To all you organic gardeners....how to kill the darn bugs???

[Beekissed]

Trying organic gardening for the first time this year and am literally plagued with bugs eating my plants. I tried the Dawn dishwashing liquid, I've tried citronella.....now, any tried and true way to keep the bugs from eating your garden alive???

I currently have a scourge of small, black, jumping bugs eating my potato crop to death, the cucumbers are mere nubs, even the green peppers are riddled with holes! Help!!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Pest control will depend upon which particular bugs you have. You probably should start by identifying the bugs you've got. Often there are other animals or insects that will eat the bugs that are plauging you, but it takes time for them to find you.

What about getting some praying mantises? I don't have experience with them, but it is my understanding that they can survive in your region and would probably be efficient at killing your bugs.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Also, you could try planting certain herbs near your main crops. Some herbs are supposed to repel insects.

When using dish detergent, I think you have to be fairly persistent. One dose probably won't be enough, depending upon how easily these bugs reproduce.

 

[herbsherbsflowers]

HI,

I understand your frustration. It takes time to learn all the ways to fight the insects. As you build up your soil with more micronutrients and humus, it seems like the plants are better able to resist the bugs. You should also let little patches around your garden get weedy. that attracts the beneficil bugs that help out also. YOu do have to be persistent. Go out and pick the big ones off. Spray them several times with insecticidal soap. Sometimes you just have to give up and plant again. It seems likie there will be lots of bugs one week and then the next week they are all gone. If they really get bad and you still have time in the growing season, Take the plants out and throw them away, do not compost, and replant. Cucumbers can usually make it a little later when the bugs have done their thing.

Do you have a Rodale Organic Gardening encyclopedia? It is worth the price to have it to refer to for solutions to certain kinds of bugs and lots of other things.

Hope this helps, hang in there, it will get better.

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

I have to agree with the other posts, persistence is key and identification is crucial.

Beneficial insects are great when combating bugs in the garden. You also have to see how much damage the bugs are doing, if any. Are they causing damage or are there just tons of different bugs in your garden and you don't like seeing that? Remember a sterile garden devoid of bug life isn't good either.

Overall a pepper mix works well too. We take 4-6 hot peppers, 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped head of garlic, 4 tablespoons of dish soap and put all of that in a 5 gallon bucket, cover that with hot water and let it sit overnight. This works for a large variety of bugs and it is pretty effective. The biggest issue with spraying soaps is that they have to be wet to be effective, dry soap will not deter bugs. To prevent build up on plants, which can have other bad effects, you should wash your plants thoroughly and only reapply every few days. Make sure you wash in the am when the plants have a chance to dry their leaves out.

Make sure that you don't use concentrated soaps or anti-bacterial ones. Dawn works really well and so does powdered Ivory. Concentrated soaps and anti-bacterial formulas can really have an adverse effect on your plants.

I have found that the pepper mix works well even when dry since it does leave a bad taste on the plants for most chewing insects. Whereas the soap works to clog the insects mouths and breathing apparatuses.

Good luck with your bugs

 

[patandchickens]

I currently have a scourge of small, black, jumping bugs eating my potato crop to death,

That sounds like flea beetles. Are they quite tiny, and if you manage to get a close look at one, their hindlegs have big bulging Thighs Of Steel?

There is another recent thread on fleabeetles here that you could look up. The readers digest version: not a lot of point in spraying since they just fall or hop away and then frisk right back when you turn your back. Floating row covers (applied earlier in the season) can help in serious cases, but honestly they do not USUALLY harm the plants significantly.

How bad are your potatoes? If there's just a buncha holes in the leaves I would not really worry about it, especially since there is not a great deal you can easily do ANYhow (even using nonorganic pesticides).

the cucumbers are mere nubs, even the green peppers are riddled with holes!

Plants can often take a significant amount of uglification by bugs without it affecting the crop much if at all. But if you are getting total loss of a number of leaves, or damage to growing tips of shoots, then you do probably need to identify the culprits. Is it the fleabeetles again, or something else?

(Edited to add: try not to mistake general poor plant health [making them more vulnerable to insect damage] for poor health DUE TO insects. I know it can be hard to tell the two apart, but it is worth considering your soil and growing conditions and try to figure out how happy your plants would be *without* the bugs. If the answer is 'not too very' then THAT is probably the most profitable place to concentrate your efforts)

BTW, don't buy praying mantds. A) they kill more beneficial insects (bees, butterflies, etc) than they do bad things; B) they will do zip-squat for fleabeetles; C) you have them already, I guarantee you; and D) they don't do much good this early in the season when they are still teensy tiny, anyhow.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Tutter]

I agree with all of the above.

