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Post by daylilydude on Jan 30, 2011 22:18:45 GMT -5
Y'all share your secrets for bug control in your garden.
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rintintin
Pro Member
Posts: 150
Joined: December 2010
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Post by rintintin on Jan 30, 2011 22:35:00 GMT -5
Most pests target sick/weak plants. It's part of Mother Nature's culling process. Good tilth, companion planting and, crop rotation are your best weapons against pests. Chemicals only produce tougher generations of pests....aphids on steroids.
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Post by stratcat on Jan 30, 2011 23:55:42 GMT -5
I pick cabbage worms from my ornamental cabbages and other brassicas. Last year I bought a pink butterfly net and caught loads of cabbage moths.
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Post by txdirtdog on Jan 31, 2011 0:04:42 GMT -5
My 3 main critters are squash vine borer, leaf-footed plant bug and cucumber beetle. I started using Baccilus Thuringus (BT) last season after SVBs devastated my spring planted crop of squash types. I replanted in summer and started using the BT. SVBs tend to go till Sept or Oct around here. Stopped them dead in their tracks with regular persistent use of the BT. I will be using it from the get-go this season. The LFP bug and cucumber beetles get knocked into soapy water. Sometimes if I have a pair of scissors with me in the garden, the LFP bugs have a different demise. I really, really don't like LFP bugs. I also have marigolds and dill scattered around the garden.
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adobo
Pro Member
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 255
Joined: January 2011
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Post by adobo on Feb 1, 2011 1:47:38 GMT -5
Most pests target sick/weak plants. It's part of Mother Nature's culling process. Good tilth, companion planting and, crop rotation are your best weapons against pests. Chemicals only produce tougher generations of pests....aphids on steroids. I agree with this. Aphids and white flies seemed to got immune with malathion...
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Post by coppice on Feb 1, 2011 6:05:59 GMT -5
In past years cabbage loopers and Colorado potato beetle were my worst pests. BT if applied often enough (like after every rain) works pretty good.
Cabbage loopers must have had some other forage than my garden, I would get repeat attacks year after year.
Colorado potato beetle would have a 'bloom' of population which would taper and mostly vanish by year three. I've had as long as 10 year hiatus with essentially none, before it would bloom again.
BT basislus thurengensis (sp?) My Latin sucks.
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rintintin
Pro Member
Posts: 150
Joined: December 2010
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Post by rintintin on Feb 1, 2011 16:27:50 GMT -5
Mexican bean beetles are repelled by potatoes, and Colorado potato beetles are repelled by beans. Plant your beans and potatoes together, and you have eliminated the biggest threat to each.
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littleminnie
Pro Member
Gardening should be fun.
Posts: 264
Joined: February 2011
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Post by littleminnie on Feb 2, 2011 21:42:18 GMT -5
My best tip is to really interplant a lot of herbs and flowers to create a healthy mini ecosystem. Have water and hiding places available and leave things alone. I have so many spiders and toads and skinks and birds and snakes and lots of lady bugs and stuff. My garden is messy and there are weeds and tall sunflowers and lots of flowers and some wood planks and so on. I also have mice and gophers unfortunately. I let stuff in the apiaceae family go to seed to get predatory bugs that suck that nectar. Then I use FRC for most bad bug protection. The bugs I had the most problem with in 2010 were cutworms and slugs.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2011 14:50:49 GMT -5
I started using Baccilus Thuringus (BT) last season after SVBs devastated my spring planted crop of squash types. I replanted in summer and started using the BT. SVBs tend to go till Sept or Oct around here. Stopped them dead in their tracks with regular persistent use of the BT. I will be using it from the get-go this season. The BT worked on the SVBs? I thought it was only effective on the destructive worms like hornworms and cabbage loopers. I used dipel on my tomatoes last year when I was having hornworm problems, but thought it wouldn't help with the cucurbit pests. Oops.. (erm, edited to fix silly typo!)
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Post by txdirtdog on Feb 7, 2011 20:19:32 GMT -5
I started using Baccilus Thuringus (BT) last season after SVBs devastated my spring planted crop of squash types. I replanted in summer and started using the BT. SVBs tend to go till Sept or Oct around here. Stopped them dead in their tracks with regular persistent use of the BT. I will be using it from the get-go this season. The BT worked on the SBVs? I thought it was only effective on the destructive worms like hornworms and cabbage loopers. I used dipel on my tomatoes last year when I was having hornworm problems, but thought it wouldn't help with the cucurbit pests. Oops.. BT works on caterpillar type critters only. It will not phase a beetle type like a squash bug, it also will not harm the SVB adult moth. It will kill the SVB grub that does the damage to squash vines. It will also kill tomato hornworms. I also had an infestation of leaf rollers (another caterpillar) which seven dust the previous fall did nothing to even slow. The BT pretty much wiped them out. I would only see one every once in a while. While not a general cure-all, it does exactly what I need it to do. Hope this helps.
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