I have had it with the bugs in my garden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gixxerific]

I just ripped out all the broccoli I planted because they were infested with caterpillars that were eating the junk out of them. I thought I had got rid of them but that is not the case. The were all up in the, VERY soon to be harvested, heads so I just took them out. Oh did I mention that they are all over my Cauliflower as well, Brussels Sprouts yeah they found them. Most all of my leaf lettuce have holes in them, I believe something in eating my Arugula as well. I am so sick and tired of this EDITED - PLEASE REPORT THIS POST!!!!!!!!!

I never had this problem before, well not this bad, not even close at my, old house and garden.

I have been spraying NEEM trying to be as organic as possible. I haven't used a single non organic fertilizer or pesticide this year. But I'm so close to reaching for some Sevin or maybe some diesel maybe mix the two together.

I even took a lady bug that was on my arm and brought it over to the garden which I have done several times this year. I have noticed a bunch of ants as well in the garden. I have heard they sometimes team up with other bad bugs but can't remember exactly the scenario with that whole deal. Some of the ants were on some of my plants. I'm sick and tired of this someone please help me before I just quit gardening all together.

[rainbowgardener]

Just a thought, probably more for next year, but do you have bird feeders and hummingbird feeders? A lot of the birds that come to the feeders, including hummingbirds, also eat lots of bugs. I have lots of feeders and not very many bugs in my garden, though I don't spray anything...

[applestar]

Aw. I can relate, I really can. Most of my fall cole crops have not done well either due to caterpillar infestation. I was also overwhelmed by allergies (REALLY BAD THIS YEAR) so I wasn't caring as much.

There are so many things to learn, every time, you know?

(1) I had interplanted the brussels sprouts, kale, and broccoli among other plants and the edamame took over so much that I can't even really see them under there. It made it very difficult to keep they under scrutiny for cat infestation -- I usually lightly slide the leaves between my fingers or peek underneath.
(2) #1 also made it impossible to try another method -- to put some kind of insect barrier over them. Since they're harvested before flowering you can cut off access completely -- either a screened box, floating insect cover, old panty hose, tulle fabric bag.... This is the method I'm going to try for next year.
(3) There's always Btk. I didn't feel like using it -- My kids and I raised over 70 Monarch butterflies from eggs and caterpillars this year and I didn't want the stuff ANYWHERE near -- accidental spillage, contact transfer onto my clothing, etc.

Try not to be discouraged, gixxerific. How's the rest of the garden doing? I'm still harvesting more beans than I really want to have anything to do with anymore a few tomatoes here and there, and still looking forward to those sweet potatoes. Trial harvested some rice and they're looking great. A few more days, hopefully no rain, and they'll be ready. Edamame and the weather are going to be neck and neck -- the pods are filling way too slowly and the cold weather is just around the corner. Peppers and Eggplant plants are still going strong, though most tomato plants have succumbed, and I have two big peppers turning red and lots of smaller fruits. Apples will be ready soon too, and the cooler weather has perked up the Swiss Chard, though I'm finding that I don't like to eat them all that much afterall. As for strawberries, we're still getting some here and there, but we're feeding them to a Box Turtle that wondered into the garden. I just found out to my delight that they LOVE slugs.

[gixxerific]

I do have humming bird feeders, although in my front yard. I would like to get more, there are a ton of humming birds around. I would like to get a bunch of bird feeders but the nice ones are EXPENSIVE when you are on a tight budget, stupid recession. I can't bring myself to buy the 'el cheapo bird house, even thought about making some of my own. I have thought about this for bug control I just need to make it happen and stop stinking about, it I'm sure it will help.

Thanks Rainbow.

[rainbowgardener]

Applestar - I love my swiss chard, it's the most successful thing I grow, just keeps going and going all season.

I just made swiss chard lasagne last night. It was just a spinach lasagne recipe, but I used swiss chard instead of the spinach. Used up a pound of swiss chard (which is quite a lot) and turned out really good...

[applestar]

I seem to remember that you have an open field on the other side of your garden fence. If that's the case and it's not somebody else's property, AND if it's facing the right direction, you might do well to put up bluebird houses along that fence towards the open field too. I've tried but my property just doesn't have the right habitat for bluebirds and all I get are house sparrows in them, although sometimes, housewrens and chickadees take up residence in the birdhouses we put up as well.

There are lots of DIY birdhouse and birdfeeder plans you can find on the internet if you're handy.

[gixxerific]

Applestar, I will try not to get discouraged it's hard though every time you go out and see something new that is tore up from something. As you probably know this is only a 2 year old garden and I am working out the bugs, literally.

What is Btk?

