I think the biggest mistake new gardeners make is thinking that vegetable gardening consists of planting seeds, watering them once and walking away.
And that might actually work for some things, but for the most part having a successful garden depends a lot on having a really good line of defence when it comes to pests. In the past I've found a shotgun works well with neighbours, but doesn't do so well with leaf chewers.
It's amazing how a .22 can take down a full grown man but not even phase a cabbageworm. Cabbageworms are tough little shitheads.
So today I'm going to share with you 2 of my most trusted, safe for the garden, pest control measures. That don't require gunpowder or a license.
My favourite pest control to use is Safer Brand Caterpillar Killer with BT, 8 Ounce Concentrate ">Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki. Otherwise known as BTK.
BTK is a a natural bacterium found in soils that does a great job of controlling (and by controlling I mean killing) pests while not harming beneficial insects.
BTK only targets leaf chewers. In other words those bugs that are eating your food before you get a chance to.
For Corn worms ... Mix 1 part BTK with 20 parts mineral or vegetable oil and apply 5 drops to corn silks when silks have *just* turned brown.
For everything else, mix ¼ tsp. of BTK in 2 cups of water and spray tops and undersides of leaves, as well as stems. Repeat after rain.
And if it's your zucchini plants you're having trouble with the problem might be that you're growing them wrong. Here's how to grow zucchini the right way.
Use on ...
Garden Safe 93179 16-Ounce Neem Oil, Case Pack of 1 ">Neem Oil is another product that works well, but takes a bit longer to produce results. The only thing I use Neem oil for is in my attempts to control squash bugs. But what really works to control squash bugs is going outside with a pair of scissors twice a day and cutting the bugs in half. It's gross. Like really gross. Yucky. Especially when you have to cut two squash bugs who are having sex in half. It's disgusting on a whole variety of levels.
But it works.
I also use the scissors to cut away the portion of the leaf that has the squash bugs eggs under it.
Mix ½ teaspoon of Neem Oil with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle and spray tops and undersides of leaves, as well as stems.
Use on ...
Between the scissors, the shotgun, BTK and Neem Oil I'm hoping to be able to eat the majority of the produce I've grown this year myself. It's not that I don't like sharing. It's that I don't like sharing my food.
Amie
Pillbugs. Everywhere. Yes, they are detrivores and eat only dead stuff, but they are eating my amaryllis, irises and any seeds I plant. I tried diatomaceous earth based powders, I've tried insecticidal soaps, but the buggers just won't stop!
Thankfully I am moving out of my apartment tomorrow, and hopefully my new house and garden will not have these things. I gave up on a vegetable garden for 2 years because I couldn't keep anything alive with these guys. I want my veggies back, dammit!
Elle Bee
It is amazing how fast they find nice young plants. I put some cauliflower in & the next day something had eaten it! Thanks for the tips.
Audrey
A couple of days after I planted my tomatoes this year they were covered in aphids. I mixed 1 part ground black pepper to 1 part flour in an old spice container with holes in the top and sprinkled the plants and the soil around the tomatoes with the mixture. The aphids left and haven't been back. I think this would be good for keeping critters away too.
Raymonde
I'm going to try that right now!
Jasper
Thanks... that was gross...
Linda Barnett
You rock! This is awesome.
Amanda
I need to get on this - I just noticed the other day that SOMEONE was making snacky treats out of my wee eggplants. :(
Miriam
Any idea how to get rid of thistles, burdock, milkweed, dandelions, strangle weed, etc etc. Cuz that's what I've got. And my linden tree has weird growths on the leaves. They look like spikes. Perhaps you'd like to use them to stab your bugs?
Terry
What can I do about earwigs? Help they eat everything. Flowers and veg.
Julie
I'm with you Terry...earwigs are the worst! Karen...any chance the BKT will work on them?
Patti
My friend makes ear wig traps, which she has to empty frequently (there are so many earwigs!), but it works really well!
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/to-earwig-trap-oil-molasses-water-75685.html
Karen
Thanks Patti - Im gonna try it myself tonight. ~ karen!
Sabrina
Ooooh, I have been wondering if the TBK works, feel encouraged to give it a try now.
Have had minimal success with my attempts to use biological control so far: the ladybird larvae I ordered for my aphid problem had vanished by day two (the aphids, meanwhile, multiplied and multiplied) and the nematodes I tried for the slugs seemed to do absolutely nothing at all.
