Let the pest battle begin!!

[gixxerific]

I had a bad pest year last year and this year isn't starting out so good. I have had aphids and fungus gnats since my starters. These were inside only plants I understand the fungus gnats but where did the aphids come from?

I have been battling flea beetles on my eggplant for a few weeks, go figure, they love eggplant. I went out this evening to check them and saw a bunch. So I sprayed them with pyrethrin (sp) a bunch jumped off but there were tons tons of them jumping to and fro in the mulch surrounding them. I then see them on my radishes and a few on my peppers.

The last few day's I have been noticing cabbage moth caterpillars (i think) on my broccoli. Most of them are still small but I have squished maybe 20-30 in 2 days. Not much damage yet. Last year I trashed every one of them they were so infested in the fall.

What next? now my potatoes are looking a little sick and my beans are just now coming up my neighbor 2 doors down is having a heck of a time with what I believe are Mexican bean beetles. So I guess that will be next.

Still waiting for the hornworms that devastated my peppers last year to show up.

Arrgggggghhhhhhh it's too early for all this crap.

[applestar]

I had this crazy idea (again ) -- the key with flea beetles is that they DO jump off. If you had something on the ground to capture them, then you've got them for good.
-- At first I thought soapy water, but you want as large a surface area as you can. A sheet would be better ... a STICKY sheet would be even better ... double sided tape stuck all over a plastic sheet? (too labor intensive) ... contact paper? (too costly?) ... Plastic sheet painted with Tanglefoot or even just oil or grease? I know they sell a "door mat" of sticky sheets that are peeled off as they become used up for clean rooms, but that's probably too expensive....

something along those lines....

[LindsayArthurRTR]

Everything is getting so lush and BIG in our garden. The bug pressure is staring to mount too! Today I went out there and squished well over 30 cucumber beetles. Spotted ones are slow and clumsy but the stripped ones are FAST! I even caught a pair that were mating!!! HEHEHE TWO FOR ONE!!! I of course found some squash bug egg clusters and some pretty sizeable squash bugs... All of which were promptly squished.

Seems like we have more cucumber beetles this year. I could be out there all day squishing and there are always more We have loads of tarnished plant bugs too, but damage is minimal right now. Except for our eggplant, which are being DEVOURED by flea beetles Oh well at least they are staying on the eggplant and away from the beans, potatoes, and tomatoes

I read in Mother Earth News that if you brew a tea with fresh catmint and water and foliar spray it on the eggplant it is supposed to repel them. IDK, I haven't tried it. I would just assume leave the bugs to the eggplant. I'm still getting blossoms on them, and anyway I prefer potatoes and tomatoes to eggplant anyway:)

[gixxerific]

I had this crazy idea (again ) -- the key with flea beetles is that they DO jump off. If you had something on the ground to capture them, then you've got them for good.
-- At first I thought soapy water, but you want as large a surface area as you can. A sheet would be better ... a STICKY sheet would be even better ... double sided tape stuck all over a plastic sheet? (too labor intensive) ... contact paper? (too costly?) ... Plastic sheet painted with Tanglefoot or even just oil or grease? I know they sell a "door mat" of sticky sheets that are peeled off as they become used up for clean rooms, but that's probably too expensive....

something along those lines....

Your a genius Apple.

Before I got through your post about the sticky tape part and the labor intensive part I stopped to think....... "OIL would work easy enough and I have that readily available" . You thought of that too, I have said it before we think alike. Wait a minute if your a genius than that makes me genius too than right.

I did some research the beetles are attracted to, I believe it was yellow, sticky traps.

I will have to think about the logistics here. I could roll out some plastic or cardboard/paper soaked will oil but how to do this without leaching oil into my garden. This wouldn't be the perfect ecologically friendly method but would work. Grease would not run off but be very messy to apply and I don't have grease at this time. What would be great as you said a big roll of sticky paper about a foot wide that I could roll down the row and just let it stay there collecting the little buggers.

Thinking on this, thank for the idea Apple what would we do without you.

[gixxerific]

Lindsy sorry to hear you are suffering the same fate as me.

I have heard that too about catmint. Actually most mints, even dropping leaves around them might help repel them. But as you said I don't want to repel them I want them DEAD. I have potatoes right next to my eggplant too so I could be in trouble here if I don't eradicate them. This is my first year with eggplant maybe never again.

funny thing is I'm not a big eggplant eater, too bad them damn flea beetles are.

no squash bugs yet but my other neighbor right next to me has wish I believe are Mexican bean beetles on his beans now just like my other neighbor 2 doors down. I need to catch one to make sure what it is.

