Best way of getting rid of tiny little green catipllars - Page 2

SmittenGarden · May 14, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redbaron

The Bt that is used to make commercial organic biocides is completely harmless to ladybugs or any other beneficial predators.

Thanks

claherron · May 15, 2013

Thanks for the info all, now I understand why we will be calling it BT wow what a name! Something has been eating holes in the center of my brandywine leaves. No idea what yet. So I picked up a bottle of BT. I will go out tonight and see if I can spot the culprit after work.

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SmittenGarden · May 15, 2013

So we went to the nearest Home Depot tonight to get something for the cabbage loopers tonight. I wanted ladybugs, dill and bt. I went for the dill while dh looked for the ladies. I found some dill and even managed to sneak in a new tomato plant (this time indeterminate) but dh couldn't find the ladybugs

. Turns out a female Home Depot employee decided it was curl and let loose all the ladybugs and so homedepot let her loose. But they never stocked them again. So I looked for the bt and couldn't find any of that either..... Found lots of insecticides that killed everything and anything, sevim and stuff that said was dangerous to humans and animals if got on the skin. Which is off putting when you want to put it on something you will late eat.

We decided to get organocide 3 in 1 spray as it was the closest we could find that looked more organic and less chemical. Has anyone used this before? Are we right in understanding it would kill loopers?

feldon30 · May 15, 2013

BT stops all caterpillars. That's loopers, leaf rollers (beans), fruitworms (tomatoes), and hornworms (tomatoes). Fruitworms can really damage a lot of fruit in a short time, and a couple of hornworms can field strip a 4' tomato plant in a few hours.

Tracydr · May 15, 2013

Look for Dipel. That's the brand name I believe. Or,Safer also has some.

Redbaron · May 15, 2013

Home Depot quit carrying the Bt concentrate, but now carries a garden dust with Bt. You can still get the Bt concentrate at Lowes. I bought some 2 weeks ago. Safer Brand Caterpillar Killer Concentrate

SmittenGarden · May 15, 2013

Thank you

I saw nothing that alluded to bt when there. I think I might try OSH tonight. I thought I saw ladybugs there anyway. But till then I will try a mild soap solution. Just wipe the buggers off that are already there.

lakelady · May 18, 2013

Any garden center that carries organic products will definately sell ladybugs, usually they refrigerate them to keep them sleeping (or else they want to fly lol). Call around. Where I live I am surrounded by trees and LOTS of caterpillars of all kinds. They do so much damage when they get out of control, especially gypsy moth caterpillars who are voracious eaters.

Spinosad is another spray I have used successfully as well as the BT. I order online as it was hard to find them locally.

If I found leaves with eggs I'd probably yank the leaves off and squash them. Easy enough.

SmittenGarden · May 18, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakelady

Any garden center that carries organic products will definately sell ladybugs, usually they refrigerate them to keep them sleeping (or else they want to fly lol). Call around. Where I live I am surrounded by trees and LOTS of caterpillars of all kinds. They do so much damage when they get out of control, especially gypsy moth caterpillars who are voracious eaters.

Spinosad is another spray I have used successfully as well as the BT. I order online as it was hard to find them locally.

If I found leaves with eggs I'd probably yank the leaves off and squash them. Easy enough.

Thanks.

I knew I had seen them at orchard supply in the fridge.

but when I called to ask he said they are not in stock but they have them on order.

I guess it's too early for them or they are out of season? But he said they have bt

But Home Depot guy said some previous employee set them all free on a "it's cruel" whim and they stopped stocking them after that.

I'm hoping this weekend dh can take me to osh after he gets off work to get what's needed (hoping the ladybugs will be there by then but I don't know, I forgot to ask when he thought they might be in stock again). And do some gardening. We need to still pot a few more things. And I need a trowel.

I'm fed up with using my hands.

Don't want to yank leaves as I think they might be on lots of leaves..worried I'd have to yank every leaf one the plant that way.

May 15, 2013	#19
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	BT stops all caterpillars. That's loopers, leaf rollers (beans), fruitworms (tomatoes), and hornworms (tomatoes). Fruitworms can really damage a lot of fruit in a short time, and a couple of hornworms can field strip a 4' tomato plant in a few hours. __________________ [SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] * [I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I]

May 15, 2013	#21
Redbaron Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 4,488	Home Depot quit carrying the Bt concentrate, but now carries a garden dust with Bt. You can still get the Bt concentrate at Lowes. I bought some 2 weeks ago. Safer Brand Caterpillar Killer Concentrate __________________ Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture Last edited by Redbaron; May 15, 2013 at 03:20 PM.

May 18, 2013	#23
lakelady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: northern NJ zone 6b Posts: 1,862	Any garden center that carries organic products will definately sell ladybugs, usually they refrigerate them to keep them sleeping (or else they want to fly lol). Call around. Where I live I am surrounded by trees and LOTS of caterpillars of all kinds. They do so much damage when they get out of control, especially gypsy moth caterpillars who are voracious eaters. Spinosad is another spray I have used successfully as well as the BT. I order online as it was hard to find them locally. If I found leaves with eggs I'd probably yank the leaves off and squash them. Easy enough. __________________ Antoniette

May 15, 2013	#17
claherron Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Mississippi Posts: 47	Thanks for the info all, now I understand why we will be calling it BT wow what a name! Something has been eating holes in the center of my brandywine leaves. No idea what yet. So I picked up a bottle of BT. I will go out tonight and see if I can spot the culprit after work. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

May 15, 2013	#18
SmittenGarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: So California Posts: 75	So we went to the nearest Home Depot tonight to get something for the cabbage loopers tonight. I wanted ladybugs, dill and bt. I went for the dill while dh looked for the ladies. I found some dill and even managed to sneak in a new tomato plant (this time indeterminate) but dh couldn't find the ladybugs . Turns out a female Home Depot employee decided it was curl and let loose all the ladybugs and so homedepot let her loose. But they never stocked them again. So I looked for the bt and couldn't find any of that either..... Found lots of insecticides that killed everything and anything, sevim and stuff that said was dangerous to humans and animals if got on the skin. Which is off putting when you want to put it on something you will late eat. We decided to get organocide 3 in 1 spray as it was the closest we could find that looked more organic and less chemical. Has anyone used this before? Are we right in understanding it would kill loopers?

May 15, 2013	#20
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	Look for Dipel. That's the brand name I believe. Or,Safer also has some.

May 15, 2013	#22
SmittenGarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: So California Posts: 75	Thank you I saw nothing that alluded to bt when there. I think I might try OSH tonight. I thought I saw ladybugs there anyway. But till then I will try a mild soap solution. Just wipe the buggers off that are already there.