Luckily, the aphids seem to have just cleared up on their own though, and I've resorted to beer traps for slugs. But my French beans and purple sprouting broccoli are looking pretty sorry for themselves...
karol
Ugh, hand-squashing, and scissor-cutting bugs in the garden - now I know why I don't grow stuff. I hate bugs - especially in my food. They're the reason I won't buy corn still in it's husk. I've had too many little squirmy surprises when I got them home. I buy the city slicker version (shucked and packaged all pretty)and gladly pay 3 times as much for bug free corn. Gardening vegetables/fruits sounds very stressful to me.
Wendy
I use painter's tape (the wide kind) rolled backwards around my hand to get the eggs off the back of leaves. You can use Duct tape, but it tears the leaves up. Works REALLY well!
Cabbage worms hate cayenne. I sprinkled the plants with that and it helped a lot. Unfortunately I sprinkled it too late. But it does work.
Karen
Painter's tape! That's a great idea! Thanks. ~ karen
Chrissy
Painter's tape is a great idea! I'll have to give that a try. I've also been meaning to try a small portable vacuum. I've heard that works for squash bugs, though I enjoy the scissor method.
Ellen Partridge
A portable vacuum? Bloody brilliant! I'll be trying that tomorrow. I'll try the painter's tape on the eggs as well--much better than shredding the leaves in my effort to scrape the disgusting things off.
Alex
Last year they KILLED my cucumbers in 3 days. That'll teach me for trying to go away for the long weekend with my family. I'll try Neem oil next year when I am brave enough to try and grow cucumbers again.
Natika
I'm not much of a gardener, but I once had success using ice on an infested houseplant. I rubbed it all over the surface of the leaves (right over all the bugs and their eggs) carefully using tongs. Probably won't work for a cherry tree though, but maybe you could try extremely chilled water when blasting them and see if it speeds things up a bit.
marilyn
definitely karen the hose! its the best idea.
Pamela Bates/Mercantile Muse
so, shall I assume you don't get tomato horn worms or that they're so awful you'll be saving an entire post for them?
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/hornworm/interesting/
they're BIG.
they have a HORN.
The don't just mow down tomato leaves that eat your tomatoes. Literally.
http://debsgardens.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/the-tomato-hornworm-has-arrived/
Did I mention they're BIG?
http://blog.nutrientsforlife.org/2011/07/how-to-identify-and-remove-tomato-horn-worms/
and they're hard to find because they're masters at blending with the tomato plant.
basically.........they are scary and they suck.
Lisa
I found a tomato hornworm in my roses this spring! I all my gardening years, that was only the 3rd one. They can do a LOT of damage though.
I had a bug that defoliated my oregano plant last year, and I eventually dusted it with insecticide (and then did not eat any for the rest of the year) but it took me until Christmas to identify that little sucker.
Meet the four lined plant bug (with a stupid name)
http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/e121plantbugs-fourlined.html
It says Bt and neem/insecticidal soap are only moderately effective in the spring, and not much works on the adults except the insecticides.
So far so good this year, but watch out for these guys.
Andrew
Those hornworms are awesome pests... Harmless if scary. I find the best means of taking care of them is inviting select kids who need bait to fish with to collect them as soon as I notice entire leaves vanishing off of my tomatoes. They are next to toxin proof so the bacterial/nematode based compounds are the a fair hope to slow them down. Another method predatory insects (the worms tend to collect the nicotine from their diet (tobacco leaf, potatoe leaf, and of course Tomatoes) so birds often swear them off.
I look for Preying Mantis egg clusters every fall and simply collect them where I find them (you can also find them online). They keep my containers pretty well thinned out of anything smaller than a mouse - including one very unlucky hummingbird.
There are several species of parasitic wasps that control all smooth skinned caterpillars effectively though you might wind up feeling guilty as it is not a quick death for the crawly. Lots of the more troublesome paper wasps, yellow jackets and hornets will take on caterpillars but I mention this only to be fair to their niche in the ecology. The last two especially can get really nasty to anything short of a bear and folks can get hurt or worse.