Back to what apple started, nest year I'm not going to mulch. I'm just going to unroll duct tape, sticky side up, all over my garden. Take that you sons of *&^(%$.

[hendi_alex]

I don't find that flea beetles generally hop, though a few do. Most just sit and get squished between the fingers. Hand picking control works just fine for me on my 6-8 eggs plants which the beetles dearly love. A few holes, or many holes in the leaves pose no problem as the plants produce an abundance of fruit in spite of these pesky critters. I see absolutely no reason to put poison on the few plants that are likely to be grown by the home gardener.

[gixxerific]

Alex mainly I use NEEM on them, after I go in and do a smash and grab. I have even been soaking the mulch a few times. There were hundreds of them hopping around the other day. They were kind of easy to see with my dried out, now light coloreds grass mulch.

[hendi_alex]

My flea beetles have been a little more difficult to control this year. Also, last year my bean beatles were oh so obvious. This year, I'm seeing a multitude of holes, but during walks in the garden am seeing very few of the actual beetles. Still, while egg plants and beans have significant numbers of holes in the leaves, I don't think that production will be impacted too much, therefore will not at this time, consider resorting to chemicals.

[applestar]

Hey I had another idea -- Dust Buster! (or equivalent cordless hand-held vac -- what I have is an Electrolux) I'm going to try that on the 4-lined Plant Bugs on my mints that continue to elude me.

[LindsayArthurRTR]

I have beans on one side of the eggplant row and potatoes on the other. The eggplants are taking most of the munching, then the potatoes, then the beans. As you can see here, my beans are not being bothered by them too much. I have seen a few mexican bean beetles, (which, to my horror, I thought were just really large orange ladybugs), but they were hangin out on the squash. Just took this pic of my beans today. Eggplants are to the right but are not well seen. The eggplant looks really REALLY bad. I have not used ANY sprays or biological controls. If you don't care for eggplant that much anyway, just keep them as a trap crop. If they don't have what they like best, they'll go to what they like second best:)

[The Helpful Gardener]

I gave up on eggplant after two years ago when I got the plague like Gixx has... I have tons of catmint and would be trying that for sure; the whole garden, but just becuz it's what I got... I'd be trying some nematodes in the soil to get larval stages for sure, if I cared about eggplant...

Dust busting is not so far fetched; there are big commercial vac units for just that purpose you know... why not? Into the soapy bath with the contents! Good thinking as usual, AS!

Gixx get some spinosad for those cabbage loopers; stops them eating instantly and they die in a day or two... Bulls Eye from Gardens Alive is what I use...

HG

[Sage Hermit]

Everyone who has posted thus far in this thread is a genius. That is all..


...

[rainbowgardener]

Gixx get some spinosad for those cabbage loopers; stops them eating instantly and they die in a day or two... Bulls Eye from Gardens Alive is what I use...

HG

The Spinosad is an all "natural" organic product, a bacterial exudate. However


this study http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/hutchins2.htm

basically says:

The topical acute activity of spinosad against honeybees is less than 1 µg per bee which places spinosad in the highly toxic to bees category of the EPA. However, once residues have dried completely, toxicity of foraging bees is considered negligible (Mayer and Lunden, 1998). There are minimal safety precautions and preharvest and reentry intervals for this reduced risk product.

again:
Beneficial insects: Care must be taken when applying spinosad while honeybees are foraging; after residues dry (a few hours) it is far less toxic to bees (Bret et al. 1997). Spray droplets can also harm Trichogramma wasps and other parasitoids (Suh et al., 2000; Tillman and Mullrooney, 2000; Bret et al., 1997). However, once the deposits dry, they are generally safe for beneficial insects.

So if you are using it you should be sure to do it in the evening after the bees have gone in for the day. It should be dry by morning and not be a problem.

The most environmentally neutral thing you can do to combat all these pest problems is to grow under floating row cover.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Nice catch RBG; I did know that but forgot to include it.

Hey this is why I avoid all pesticides until I have to. They all kick holes in the biosphere, even the "safe" ones. It's all relative...

HG

[gixxerific]

I just can't win can I?

Maybe you all will be happy all I did today was a smash and grab. Hard to say though!