{"id":570,"date":"2024-01-31T21:48:50","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T20:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?page_id=570"},"modified":"2024-01-31T22:03:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T21:03:29","slug":"uncategorised-ideas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?page_id=570","title":{"rendered":"Uncategorised ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Ideas and projects that don&#8217;t fit in the other categories<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list has-dates wp-block-latest-posts\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?p=1051\">Mildly insecticidal spray #2<\/a><time datetime=\"2025-08-09T16:28:19+02:00\" class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-date\">9 August 2025<\/time><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-full-content\"><!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>No big thrips infestation yet this year. One Alocasia had thrips from the store, but after cleaning off and spraying with the <a href=\"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?p=990\">previous<\/a> mildly insecticidal spray, they didn&#8217;t return. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>However, now I do have a bit of an aphid infestation &#8211; a lot of them on two of my plants, and they&#8217;ve spread a bit to other plants with new leaves too. They don&#8217;t seem to be doing much damage yet, but another spraying couldn&#8217;t hurt. So I&#8217;m making a new essential oil bug spray &#8211; slightly stronger this time, bigger batch. I&#8217;ve increased the amount of dish soap and the tea tree and rosemary, supposedly these are most effective against aphids. Lavender, lemon and ethanol kept at the same concentration.<br><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>280 drops of essential oil (~1.4%):<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>100 drops tea tree<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>81 drops rosemary<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>75 drops lavender <\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>15 drops lemon <\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list --><\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>30 mL 95% bio-ethanol (~3%)<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>25 drops of mild dish soap<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>distilled water to 1000 mL<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Ended up being way more than I need. I hope it kills the aphids.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Edit: two hours after spraying, barely any of the aphids seem alive still. Tomorrow I&#8217;ll clean the most affected plants off under the shower and perhaps do another spray on them, hopefully that should be enough to keep them away for a while. I did have some irritation in one eye after spraying, so I&#8217;ll be more careful with that.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?p=990\">Mildly insecticidal spray<\/a><time datetime=\"2025-03-25T22:44:09+01:00\" class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-date\">25 March 2025<\/time><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-full-content\"><!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I&#8217;m trying Alocasias again after finding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=i_iS8w1k8Pw\">this<\/a> method with Sphagnum &amp; leca. However, when I got home from the plant store with my newly bought Alocasia cuprea, I found out that it had thrips. I thoroughly showered the plant and removed all the soil (microwaved for later re-use) and repotted with the new method. I couldn&#8217;t find any more thrips after that, but to be safe I wanted to try a mild insecticide.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>A retired botanist in the comments under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cvOBUu2RQiE\">this<\/a> video recommended a 200 mL leaf spray using 13 drops of lavender essential oil, 19 drops of lemongrass essential oil and 5-7 mL rubbing oil (to emulsify). I don&#8217;t have lemongrass oil, but I do have lavender and a few other somewhat insecticidal oils. Also, instead of rubbing alcohol I have bio-ethanol which I think should work similarly well as an emulsifier and contact killer for some pests.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>So I&#8217;m trying this leaf spray:<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>32 drops of essential oil (~0.8%):<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>15 drops lavender (somewhat effective against thrips as well as mites)<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>9 drops rosemary (mostly effective against spider mites)<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>5 drops tea tree (antifungal, effective against spider mites)<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>3 drops lemon (somewhat effective against thrips)<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list --><\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>6 mL 95% bio-ethanol (~3%)<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>2 drops of mild dish soap<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item -->\n\n<!-- wp:list-item -->\n<li>distilled water to 200 mL<\/li>\n<!-- \/wp:list-item --><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>It does smell nice, although I know it&#8217;s not very healthy to inhale so I spray somewhere with good ventilation that I know nobody will be in for a while. Also citrus oils can cause phototoxicity so I should only spray in the evening.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Let&#8217;s see if the plant survives the repotting and leaf spraying, and if the pests stay away so it can graduate from quarantine.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?p=772\">Two propagation racks<\/a><time datetime=\"2024-03-08T16:58:20+01:00\" class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-date\">8 March 2024<\/time><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-full-content\"><!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I salvaged an aluminium drying rack for glass tubes. I already had some salvaged lab glass tubes and long bottles that I wanted to make racks for, and they fit nicely in the holes. However, I didn&#8217;t have enough of the bottles to fill it up, and it was too tall for the reaction tubes. So I drilled out the little rivets, sawed one of the plates with holes into two, and made the thing into two racks to fit both the tubes and the bottles.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>It was nice to work with rivets again, I don&#8217;t have much experience with those. It shows if you look closely &#8211; the one in the back has four different sizes of rivets &#8211; but I learned in the end.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I&#8217;ll use these for propagating plant cuttings. They fit perfectly in the windowsill :)<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":773,\"width\":\"402px\",\"height\":\"auto\",\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"942\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/invar.nl\/projects\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_20240308_163539.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-773\" style=\"width:402px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/invar.nl\/projects\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_20240308_163539.jpg 942w, https:\/\/invar.nl\/projects\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_20240308_163539-283x300.jpg 283w, https:\/\/invar.nl\/projects\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_20240308_163539-768x815.jpg 768w, https:\/\/invar.nl\/projects\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_20240308_163539-198x210.jpg 198w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 942px) 100vw, 942px\" \/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image --><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/invar.nl\/?p=709\">Hormones<\/a><time datetime=\"2024-02-18T17:26:55+01:00\" class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-date\">18 February 2024<\/time><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-full-content\"><!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I want to play with plant hormones. See what their effect is on growth patterns of houseplants. I specifically want to see if I can prevent epiphytic aroids from reverting to a more juvenile form when growing downwards instead of up something.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I already did some literature research. I also found <a href=\"https:\/\/dennisklocek.com\/growth-regulating-hormonal-plant-sprays\/\">this<\/a> page, I want to read it with some healthy scepticism because biodynamics. But first, other projects.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ideas and projects that don&#8217;t fit in the other categories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":99,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-570","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570\/revisions\/571"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/invar.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}