robinmarie1994
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Looking for best/safest pesticide for herbs/veg

I'm new to gardening, I planted some herbs, peppers, tomatoes, and green beans. The slugs have already killed one of my kentucky wonders (green beans) and my lemon and sweet basil's have wholes in the leaves. Something has also been feeding on the leaves of my tomato plants. I want to use something that is safe for me to eat and I don't want to make a large batch of something that won't last long.

Is there something safe that I can make that will last for a month or more? Is there a good/safe pesticide that I can buy?

Thanks for the help.

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GardeningCook
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Location: Upper Piedmont area of Virginia, Zone 7a

Over the years, I've had excellent results from "Safer" products. Although I've yet to have to use their slug/snail control, for other pests their insecticidal soap always does the job well.

pepperhead212
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I always sprinkle Sluggo where I plant my greens and basil - two of the slugs favorite meals, and when I cover my greens it is a perfect place for the slugs to destroy them! It is organic, and is simply pellets of iron pbosphate, which lasts several weeks. Other brands of this are out there, but this is the cheapest, at least when I get it in five lb. containers on ebay, but, as always, shop around.

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skiingjeff
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Location: Western Massachusetts Zone 6a

I second pepperhead's suggestion! Sluggo has been working great for slug and snail control for us as well and last a few weeks. I do notice that if we get a really rainy patch of weather it is best to re-apply after the rain is over.

In addition to this we do hunt and kill them either by squishing (which is a little gross) or by placing them in a soap water solution to drown.

Good luck!

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rainbowgardener
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It helps to know what it is you are treating. Slugs are not insects and stuff that works against insects doesn't necessarily work against slugs.

Slugs don't usually bother basil for me, but apparently they do sometimes. If the holes in your basil leaves are roundish/ oval, in the centers of leaves, like below, that would be your slugs

Image
https://chatham.ces.ncsu.edu/growingsmal ... G_3904.jpg

Slugs will get in to the tomato fruits, but probably not the leaves. You would need to show us pictures of the tomato leaf damage, so we can help figure out what is doing that.

To find your slugs come out late at night or very early while it is still dark, with a flashlight, and look underneath leaves. Sometimes it works to lay a board flat on the soil. Come out in the heat of the day and the slugs may be hiding under it.
Diatomaceous earth works against slugs and crawling insects.

robinmarie1994
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Sorry some pictures are blurry but I hope this helps, thanks y'all for the help.
Attachments
My little "container garden"
My little "container garden"
Tomatoes (I started them late)
Tomatoes (I started them late)
lemon basil
lemon basil
basil
basil
alo basil
alo basil

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rainbowgardener
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Actually they are looking young, but quite healthy and none of them showing what I would consider significant damage. You will make yourself crazy worrying about every teeny spot or hole.

The lemon basil and the basils in the bottom picture are way too crowded, which is mainly why they are suffering. They need to be spread out.

Good work!

imafan26
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Spread them out more, do not keep them too wet and slowly move them out to full sun. Make sure you sluggo around the plants and under the pots and in the nearby areas. Slugs and snails come out at dusk and stick around till the early morning. It will be the best time to go out with a flashlight and go on a slug hunt with a ziploc bag with a tablespoon of salt in it, and a pair of gloves or chopsticks. Snails and slugs also like moist dark or shady spots so moving you plants out as much as possible into full sun will help a little.

robinmarie1994
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Those basils are transplants, I think they are just one plant and the things on the bottom are new sprouts from the roots or something.

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rainbowgardener
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Are you sure? Basil does not usually send up suckers from the roots like that. But stores selling transplants often stuff three of them in a little pot to make it look like a full bushy plant. If you aren't sure, I would unpot one of them and take a look, see if they are actually all coming from one stem or not. If not, I would separate them. If they are, then it should be planted higher, so that the part where they join to the stem and all the stem down to where the roots start is above the soil level. If you handle it gently, you can do all this without harming the plant.

robinmarie1994
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Thank you, there were two sweet basil's. I tried to split them up but I ripped some of the smaller roots. The lemon basil is just one plant.



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