Toad and frogs are classic answers. Plenty how to attract/keep them around your yard and garden sites on the web. Have to put up with some noise but hard to argue with the results. Keep in mind some of these have defense from predation (sic? "being eaten") that can injure or kill cats and dogs but most are irritants so generally safe. Assuming we discount the folks with phobias and weak hearts out there especially if you have curious children proud of their new discovery wanting to know what you know about their new long tongued friend bringing them inside long enough to lose interest and let itself out.
The last control method on the natural side I am aware of is the plethora of insect hungry non-venomous -(anyone guessing the next word yet?) snakes of your local area. I am unaware of how to attract them more than randomly to a given site but minus the heart attack feature of their unannounced appearance they are a great ally.
Nathalie
Get some ladybugs for the aphid problem. I've also used Neem oil if it's really bad.
I just read about baking soda mixture. Have you ever tried that?
Mother ship
Yes! For aphids- blast them with water! Daily- and it will work!
Raymonde
Which one do you use on aphids? The little buggers always survive everything I throw at them and at the ants that bring them to the plants! Help Karen, a young cherry tree's life is at stake!!!
Karen
Oh brother. Aphids are a PAIN. The best thing for aphids are BIRDS! My roses get aphids and honestly ... I hand squish them. I know. Gross. And not totally practical for a cherry tree. I can also say I've used Insecticidal Soap very successfully with whiteflies, but haven't tried it with aphids. Might be worth a shot. ~ karen!
Raymonde
My cats scare the birds away...
I've tried Insecticidal soap. They aren't put off by it, at all, in fact they just love it, they even tell their aphid friends to come over and party...
I've tried every Pinterest trick out there, the yellow tennis ball covered in vaseline, vinegar and water, blue Dawn and vegetable oil, you name it... Sigh...
You're right, the internet lies...
Karen
If they're really bad, as a last resort what I would do is stand out there twice a day with a hose on very sharp spray and blast them right off the tree. ~ karen!
Raymonde
I'll give it a try! It's a much better idea than mine, tempting them away from the tree with peanut butter and jam sandwiches...
Kate
Best thing I've found for aphids are ladybirds. I think you can buy them from garden stores or plant something similar to Sweet Alyssum/ Queen Anne's Lace/Coriander/Carrot and let it flower. They're sensitive to pesticides so if you've been spraying your aphids, this might be why they're not coming to the rescue!
Nanette
You need ladybugs for the aphids! Here in Texas they can be purchased at many nurseries or garden centers. We've even ordered them online. Just follow the directions about turning them loose. I think you need to let them loose at dusk and perhaps even moisten the ground with water. Good luck!
Amie Mason
Plant some nasturtiums, they are a fantastic companion plant (or sacrificial plant). Aphids love it and it keeps them distracted and off your veg.
You could also mix together garlic, a very small amount of chilli flakes, (too much will burn your plants), vinegar, oil and dish-washing liquid. Put it in a spray bottle and spray the aphids. The oil should restrict their mobility, chilli will burn them and the garlic and vinegar should ward off any other pests.
I had an infestation of black aphids two years back on my lime tree - this method worked and I haven't seen them since. I used mostly oil, which meant they stuck to the plant and starved. I squirted them off with a hose after a week.
Karen - you could also place broken egg shells around the base of your plants. Slugs, snails and some caterpillars won't cross the sharp shards. It's not fool proof, but it is a deterrent.
Raymonde
Thanks for the suggestions!!! :-)
Didneywhorl
Nematodes. Sprayed all ovah.
Alisa
If you can manage to attract some ladybugs to your garden, that'll fix the aphids. I used to have a ton, but now the ladybugs have taken over and I rarely see an aphid anywhere, ever. Amazing.
Bonfire
Try End All! Safer's product!
Marti
I prefer them smiling with hats... like Mr. Peanut. Yes, I do.
Karen
Mr. Peanut isn't a bug. He's a dancing peanut. Clearly you're drunk so I'm going to end this conversation now. ~ karen
Marti
Am not! I just grew up on a farm. Hate bugs. Why do you think I live in Washington, DC anyway? To get away from those bugs!
Perhaps this is all part of your research project to find out what a series of ugly-bug photos will do to page views on your blog?
Marti
Ok, did we have to see the pictures of the bugs on the corn? I think I'm still going to be too scarred from looking at these pictures to eat the corn when it's in the season. You've ruined it for me.
Karen
You would prefer invisible bugs?
mrsblocko
YES!!!