Organic Insect Control

[Grow 4 Food]

My boss is a full blown oganic man. He is just starting to do the "garden thing" and is doing organic raised beds. He is now starting to run into a pest problem and doesnt want to go the pesticide route. I am looking for suggestions to pass along. I am listing the plants and most of us know what the pests can be for them so if you can just give me the control we are in good shape. Thanks

Tomato
Squash
Cabbage
Strawberries
potato
green beans
peppers
carrots
radishes

 

[patandchickens]

Alas it doesn't work that way. There are multiple common pests/problems for each of those plants, and each one requires a different control strategy. The best summary of ALL the options would be, go buy a book on organic veg gardening

If you were to tell us what SPECIFIC problems he is having with each plant, we could probably say something useful.

In my observation though, people who are new to the concept of organic gardening (or new to gardening in general) often get all exercised about any little sign of anything wrong. Whereas in fact a great deal of the buggies and such on plants can just be IGNORED (well, kept an eye on).

It is far, far more useful IMHO to put your effort and angst and energy into good CARE of the plants -- proper watering and soil-building -- than into fighting pests except when they are seriously problematic, which is only a fraction of the time.

He also needs to realize that his garden is not going to be nearly as good the first few years, til he gets the soil built up well. 'Sjust life. Unless you do vast amounts of amendments before planting, and even then it's still *a bit* true.

JME, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[lesa]

I always laugh each summer, when I am spending hours picking and squishing bugs. "So this is what they mean by organic gardening!"

 

[Grow 4 Food]

RIght now he is having a problem with his cabbage leaves getting eatin' and well as the leaves on the bean plants.

 

[digitS']

I once asked a certified organic farmer how he kept his cherries, bug-free. I've known him for years but perhaps it was a moment of candor when he said, "I spray, spray, spray."

Organic doesn't mean "without pesticides." Since the insecticides used on organic farms have such little residual effects, often the crops need to be sprayed repeatedly.

Keep in mind that organic pesticides also doesn't mean that they are "non-toxic." Obviously, we aren't spraying stuff just for entertainment. And, the world changes . . .

Rotenone has had a bad rap for years, probably because it is used for poisoning fish and is quite toxic. Something is going on with the Bt sprays, also. The Bt spray that I bought for potato bugs is no longer sold by the Bonide company. Neither is rotenone. The Bt for potato bugs has been replaced with Spinosad. This is something entirely new to me. If you search for the term rotenone on the Bonide website, you get pyrethrin. They used to mix those 2 organic insecticides.

I found Bonide Rotenone/Pyrethrin quite effective against a number of garden pests, except for aphids. Aphids are killed by insecticidal soap. I'm hoping that pyrethrin by itself can take the place of the Rotenone/Pyrethrin especially since that could kill the "odd" bug like the potato bugs and the flea beetles, if they become overwhelming. Sprayed on the soil surface, it even seems to be an effective barrier against slugs to keep them from migrating out overnight to chew on plants like lettuce and bean seedlings. I bet the pyrethrin isn't going to do that - I may need to use Sluggo organic (iron phosphate) which is darn expensive but works in the greenhouse.

At least, the Bt for cabbage worms (Thuricide) is still being sold. It is effective and I've had cabbage worms turn the heads into something that looked more like Swiss cheese when I've just tried to remove the worms by hand. How does one find a cabbage worm under multiple cabbage leaves without tearing the plant apart?

I don't know whether this information helps or just amounts to a rant!

Steve

 

[hoodat]

Enjoy your Thuricide while you can. Now that it's part of the makeup of genetically modified corn it's only a matter of time till catterpillars develop an immunity to it.

 

[patandchickens]

RIght now he is having a problem with his cabbage leaves getting eatin' and well as the leaves on the bean plants.

Ok, so, WHAT is eating them? You have to know what the critter is to know what the best solution is.

I am going to guess -- and this is just a flying, statistical-generality-based guess and may well be wrong -- that his cabbage has caterpillars e.g. "cabbage worms" "cabbage loopers", and that the beans have either flea beetles or mexican bean beetles.

IF that happened to be the case, then:

for caterpillars on cabbage, try Bt (but wash the produce well before eating, and it is best applied early in the caterpillars' life cycle).

for flea beetles on beans, plants often tolerate them pretty well IME even if the leaves look fairly lousy.

for mexican bean beetles, what Steve said; hand-picking or DE are useful sometimes, also use prevention strategies for next year.

Again, the healthier the soil is and the best-grown the plants are, the more pest damage they can cheerfully tolerate. Also, strategies like interplanting (rather than big monoculture swaths of a single crop) help too.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[krzybo]

What is BT that yall keep talking about?

 

[dragonlaurel]

I'm using diatomaceous earth to defend my stuff from cabbage loopers. This is still in the early stages, so it's a little bit "wait and see".

 

[yardfarmer]

Bt is Bacillus thuringiensis a type of bacteria that attacks certain types of catapillars.

This year I sprayed the brocolli and cabbage after seeing the white butterflies around the garden. I've picked off the tiny white eggs laid by the butterflies, but I'm sure I missed some.

This year I'm using floating row covers like Reemey cloth to help keep inscects off the plants. It really works with leaf miner flies, and it may work for most types of beetles.