I Seen 'Em!

[digitS']

Yesterday, I was tilling a spot for more carrots, beets, and where the peppers and eggplant will go. I saw 'em! Flea beetles, scurrying around and one, obviously very pregnant, Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)!

I managed to "till in" the Leptinotarsa decemlineata ! The carrots and beets are probably safe from both of these pests but I felt compelled to spray the peas with rotenone/pyrethrum because of flea beetle damage, today. Peas! Of all things!

Flea beetles are often a problem in my garden - pitting the tomatoes and beans; all but destroying young cole crops. This year, they decided to wreck the peas :/! Having so much rock in the garden gives the beetles a place to hang out, in the shade, after feasting on garden plants.

I think the pea seedlings will get some some relief.

The Leptinotarsa decemlineata, I'm not so sure of my arsenal . Last year, I had lots of eggplants and, for awhile, thought I'd have lots of eggplant to harvest. What I finally got was too bitter to eat and if stress has anything to do with flavor - those poor eggplant sure took a beating from the Colorado potato bugs!!

I couldn't keep 'em off 'em! The Bt spray that used to be so effective against the potato bugs, Bacillus thuringiensis tenebrionis is no longer available. My choice is to use Spinosad this year, altho' I'll have lots less eggplant for the pests to damage. The rotenone/pyrethrum will kill them but they kept coming back again and again. It was an all out assault last year and me and the eggplant lost :/.

Spinosad is a completely new-to-me bug killer. I looked at information from Cornell on Spinosad and, altho' it looks like it is most effective against caterpillars, apparently it can kill potato bug larva. I'm not sure that I've got a choice on the organic side of things. Grow very few eggplants or none is an alternative, I suppose.

Steve

 

[Collector]

That does not sound like a good situation Steve. Please dont send them my way.
I hope you find a way to get them under control!

 

[digitS']

Yeah Collector, I had dead potato bugs in every direction of those eggplants last year.

Shredded leaves on every plant and in a few days after killing another couple of dozen, more bugs feasting on the eggplants :/! They seemed to show up on the next door peppers only by accident. I didn't even have to spray those plants.

That bottle of Bt for beetles worked so well for so long . . . .

Steve

 

[wifezilla]

Diatomaceous Earth seems to work pretty well for me on the flea beetles. Haven't seen them yet but I know they are out there....lurking...

 

[Ridgerunner]

Interesting. My problem with eggplant is flea beetles. Nothing else seems to bother them. Maybe because the flea beetles get to them first and so hard. But if I don't control the flea beetles on eggplant, the leaves soon look like lace, dry up and turn to powder. I don't get much eggplant when all the leaves turn dry as powder, crumble up, and blow away.

I don't even bother trying to go organic with them. I just mix up a liquid Sevin and spray them. I'll fight some fights, but that is one I don't fight too hard.

 

[bills]

Certainly not as effective as Sevin, rotenone, or pyrethrum, but have you ever tried using Insecticidal Soap, as an alternative combatant..?

Those other sprays can also be pretty devastating on the healthy bugs/worms..then there's the eating of the veggies after using them..

The DE is also a good choice!

 

[digitS']

Bill, I reach for the insecticidal soap when it is aphids that I feel the need to deal with. I can tolerate a few bugs but them swarming the plants raises my ire.

Honestly, soap really works better on aphids than the poisons: rotenone/pyrethrum. I've proven that to myself a number of times. Insecticidal soap also might work well against spider mites. I don't remember ever spraying a vegetable for mites, however. Probably should spray the beans for 'em along about August, tho'. The things like beans!

Every pest likes eggplant so I'm not surprised that you've had problems with flea beetles, Ridgerunner. Still, the rotenone/pyrethrum seems to work well on those beetles. I'm not spraying the beetle so much as their hiding places. I mean, it there are any beetles to be seen, they take off like jets. Maybe the rotenone kills them if they come back for a snack but I really think that the pyrethrum is gassing them in their hidy holes on the soil surface. Late in the day is when I like to spray anything and the beetles are probably down there napping with full bellies, by then.

None of these organic pesticides is supposed to be persistent.

Pyrethrum is made from chrysanthemums but there are synthetic variations (pyrethroids). The exterminators use the synthetics to gas the cockroaches out of walls, I'm told. There's more to the exterminator's spray because the roach gets a contact bugkiller on them when they try to escape from the pyrethroid.

Steve

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Insecticidal Soap is new to me. Can you guys give me some names of the product and how you use it? Thanks.

 

[digitS']

Here is what I've used, Smiles. The bottle used to just say, "Safer." Now it is "Concern Insect Killing Soap," made by Safer.

Soft-bodied insects are especially vulnerable. Imagine them being dipped in liquid soap and set out in the sun . . . apparently, it doesn't need to be a very high concentration for the soap to do lethal damage to an aphid.

Humidity seems to be a real issue in how effective the spray is. It doesn't work very well in my high-humidity greenhouse. I need to take the plants outside for a few hours.

Also, and true with many sprays, you can damage the plant leaves. For both these reasons, I like to spray late in the afternoon. The humidity is lowest at that time, on most days.

They aren't really "sudsy" or anything but I always feel better if I can return the next morning and rinse them off with fresh water. The plants seem to like being washed, anyway .

Steve

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Do I look for this soap in a garden store or in a grocery store? Is it a liquid in a bottle or can or is it a bar soap?

Oops, I just saw that you said "bottle". Thanks.