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Post by daylilydude on Jan 23, 2018 5:37:26 GMT -5
I know we all have them so let's make a list just to see what they are and what you do about them...
Most destructive insects in my gardens are:
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Post by tomike on Jan 23, 2018 5:41:12 GMT -5
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 23, 2018 8:31:36 GMT -5
I have a few bad bugs and they affect different crops.
Japanese Beetles only affect my beans and I hand pick into a small can of water (no soap) and feed them to the chickens.
Colorado Potato beetles happen every year on my potatoes and I hand squish the larvae daily. Chickens won't eat those. If they get really bad I spray with Spinosad.
Squash bugs have occasionally been bad but crop rotation and not allowing squash volunteers to grow around the compost pile has helped as has letting the chickens work over the garden and eat bugs.
My worst bug is the squash vine borer and there is nothing that works to kill or prevent them so I plant a couple new squash plants every 4 weeks so that they will produce when the first plants are dying.
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janr
Junior Member
Posts: 31
Joined: July 2015
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Post by janr on Jan 23, 2018 8:33:21 GMT -5
Flea beetles. Once the farmers harvest the Canola in the area, the flea beetles will descend on my Cole crops and they will be stripped in a day or so.
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Post by ahntjudy on Jan 23, 2018 8:35:52 GMT -5
Tomato pinworms...affecting tomatoes and eggplant...
Leaf miners...they love the swisschard...it's a daily patrol to find and destroy the eggs...
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 23, 2018 8:37:55 GMT -5
flea beetles will descend on my Cole crops and they will be stripped in a day or so. Ughhhh, I am just imagining a horde of flea beetles! Can you cover your crops with floating row covers to keep the beetles off of your crops?
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 23, 2018 9:38:15 GMT -5
SVBs, except that I don't grow anything that gets them anymore - I gave up on them, since systemic insecticides are all that will totally control them (not something I will use!). Flea beetles get on many things, though I control them with surround - eggplants seem particularly prone, so I keep spraying them as new growth appears.
And one terrible bug I have had appear out of nowhere, is aphids, esp black aphids. This happens especially under cover - this happened last season with my garlic, and with my peppers in previous years, so I have to watch for them. Okra is another plant which seems to attract black aphids, esp. under the leaves, so I watch for that. Fortunately, the brassicas that I cover, to keep rabbits out, doesn't seem to attract flea beetles or aphids, KOW.
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Post by aftermidnight on Jan 23, 2018 10:38:08 GMT -5
Slugs and snails
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Post by paquebot on Jan 23, 2018 12:02:42 GMT -5
Cabbage butterflies. Grow lots of brassica species and they all are attacked. One of the best garden friends is Spinosad. Takes care of every bug we have except squash bugs.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Jan 23, 2018 13:03:06 GMT -5
We have two evil fiends. The first to show up is the mole cricket. It tunnels underground and gnaws on the roots and stems of seedlings. There is no safe treatment. Supposedly there is a spore that you can seed into the soil to kill their young, it didn't work. That means that I can't just plant one of a certain variety and hope to see it harvested. The second is stink bugs, primarily the brown kind. The best that we have been able to do is plant sunflowers as a trap crop. The bugs are immune to insecticides to the only way that liquid poisons can work is if you. give a stinkbug cement shoes and drop him into a 5 gallon bucket of insecticide. Svbs are rare since I stopped planting winter squash. Summer squash replacements grow easy and fast in comparison.
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 23, 2018 13:27:51 GMT -5
The first to show up is the mole cricket. It tunnels underground and gnaws on the roots and stems of seedlings. There is no safe treatment. You might have warmer weather than we do but at least we don't have those - yet......
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Post by paulf on Jan 23, 2018 14:39:13 GMT -5
Squash bugs. Patrolling the garden early and 'squashing' the eggs is about the only way to keep the numbers down. Sevin will also help control the devils when they are young.
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Post by bestofour on Jan 23, 2018 15:06:11 GMT -5
squash bugs by far.
