kindness Posted January 4, 2022 My caapi cutting was going great. She’s about a year old, lives indoors, is in a large pot, (although has outgrown the one she’s in and needs potting on), is around 2.5m high with heaps of side branching etc… it was very healthy apart from an ongoing battle with green aphids. I kept it well watered, although may have let it dry out a bit one hot day recently. I had been occasionally treating the aphids with a mild solution of dish washing detergent and water then sometimes blasting the leaves with a water sprayer to physically remove the aphids from the growing tips and back of leaves etc. This was quite effective till I got some new dish washing liquid… it was an anti-bacterial concentrate one and following a few successive days of spraying for aphids the vine has dropped nearly ALL its leaves Have I killed my wonderful plant that I love so much? Will it reshoot? Does anyone else agree it was the dishwashing liquid that’s burned the leaves or maybe I let it get too dry on one of the hot days we had? I’m really leaning toward the liquid though.. Anyhow, I’ve given the remaining leaves and vine in general a couple of big plain water mistings/drenches to get rid of any remaining liquid that was on the plant. I will re pot in the next few days also into a larger pot and hopefully she springs back into life. I was so happy with my indoor caapi! I really hope I haven’t killed it. I’m really hoping the massive leave drop is one of the plants mechanisms for dealing with stresses and not the end of days for the poor thing. kind regards to all Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fyzygy Posted January 4, 2022 (edited) You went from "occasional" sprayings of dishwashing liquid to "successive" sprayings of the anti-bacterial concentrate? "Dish washing detergent is not intended for use on plants and thus may not be as safe for your plants as some commercial insecticides. To avoid damaging your plants, apply a test solution to a small section of your plant and wait two days to observe the effect the soap has on your plant. Limit the number of exposures to twice per month and wipe down the leaves of the plant after treatment using a damp rag." Detergents strip the leaves of of protective oils ... and soap is a very limited deterrent to aphids (each individual must be thoroughly wet with the dilute solution). I've heard of people using a vacuum cleaner to dispose of aphids and spider mites. I hope your plant recovers! Edited January 4, 2022 by fyzygy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr b.caapi Posted January 5, 2022 Caapi are quite forgiving . You may have to cut it back a bit, give it a real good watering. I reckon it will be o.k 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humboldt Posted January 5, 2022 I have some success reducing indoor pests by putting plants outside in the wind for the day ( But caapi might not be so easy to move.) Ive thought about getting a few little usb fans to make life less cosy. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kindness Posted January 5, 2022 (edited) 10 hours ago, fyzygy said: You went from "occasional" sprayings of dishwashing liquid to "successive" sprayings of the anti-bacterial concentrate? "Dish washing detergent is not intended for use on plants and thus may not be as safe for your plants as some commercial insecticides. To avoid damaging your plants, apply a test solution to a small section of your plant and wait two days to observe the effect the soap has on your plant. Limit the number of exposures to twice per month and wipe down the leaves of the plant after treatment using a damp rag." Detergents strip the leaves of of protective oils ... and soap is a very limited deterrent to aphids (each individual must be thoroughly wet with the dilute solution). I've heard of people using a vacuum cleaner to dispose of aphids and spider mites. I hope your plant recovers! My vacuum cleaner would suck the leaves off the plant at very least… at most it would probably rip vine offshoots off… The plant had a big outbreak of green aphids which I treated by spraying with a weak dish washing liquid solution… it worked quite well. I guess I applied it once every few days the first time… then when the majority of the aphids had turned black (dead) I blasted the dead ones and whatever else was left on there off with a strongish jet of a hand spray bottle. The plant handled that well. No noticeable problems, if anything a boost in growth which I guess came from not being sucked on by the aphids… I stuffed up thinking it was a fairly benign chemical regime - I applied it for a few successive days recently trying to catch the next outbreak early… it also handled that okay. Then I swapped to a new brand of dish liquid and sprayed again, maybe twice, woke up a few morning ago and opened the blind it is growing up behind and a bunch of leaves fell off… then shook the vine a bit which I do to shift old leaves and a pile fell off… it’s continued to drop more over the last few days. yes I stuffed up. It hurts. I was very happy that the plant was doing so well