Organic gardening is multi-tiered, with no single answer.

The health of the soil is one thing, as mentioned.

For the strength and overall health and production of plants, I like to foliar feed with kelp.

Floating row covers can be useful at times.

Companion planting is excellent. Some, like sunflowers, attract the pests, such as cucumber beetles and earwigs, then you just pick them off the back of the sunflowers, looking under the folds. Others, confuse bugs. That's why I put some coffee in my carrot seeds. Then there's oil at the ends of corn.

It takes some experience, and lots of study, to learn what does what, and apply it. But once you know, it becomes second nature.

Also, I fully agree that some pest damage is okay. We don't live in a sterile world, thank goodness, and I'm willing to give bites of some leaves to a few bugs. They go their way, I go mine. It's generally when things are out of balance that trouble really starts. It can sometimes take a little while to manage, or restore a natural balance.

I deter, remove, fool and otherwise do my best to have a nice garden, but honestly, unless there's a bad year for friend/foe bugs due to conditions beyond our control, it's really more like maintenence once you have a balanced, healthy soil/garden. Birds, bugs, plants, microrganisms and you all work together in this.

I know that you are working towards a gentler, more relaxed way to garden; don't give up on that. You're smart, and tough, and tenacious, and will do great; I just know it! :coolsun

 

[Beekissed]

You guys are just the berries, do you know that? Just when I think that I've been an obvious failure you give me hope and inspiration! I have a good many praying mantis here but, unfortunately, the cat seems to love their taste!!!

It is the flea beetles and the leaves of the potatoes are slightly riddled but if you all feel they will still be able to produce with a little bug damage, I will try to be patient. I have planted marigolds, nasturtiums, basil and sunflowers in every available bare spot in this garden, so companion planting will kick in when they get big enough. I don't know what ate the cucumbers except it was definitely of the insect kind. The peppers look kind of poorly anyway and, as I understand it, all the other folks in the area are having the same difficulty...so, might be the weather conditions we have been having lately.

The flea beetles are the only bug I seem to have at the moment, so that's not so bad, I guess. I have great soil, all plants are mulched well and I seem to have a good many worms....LOTS of worms, actually. Maybe I'm just a little impatient? I guess I am trying all these new methods (new to me, anyway) and I'm just looking for any flaws in them too closely. We have been having adequate rain (maybe a little too much!) and it was very warm these last few days.

I will try the pepper solution and resist the urge to sevin everything in sight! Must stay organic, must stay organic....

 

[Rosalind]

If the plants are big enough, you could try letting chickens in the garden for a bit. I wouldn't risk it with seedlings, but with larger plants like established potatoes, I think the chickens would probably clean up. I know they dearly love the beetles they catch around my yard.

 

[bills]

DE can work well in some situations as a recognized organic pesticide. You can sprinkle it dry as a side dress around the affected plants. You can also add it to water, and water around plants. It works against slugs, ants, snails, and some beetles, as well as other pests.

I also find the insecticidal soaps are very effective. It cured my asparagus bug problems. I tried the DE first, thinking as that they were beetles, it should be effective, but it just didn't seem to deter the little 6 spot beetles.

Cabbage worms can be a real problem, but carefully monitoring of the brussels, cabbage, broccoli, etc., will allow you to pick them off before they do a lot of damage. Watch for the worm droppings, and always look on the backside of the leaves, very carefully. They like to disguise themselves as a vein in the plant, and are quite effective at it. I put them in a jar, and feed them to the chickens.

Cut worms for some reasons seem to plague my young bean plants. I have had surprisingly good luck actually finding the worms, by carefully digging around the beheaded plant. You need a good eye as they are hard to spot in the soil, but once you find one, it seems easier to spot others. Eye training I guess...

As others mentioned companion planting is effective at deterring some pests. I plant leeks, and garlic down the middle of my carrot rows. As well I sprinkle coffee grounds down the row. Marigolds work well as a pest deterrent, planted throughout the garden. Nasturtiums will help with aphids, as a sacrificial plant.

You can also purchase live ladybugs to release in your aphid affected plants. some garden centers have them in packs of 250. Release them in the evening onto the plants. They will hang around the garden till all the aphids are eaten. Beneficial nematodes can also be purchased, usually in packs of 5 million, up to 25 million. Simply mix the packet in your watering can, and sprinkle it around the garden in the cool of the evening. It helps to water after, to let them wash into the soil, as they will die off if left on the surface. Don't sprinkle them in, in the heat of the day.

Good luck, and healthy eating!