Seeking pest control advice ...

[GreenGardenGirl]

Hi , all ...

One of the reasons I registered to this forum is that I'm a new gardener and I really don't want to use pesticides. However , so far I've lost the war with pests. I live in FL which is pretty buggy , I'm sure made worse by the fact that the previous owners of our home left an abandoned , dilapidated Koi pond that gave residence to lots of critters , as we witnessed upon cleaning up the area.
I've lost several tomatoes to cutworms , and my basil has definitely been munched on ( although I've read that pests avoid herbs like basil ) ; even my Nasturtium had been enjoyed by some unseen pest. The only thing I've actually seen was a small-ish black caterpillar.
Upon being advised to use dishsoap , water and vinegar - yes , of course - I damaged some of my still-recovering plants. Then I tried a peppery , oily , soapy concoction which so far hasn't been remarkable.

I've almost come to the conclusion that maybe I should treat the whole area with pesticide , wait a few days and then replant. *Almost* - I'm stubborn and would still like to do this the way I want.

Since I'm inexperienced and have only seen one pest ,do any of you have a recommendation for a good product that would take care of a variety of pests ? Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
Thanks in advance !

[Kisal]

Most soft-bodied insects will be killed by the soap solution. The first key is that you should use soap, about one tsp to a quart of water. Most dishwashing liquids are detergents, which can damage plants. This is a good time to learn always to read labels very carefully. Even good organic materials can be harmful if used incorrectly.

The second key to using soap solution is to spray the plant thoroughly, including all of the stems and both the upper and lower sides of the leaves. But you have to repeat the process every 5 to 10 days, depending on what it is you're trying to kill. The reason it's important to know what you're trying to eradicate is that it's helpful to know the time interval after which new insects will hatch from any eggs that were on the plants. Usually, a series of 4 or 5 thorough sprayings with soap solution, spaced 5 to 10 days apart, will clear up any soft-bodied insect infestation.

Beetles, scale insects, and others with a hard covering are more difficult to cope with. Again, identifying the specific pest will help make whatever treatment you use be most effective.

Examine the plants carefully, looking at the stems and tops and bottoms of the leaves. If you don't see anything obvious, go out at night with a flashlight and look again. Many plant pests forage at night, because most of the animals that prey on them aren't around then.

[farmerlon]

...I've almost come to the conclusion that maybe I should treat the whole area with pesticide , wait a few days and then replant. *Almost* - I'm stubborn and would still like to do this the way I want. ...

Don't do it ... stay stubborn.
If you're talking about a "kill 'em all" pesticide (Sevin, etc...), it's my opinion to never use that stuff.

This is my opinion... if you use "chemical" fertilizers and "chemical" pesticides, the biology of your garden will get so out of whack, that you will have nothing but ever-increasing problems.
I use only natural organic fertilizers (manure, compost, and rock minerals), and rarely have to use any type of pest controls (so far, this year, I have only used a little Bt for worms on Broccoli).
I find that once the garden soil and insects achieve "balance", the garden pretty much takes care of itself (as far as insect pests are concerned).

You might find this article on "Natural Insect Control" to be very interesting...[url]https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/why-natural-insect-control-works-better.aspx[/url]

Best of luck with your garden!

[garden5]

An important disease and insect problem preventative in the garden is to rotate your crops year on year so that crops of the same family are not planted in the same spot two or three years is a row. To do this, just look into the various plants and the families they belong to and just use that information to plan out your garden each year.

A great preventative for the current year is what's called "floating row covers." These are basically fine mesh nets that are suspended over your crop rows.

Other great things to have in your garden are birds. Put up some bird houses and you will start to see a reduction in pests.

This is just to start you out. These are some of the most low-impact, organic forms of pest control.

[GreenGardenGirl]

Thanks to each of you for your replies !
It makes my day to think it's possible to achieve this , especially in FL.
My mother and my late grandmother always kept a vegetable and flower garden every year , but not without the use of pesticides - namely Sevin ! - and I just don't want to do it that way. I want my family to be able to consume what I grow without the dangerous side effects of the chemicals.

Farmerlon , you gave me great food for thought because I never considered the "chemical" fertilizer - which I have used twice. I've taken to using coffee grounds for the most part , but will now consider my soil and fertilizer sources. Thanks also for the link ! I will surely check out the info.

Kisal , I appreciate your reply too. People just told me to use Dawn , and I actually used 7th Generation , a natural dish soap , but still I understand my error in not using pure soap. And boy , would my kids LOVE an excuse to take a flashlight to check for pests at night , lol.

Garden5 , that is a very interesting point too. I started out "blindly" in this and don;t have much of a clue ... I want to grow everything , lol - but I know that I need to research more and stick with plants best suited to my area and certainly need to see where they grow best , position wise.
It's almost overwhelming to learn.
Although I know the best knowledge comes from experience , I'm glad to have joined this forum ... maybe , just MAYBE I can succeed in having some organic veggies , fruits and herbs in the near-ish future.

[peter chapman]

I have used all sorts of ways in which to get on top of pests.

In the U.K, because of the damp conditions I guess, we suffer from slugs and snails. One trick I learned is that they like beer!! So I used a few drops of beer in the bottom of glass jars buried in the ground - it's like a snail burial ground every morning!

I also plant Marigolds in my vegetable patch. This brings in the aphid eaters! Those hornets,wasps and other aphid predators just love to be around my Marigolds!

Soapy water is good for washing off eggs and other nasty critters.

Encourage toads and frogs - they like to snack on those pests!....lots of things you can do to keep your garden natural and healthy.... but remember, it wouldn;t be fun if you had it all your own way!!

[GreenGardenGirl]

Thanks , Peter !
We seem to have a good number of snails here in Florida too. One of them was on my basil the other day. We have a very wet , soggy climate too , but it's exceptionally hot. Yuck ! Wish it were more like England. So the snails drink themselves to death , huh ? lol , well who doesn't like beer ?

We do have LOTS of toads and frogs. I like them in my garden and they're one of the biggest reasons we don't want to use pesticides , and maybe I should do more to encourage them. We also have lots of lizards - of which I'm not a fan because they give me the creeps , lol.

About a week ago I bought a new batch of seeds among which are Marigolds.
Do you just plant them right with what you're growing , or do you , for example , have spinach - Marigold - spinach ? Sorry if that's a dumb question ; just not sure how to plant them together.