02-08-2012, 03:10 PM
Very interesting! Glad you solved the mystery!
Bougainvillea should definitely love the location you have for them. They really do best if they are pretty dry. I see them growing along Queen Ka'ahumanu Hwy north of Kona, and imagine how little they are cared for, but they flourish.
My philosophy with plants is generally that the bugs don't win if the plant is happy in the environment. If the sun/shade and water are right, and the drainage is proper, the breeze not too much or too little, and it has food (if needed), the plant will overcome the bugs and the fungus, at least enough to be healthy, if not picture perfect.
If the environment is wrong, treating for bugs may be ineffective.
There are certain plants here that are huge targets for specific pests, but it may be better not to fight it and grow something else.
The downside of my philosophy is I have lost some plants and had some with munched on leaves and so forth.
The upside is I've gardened manically for about 15 years without really using much of anything in the way of insecticides or fungicides. I don't like handling poisons. I use a hose stream to knock off aphids, scale, mealybugs if they get too bad. (I did spray my roses in California with fungicide.)
Bougainvillea should definitely love the location you have for them. They really do best if they are pretty dry. I see them growing along Queen Ka'ahumanu Hwy north of Kona, and imagine how little they are cared for, but they flourish.
My philosophy with plants is generally that the bugs don't win if the plant is happy in the environment. If the sun/shade and water are right, and the drainage is proper, the breeze not too much or too little, and it has food (if needed), the plant will overcome the bugs and the fungus, at least enough to be healthy, if not picture perfect.
If the environment is wrong, treating for bugs may be ineffective.
There are certain plants here that are huge targets for specific pests, but it may be better not to fight it and grow something else.
The downside of my philosophy is I have lost some plants and had some with munched on leaves and so forth.
The upside is I've gardened manically for about 15 years without really using much of anything in the way of insecticides or fungicides. I don't like handling poisons. I use a hose stream to knock off aphids, scale, mealybugs if they get too bad. (I did spray my roses in California with fungicide.)