on anything, even the lilies. Maybe it is too hot for them.........lol sure is for me
 

j.w

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I have not seen many aphids on anything, even the lilies. Maybe it is too cold for them.........lol sure is for me...................:lol: to addy :confused:
 
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yeah, addy -
I'm under the impression that the aphid problem might be more prevalent in milder, damper climates such as Western WA. Don't know if that's correct or not. Water hyacinth seems to be mostly unaffected, water lettuce will host some aphids but not to the catastrophic level. Water lilies were a disaster, plus they would barely bloom in this climate, so we've abandoned them.

Thanks for the feedback on acephate. The warnings on the container sounded pretty ominous. Hard to say whether they were just covering their bases or being alarmist.
 

addy1

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laughing jw............lets swap for awhile.

Most like both telkwa, I read data sheet on it on the net. With all the lawsuits all companies add lots of warnings now
 

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