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Post by guruofgardens on Jan 23, 2018 15:14:43 GMT -5
flea beetles will descend on my Cole crops and they will be stripped in a day or so. Ughhhh, I am just imagining a horde of flea beetles! Can you cover your crops with floating row covers to keep the beetles off of your crops? Covering the plants probably will not help. I'm looking into Surround WP as a repellant to eradicate the flea beetles that make a meal from the lower tomato leaves. Anyone used Surround WP?
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whistech
Pro Member
Posts: 300
Joined: April 2013
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Post by whistech on Jan 23, 2018 15:28:13 GMT -5
For my garden it's squash bugs (leaf footed bugs) followed by Colorado potato bugs.
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 23, 2018 15:51:13 GMT -5
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 23, 2018 17:03:55 GMT -5
I have found surround very useful for many plants, so much so that I have a dedicated 2 gal sprayer that I use just for surround. Early in the season, I also add Actinovate, mainly for the tomatoes, and then I use filtered water, figuring that chlorine would kill the Actinovate. Eggplants are the plants that flea beetles wreak havoc on in my area, so I continue to spray them all season, spraying any new growth weekly. The surround wipes off of those, and large tomatoes easily, but as soon as peppers or cherry tomatoes begin fruiting, I stop spraying, because it's too much of a pain to get it off of those. I wouldn't spray it on brassicas, as it would take way too long to remove it from every leaf! I just cover those rows with Agribon, sprinkling sluggo before planting.
Unlike diatomaceous earth, surround doesn't wash off the leaves easily, and I usually don't have to respray after light rains - only heavy downpours.
When refilling my sprayer, I have a fine strainer that I place the powder in, then hose it through, trapping any particles that could clog the sprayer. Then I mix in the spreader/sticker, and I'm set for a few weeks again!
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Post by spike on Jan 23, 2018 17:04:42 GMT -5
These slimy suckers eat my beans >,<
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Post by guruofgardens on Jan 23, 2018 17:14:15 GMT -5
Thanks for the info pepperhead212 and brownrexx. Flea beetles are such a nuisance. I cover the dirt around the tomatoes with unused newsprint and shredded leaves. Nothing helped to slow down the bugs. So where do these buggers usually overwinter? Plus, the tomatoes are usually 20'+ away from where they were the previous year. The peppers are not usually affected at all. Knock on wood.
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Post by paquebot on Jan 23, 2018 21:43:34 GMT -5
Ughhhh, I am just imagining a horde of flea beetles! Can you cover your crops with floating row covers to keep the beetles off of your crops? Covering the plants probably will not help. I'm looking into Surround WP as a repellant to eradicate the flea beetles that make a meal from the lower tomato leaves. Anyone used Surround WP?
Anything with Spinosad will control flea beetles. Wasn't aware of them in an area at canola harvesting time. In the North, flea beetles are primarily an early-spring pest. We just have that one here. Martin The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by octave1 on Jan 23, 2018 22:14:54 GMT -5
It seems too early to think about those d#8% d pests, but at least they are not here yet. My worse are: Squash bug, SVB, and Tomato hornworm. When I grow brassica I also get the ubiquitous Cabbage moth. Tomato hornworm comes and goes. Some seasons it's hardly detectable, others it's relentless. Squash bugs are impossible to avoid. The only thing that stops them is rain. It rained a lot in 2016 and my zucchini were almost spared. SVB is evil incarnated. Nothing can stop/prevent/heal what SVB does. Except maybe non-organic practices.
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janr
Junior Member
Posts: 31
Joined: July 2015
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Post by janr on Jan 24, 2018 8:25:13 GMT -5
flea beetles will descend on my Cole crops and they will be stripped in a day or so. Ughhhh, I am just imagining a horde of flea beetles! Can you cover your crops with floating row covers to keep the beetles off of your crops? Covers work to a certain extent, but if you leave any holes they will find their way in. I just try and harvest before they decent.
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Post by carolyn on Jan 25, 2018 16:43:42 GMT -5
cucumber beetles striped and spotted, SVB, and moles voles/shrews whatever tunnels through my hightunnels and garden
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