🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <BmL8F1w160w@scgrp.UUCP> djd%scgrp@aimed.UUCP writes:
>I have five Herb plants (marjoram, parsely, chives, oregano, basil
>and rosemary) growing under a growth lamp inside the house which
>have become moderately infested with little white-winged insects
>which reside on the underside of the leaves of all but the chives
>( no underside!  :)  ) Anyone know what I can do to get rid of
>these...

>-----
>David Dmytryshyn                        Email: djd@scgrp.uucp
>SC Group, Toronto, Canada.                ncrcan!aimed!scgrp!djd

I can think of one solution that should work and save you from harming
yourself with any nasty chemicals.  Get yourself a pet newt, and let
it walk around the plants.  You'd have to decide if you feel better
about eating a plant that was licked by a newt versus a plant that
just had bugs crawling on it.  If you can handle amphibians though...

I'm actually serious about this.  Though I don't have any plants, and
thus haven't tried it myself, I have heard that newts really love
plant lice, and the descriptions I've heard of those seem to match
what you describe.  I do have newts, and I can vouch for the fact that
they're not very discriminating about what kind of bugs they eat.
I've had the greatest success with Japanese fire-bellied newts
(_Cynops pyrrhogaster_), but I don't recommend these for you since
their mucus contains a toxin.  Eastern red-spotted newts
(_Notophthalmus viridescens_) and western newts (_Taricha tarosa_) are
fairly common in pet stores (at least in the united states), and
should enjoy feasting on your plants symbionts.

Hope this doesn't sound too off the wall.

Mickey Rowe (rowe@pender.ee.upenn.edu)