I've been dragged (against my will) into the organic way of growing

[Lilypon]

in Canada most pesticides have already been banned for sale to the home gardener and where I now garden it's been made totally pesticide free (we hardly had anything left to chose from in the stores anyways). Now there is a huge outbreak of cabbage worms, potato beetles and flea beetles at the community garden (so far we've been lucky and have caught the infestation right away at our patch but the numbers are against us ).

So please what do the experts use here?

[Tania]

I pick the pests and execute them. (...no, it is not the most enjoyable part of my gardening experience...). Or wash them down with water hose (aphids).

This year was not bad for me - I hardly even had aphids! The cold weather is probably to blame. Or maybe the birds, lizards or snakes that live in my garden. .

...but these 'banana' slugs do drive me crazy this year. Yuck... .

The truth is I never used any pesticides, even before I moved to 100% organic gardening.

[Lilypon]

Tania I've hand picked the itsy bitsy slugs we've got here but I'd have nightmares over the monsters you have there.

We hand pick (and squish) the tater bugs and cabbage worms at our patch (and it's pretty clear of bugs) but around us many aren't (a number of my fellow gardeners there are too old to lift up every leaf). I was wondering if there was something organic that can be used at this late point (on the other patches).

The flea beetles are too small and too fast for hand picking (and they come back as soon as the spraying stops).

[kelleyville]

I think the best you can do for flea beetles is trap them maybe with sticky things? or cover with remay-here is a link!
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/fleabeetle.html

I have read a lot in the past about garlic and or red pepper sprays for cabbage worms, here is one l ink but it is specific to Alabama but hey it could not hurt!
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/aaes/commun...l97/sprays.htm

There is also companion planting, and beneficial insects?

Hope that gives you something to go on!
Kelley

[rxkeith]

for potato beetles, plant parsley, dill and carrots. let them go to seed the second year. you will get a green carpet in the garden to thin out the folllowing spring, but the beetles will disappear. this happened in a garden of mine. darryl (fusion) said this advice was given to him by an elderly lady who knew a thing or two about gardening.

another method that an elderly advanced master gardener told me is to keep the snow away from around the garden during the winter. he said that the beetles hibernate in the grass. if you remove the snow off the ground, the beetles lose their insulation, and won't survive the winter. i haven't tried this method yet, so can't verify its effectiveness.

keith

[dice]

BT for the cabbage worms. It will get beetle larvae, too, but
not mature beetles.

[Lilypon]

Sorry life got in the way.

Thank you Kelley for the links and suggestions. I'll be spraying (I'll add soap to it as well) and putting the remay cloth right away at my patch (will see if I can find sticky tape....I remember seeing it years ago so hopefully it's still in stores.

Keith I'll be trying your suggestions too (and will pass them on as well.

Dice I'll look for BT here. I'm not sure if it's available but if it is I'll be purchasing some!

Thanks everyone!

Pam

[kelleyville]

Pam,
You can make your own sticky traps if you cant find the ones at the store. This one uses old panes of glass and motor oil:
http://www.morris.umn.edu/pyg/tips/h...tip_1213.shtml

Seems someone was using bright colored plastic cups with vasoline on them might a been someone here!

Here is a link that uses posterboard and baggies!
http://www.onlinetips.org/homemade-insect-traps

Good luck! Keep us posted on what works best!

Kelley

[dokutaaguriin]

Hi Kelley,
I must thank-you for posting the link to the onlinetips as I have been searching for a solution to a larger size of yellow sticky traps (a single package is quite pricey!)

Jeff

[Raymondo]

During the warmer months when the Cabbage White Butterfly is busy looking for creches for her young I cover my brassicas (cabbage, cauli etc) with bird netting. The mesh is small enough to keep the butterfly off the plants. It must sit away from foliage.

[Lilypon]

I apologize for not replying to your suggestions (I took a peek at work and forgot to come back). I got out my frost cloth and covered my cabbage with it (prior to that I sprayed my cabbages with dish soap) and then put some sticky tape traps in as well. The suggestions here saved my cabbages and my fellow gardeners were watching to see if it worked (and it did).

Thanks folks......I'm sure they will be doing the same next year (theirs were pretty well ravaged by the cabbage worm before the flea beetles even arrived so they had given up but I'm pretty sure they will all be giving your suggestions a try next year).

[Lilypon]

Ray I'll be looking for that bird netting too (I'm sure it lets more light in then my frost cloth does....it sounds great for early discouragement of the cabbage butterflies). The frost cloth is needed later on for those darn flea beetles however.

Keith I'll be passing on your suggestion re what to plant where the taters are supposed to go as well.

Thank you all again,
Pam

[Raymondo]

A small issue with bird netting is the colour. I've used both black and white. The black is good for us because you can see through it easily. Unfortunately, the birds don't see it too well and sometimes fly into it and get tangled. The white is better for the birds because they can see it clearly. It's annoying for humans though because you have to lift it to check the progress below! Reluctantly, I use white for the fruit trees and black for my broccoli!

[elkwc36]

I'm going to try a garlic spray that several cotton farmers and others are using. It is supposed to help with many insects. Some truck gardeners and others around here plant or leave sunflowers around the edge of their fields and even some scattered throughout. Claim many pests prefer them and tend to leave the other plants along. Guess they would rather have a prime steak as lunchmeat. I haven't tried either of these yet. I have sprayed with a dish soap mix several times and hit has helped on some also.

[Charley Gardener]

The flea beetles hop when you get close. What I do is just wave a shop vac hose around just above the plants and vaccum them up when they hop.