in an area that gets winters down to -8… it’s an indoor plant in a window… Thank you for the support folks. I hope it bounces back. Edited January 5, 2022 by kindness Speeling Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kindness Posted January 5, 2022 5 hours ago, mr b.caapi said: Caapi are quite forgiving . You may have to cut it back a bit, give it a real good watering. I reckon it will be o.k Thanks mate. This is good news. I was thinking about stories I’ve read of people growing it in the ground in areas that get frost and them dying back and coming back the following spring okay - so hopefully it handles my mistake. So annoyed at myself for hurting the plant.. it’s only a year or so old but it’s been doing so well even with the aphid outbreaks. live and learn I guess. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr b.caapi Posted January 5, 2022 (edited) 55 minutes ago, kindness said: Thanks mate. This is good news. I was thinking about stories I’ve read of people growing it in the ground in areas that get frost and them dying back and coming back the following spring okay - so hopefully it handles my mistake. So annoyed at myself for hurting the plant.. it’s only a year or so old but it’s been doing so well even with the aphid outbreaks. live and learn I guess. Growing various / specific plants is a learning curve mate, we have all been through it havnt we. Let me know how you go, I can pass a new one your way . Edited January 5, 2022 by mr b.caapi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kindness Posted January 5, 2022 Thanks mate, really appreciate that. I’ll pot it on tomorrow and prune it back a bit. Hopefully with a bit of ICU treatment it will pull through. Such a beautiful plant to grow. Amazing the amount of growth it will put on in just a day or two. It’s taken over the blind it’s in front of a few times now! Would be very rewarding growing in the ground but that isn’t possible here. thanks again Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fyzygy Posted January 5, 2022 8 hours ago, kindness said: My vacuum cleaner would suck the leaves off the plant at very least… at most it would probably rip vine offshoots off… A small gutless portable handheld could do the trick. Or one with variable suction. As a general principle, the more eco-friendly the intervention (e.g. lacewings) the less virulent the infestation needs to be. But I've heard of people taking out entire clouds of aphids with a vacuum. 8 hours ago, kindness said: yes I stuffed up. It hurts. I was very happy that the plant was doing so well in an area that gets winters down to -8… it’s an indoor plant in a window… I know that feeling. It will pass. Nature casts no judgement . But grief is okay too -- plants are our friends and it sounds like you were close. We all have horror gardening stories to share, but your plant may well come good. Since it was established and thriving, it's probably a lot tougher than you think. I've had many a plant presumed dead spring back to life, the tragic losses cases are usually young plants. You've helped out the community here by drawing attention to the fact that caapi can be grown indoors (I had no idea!). Good luck, take some pics of the recovery. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kindness Posted January 6, 2022 Yeah the little green buggers have been a real pain to get rid of… when it was smaller I could wipe them off the leaves and stems by hand which killed them a plenty being so small and soft…. As it took off though that wasn’t much of an option. Anyhow, cheers, might give the Dustbuster idea a go. The root system of the vine seems as vigorous as the above ground part, it has very quickly grown into its various pot sizes. Definitely not one that is happy to sit in the same sized pot for long! Ill keep the thread posted with recovery pics if that’s the way it plays out! cheers again Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kindness Posted January 11, 2022 Repotted the vine in a lovely big new pot with some sweet sweet soil. She’s settled in nicely over the last few days. It’s got loads of new growth sprouting from nodes all over the place. Looks like it’s going to be just fine I’ll post some pics when the growth is a little more substantial. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr b.caapi Posted January 20, 2022 Awsome ! Good to hear mate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kindness Posted January 31, 2022 My caapi has bounced back nicely. I’m in the process of taking picture a day to do a time lapse video - but that’s gonna take a while. Attached is it yesterday. Amazingly even though it lost nearly every leaf the green aphids are still maintaining their little Ayahuasca home. I have been brushing them off by hand which squashes them when there are leaves with little population outbreaks. I don’t really want to spray it with chems although am not so opposed to an organic contact pesticide like pyrethrin…. Anyhow. Glad I didn’t completely stuff up. Nearly time to take some cuttings as insurance! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
