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Post by daylilydude on Jun 28, 2018 4:58:58 GMT -5
Do you use these instead of store bought bug killers, if so what's your recipe and what do you use it on and for what bugs?
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Post by paulf on Jun 28, 2018 7:28:06 GMT -5
Only use insecticides as a last resort. We need as many pollinators as possible. When absolutely necessary I use store bought.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 28, 2018 8:08:17 GMT -5
I absolutely ALWAYS have flea beetles on my eggplants and the leaves are full of small round holes. This year I tried something that I had read about and placed used coffee grounds all around the bases of all 3 plants. I can't prove that this has worked because I don't have any eggplants without coffee grounds but none of the plants have a single hole in the leaves and they are growing and getting ready to flower! I am very pleased and I know that the flea beetles are around because the tomato plants have round holes in the lower leaves.
I also grow cabbage every year and they are prone to slugs so I surround the seedlings with a circle of crushed eggshells when I plant them. Slugs do not like to cross a barrier of sharp objects with their soft, squishy bodies and this seems to work well for me.
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Post by spike on Jun 28, 2018 20:51:17 GMT -5
A coffee can 1/4 full of water. Flick, splash, dead bug! So far I have been lucky and not had a pesky bug problem. * crosses fingers *
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jun 28, 2018 22:40:13 GMT -5
Occasionally, but usually the bugs I have problems with the Surround keeps away, mainly the flea beetles.
The homemade one I use is not exact, but here are the items I use, placed in a blender and blended with some water, then strained, and added to more water in the strainer: garlic, hot peppers, rosemary, and coriander seed. Those are the items I see the most in these homemade sprays, so that's what I put in it.
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Post by brownrexx on Jun 29, 2018 8:00:47 GMT -5
Japanese Beetles always get onto my asparagus ferns so I flick them into a small container of water(no soap) and then feed them to the chickens who consider them to be a delicacy so it's a win-win situation.
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Post by september on Jun 29, 2018 8:10:05 GMT -5
I don't have many bug problems, so have not needed to use any insecticides. I have a bottle of bacillus thuringis around for my broccoli worms, but in recent years the cabbage butterflies don't arrive until well after I have harvested my main heads, so have not needed to open the bottle.
I use a dish soap spray on my peppers for aphids when I see an explosion. It only helps a little, too many can hide in crevices and under leaves, so no amount of soap or hose spray can get them all. They show up early in the spring if I am going to get them that summer, and my flower beds are affected too. So far, this year it looks all clear.
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stone
Pro Member
Posts: 170
Zone:: 8
Favorite Vegetable:: Bambi
Joined: December 2011
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Post by stone on Jun 29, 2018 8:18:33 GMT -5
Agree with using a bucket of water...
Even better... Leave some weeds! Harder for population explosions when there isn't a monoculture. Also.... Many bugs actually prefer the weeds.
For instance... My amaranth (pigweed) are full of damage due to the cucumber beetles... The cucumbers? Not affected.
Potato bugs are happy to consume horse nettle...
Tomato worms? Black nightshade suits them fine...
Of course... Sometimes.... A thumb and forefinger works in a dire emergency, when dealing with squash bugs and those patches of golden eggs...
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