Is there a pesticide free way to keep bugs out of the garden?

[gumpsgirl]

Last year I had to deal with bore worms, this year so far, I'm dealing with a beetle that has a red belly and a cream colored with black stripes upper body. Those beetles are already munching away on my plants new leaves. :/

Is there something that would be chemical free that I can treat my vegetable plants with that will keep these pests at bay?

 

[patandchickens]

First, just b/c a bug is eating a plant doesn't necessarily mean it's a problem -- lots of plants can tolerate feeding lots of bugs with no meaningful effect on your harvest. Flea beetles are a good example -- plants can look awful from fleabeetle holes but only in a smallish number of circumstances do they really do any PRACTICAL damage. So I wouldn't go getting too worried unless you KNOW what it is and KNOW that it's usually a problem (at existing population size).

If you do know or suspect that, then the thing is to definitely identify the culprit, because the best approach depends on what the critter is. Can you post a pic?

Hand-picking always does at least some good for anything you can catch (squish, or drop into bucket of good'n'soapy water; sometimes you can knock them off the plant into the bucket of soapy water instead of picking them as such). Insecticidal soap sprays usually help at least somewhat on soft-bodied insects, not usually so much on hard-bodied ones like your beetle.

Good luck, post pics,

Pat

 

[me&thegals]

I agree with Pat--Get to know your bugs! I don't put up with stink bugs, cucumber beetles, Japanese beetles, tomato horn-wormed caterpillar or potato beetles (hmmm... a lot of beetles in that list) since the devastation and population only get worse with time. I hand pick them all.

As Pat says, plants can tolerate flea beetles. OTOH, I don't want to put flea beetle eaten pak choi in my CSA baskets because it looks really bad. I read about using a piece of wood with a really sticky substance like honey or used engine oil, stick side down, brushed over the row of plants. The flea beetles leap up and get stuck.

Other things can get trapped in bowls of beer on the ground (slugs) or oil (cucumber beetles).

Get a great organic gardening book for ideas on many different ways to deal with garden pests. Personally, floating row covers have worked very well for me in protecting plants those first few crucial weeks from pests that fly in from above. If they're in the ground, obviously the covers don't work.

Crop rotation (if you have room) is another way to keep pest populations under control. Cleaning up infested foliage and burning it helps, too, at the end of the season. Also, read up on introducing prey insects. Ladybugs do a bang-up job on aphids, some wasps prey on horn-wormed caterpillars and corn caterpillars, etc.

I think a person has to tolerate some damage. Good luck to you!

 

[aidenbaby]

I'm going to use my chickens to help me keep my grasshopper population to a tolerable level. We also have Mantids and ladybugs in the garden. I can't help but think that if they are there without me putting them there that it is because their dinner is plentiful.

 

[Catalina]

I use neem oil - http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html

Neem is non toxic for beneficial insects. The main reason is that insects need to ingest the neem oil to be affected, and beneficial insects don't eat your plants. But you can still kill beneficial insects if you smother them with neem oil, so please be careful.

Beneficial insects are most active during the day. The best time to spray neem insecticide is very early in the morning, so the spray can dry before the good insects become active. Also a good time is the late afternoon or evening. Once the spray has dried it does not harm your bees, ladybugs, lacewings, predatory mites and wasps etc.

Insects "forget" to eat after they've been in contact with even traces of neem oil.

But it is also the presence, the mere hint of a smell of neem oil, that seems to be enough to keep leaf eating insects away. Neem oil can be very powerful as an anti-feedant and insect repellent.

And bacillus thuringiensis - http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/Insect/05556.html

Unlike typical nerve-poison insecticides, Bt acts by producing proteins (delta-endotoxin, the "toxic crystal") that reacts with the cells of the gut lining of susceptible insects. These Bt proteins paralyze the digestive system, and the infected insect stops feeding within hours. Bt-affected insects generally die from starvation, which can take several days.

This year I want to try silver foil mulchhttp://www.agriculturesolutions.com...-Mulch-30inX100ft/Detailed-product-flyer.html and kaolin clay http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/resourceguide/mfs/07kaolin.php

 

[wifezilla]

I am trying diatomacious earth this year. I'll let you know if it works. I already have something munching on my greens.

 

[curly_kate]

I had a MAJOR problem with squash borers last year, so I'm going to try planting radishes around them, and covering their stems with tinfoil to fend them off.

 

[unclejoe]

I concur with Catalina. Neem Oil is great stuff ! I thought I was going to lose my taters last year due to the explosion of potato bugs. One application, and within about 10 days there was no sign of them the rest of the year. I will always keep some around now.

 

[ranchhand]

I am trying diatomacious earth this year. I'll let you know if it works. I already have something munching on my greens.

Does it have to be food grade? I bought a LOT from a garden center last year- and it has turned out to be pool grade! Grrr....

I know I can't use it on chickens, but will it hurt in the garden? Will it kill the good bugs and bees too?

 

[farmerlor]

One way to fight a bug problem is to get MORE bugs! I bought a couple of bags of lady bugs and praying mantis...esss..... to help with our pests.