I need a good natural pesticide as soon as possible!

[newsmyrnastead]

My eggplant has been just growing and growing, and now I finally have 2 small ones coming out. Much to my luck they've almost both been completely devoured. I'm almost certain the culprit is some kind of small caterpillar/work that literally glues the leaves in half and eats the rest. I don't like any sort of chemicals so is there a soap/water or something similar I can use to deter these pests? I'm really looking forward to eggplant this season.

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

Yes, soapy water will do the trick. Most sites I have read say to use only "Pesticidal" soap as it supposedly doesn't contain any detergents. Myself, I use a couple tablespoons of dishsoap to a gallon of water. But on the side of trying not to use detergents I melted down some of my goat milk soap today to make my own liquid soap to use in my sprayer....

The soapy water stuff is supposed to be good for most of the soft-bodied critters that affect a garden.....

 

[digitS']

I usually go for the insecticidal soap because I expect it to work better. And, it does the job. I also use 3 tablespoons Palmolive Green/gallon of water and that seems to work fine, too.

However, I've never used these on caterpillars. Soap works well on aphids and spider mites if you can get the stuff on them.

There is a Bt spray for caterpillars. I'm not sure if it will work on what is eating your eggplants. Bt is a bacterium that is toxic to many caterpillars. There are others that kill potato bugs (my biggest problem on eggplants), mosquitoes, etc.

The caterpillar Bt does a pretty good job on cabbage worms in my garden.

You may also want to look at a Rotenone Pyrethrin spray. These 2 are from natural sources but they are definitely a toxic combo for bugs.

Deterrence sounds good but see, you need to deter the moth before it lays the eggs. A tiny caterpillar is likely to eat what is available. It isn't like it can bypass the feast and move on to the next county - not at an inch worm's speed.

It is best to find some way to kill him. And, if there are only a few bugs on a few plants - - you may be able to do that with your fingers and the heel of your shoe . . .

Steve's digits