As far as my garden, I too am waiting on my sweet pots. They actually just started flowering last week and are going SUPER strong I can't wait. I have been getting beans that I just planted and waiting for peas as well as the rest of my fall stuff. Toms are a goner. Strawberries aren't doing anything this is the second year, though they are under my willows.

But this post is about my hatred for bugs. I can't seem to keep them at bay no matter what I do, slugs as well. Even the yellow finches are eating my Swiss chard. I can't win here, someone throw me a bone or maybe some bone meal.

And rainbow about the Swiss chard I like it as well, just made a salad last night with that and arugula and I believe mustard (not sure what these plants are but they are HUGE. It was a little bitter but everything was big leaves not young and tender. My wife loved it so that's all that matters.

[gixxerific]

I seem to remember that you have an open field on the other side of your garden fence. If that's the case and it's not somebody else's property,

Yeah I wish, I live in a subdivision with neighbors all around me. And yes I am handy, I am a bricklayer so I build everything. Why buy it when you can build it better and cheaper.

I would like to do a martin house but not sure if it would work here. This subdivision is surrounded by lots of open fields and cow pastures.

[nes]

I would like to get more, there are a ton of humming birds around. I would like to get a bunch of bird feeders but the nice ones are EXPENSIVE when you are on a tight budget, stupid recession.

They are RIDICULOUS!!! Even the cheap ones are expensive and they look like junk! I found that my Scarlett runner beans REALLY brought in the humming birds this year & they were $4? for a package . Plus I got some yummy beans out of the whole deal. I'm planning on covering our back & side fences next year.

Some years, some places just have TERRIBLE bug issues. We had a TON of aphids, luckily I REALLY love sunflowers so they all went to live on my sunflowers instead of my veggies and did little damage (actually I had to point out the aphids & ants any time anyone came over, it's so neat!!).

Ladybugs are very territorial, so you can bring them into the garden all you like they aren't going to stay if there is already someone living there (even if you can't see them).

Having a field on the back of your garden is definitely a mixed blessing (we've got the cow field). It's going to bring in allot of good & bad bugs . You could try setting up a bit of a buffer zone by mowing down about 3' out from behind your garden. Between the part of the field the cows have access too & the part they don't, there are FAR more grasshoppers & such in the part that they can't eat.

Best of Luck Gix, I know it's frustrating, but you don't want to spray something nasty all over your yummy veggies .

[Earthbound]

Birdhouses why dint I think of that lol! and humming bird feeders too... *makes mental note*
Anyway.... This year I had good luck with companion planting as far as keeping the cabbage moth away.. and therefor its larva, but however it didn't keep slugs at bay (still looking for that miracle)

I use raised beds and the plot that had cabbage, brussel sprouts, and broccoli in it sortta looked like this....
(rows)
Onion...cabbage ...broccoli...sprouts... Dill planted in a wide swath (sorta scattered seed bout 3 ft wide row *discard planting directions they will do fine*) sprouts... broc... cabbage... onion..

I had about 6 rosemary plants guarding the area too but they were sorta just guarding the perimeter...

I didn't see much brussel sprout production,,, wondering if broccoli/sprout combo is not a good idea.. BUT I didn't see any larva on my plants!

Good luck next year!

[rainbowgardener]

Well, I will admit I had a bad year for slugs, all the rain seemed to favor them and apparently birds don't like them too much (can't blame them ! ). Mostly ate holes like crazy in my green pepper leaves, but didn't seem to slow down production too much. But there was one green pepper I cut open and it had several slugs INSIDE! Eeew! Eeew! Eeew!

Saw a few Japanese beetles, but not very many and I couldn't tell that they did much damage. I do expect birds helped control them.

Otherwise pretty okay.. Nothing ever seems to bother my swiss chard which grows and grows, though we do have tons of finches at the feeders. Finches eat seeds and insects, I don't know what they would be doing eating swiss chard...

[stella1751]

The last time I grew brussel sprouts, I vowed never to grow anything from the brassica family again. Since then, my rotation is legumes, solanacea, and cucurbits.

I think it was in August that the white butterflies moved in. I can't decide whether it is they or their ugly green offspring that are called cabbage loopers. They were like a cloud. If I was out, I would run through the brussel sprouts patch, waving my arms everywhere, trying to scare them. (I imagine I looked pretty weird ) It didn't matter. They just came back, again and again. Every day it was the same old battle.

I finally mentioned this to my neighbor back then, a Nebraska native who knows a thing or two about agriculture. She said that the Colorado commercial growers must have recently harvested their cole crops, leaving the white butterflies with no place to lay their eggs.

Since then, I quit growing brassicas. I love watching the stray white butterfly flit into my back yard, flying from bed to bed, looking confused, maybe a little unhappy, and whisking over the fence into my neighbor's garden

[hendi_alex]

If you can find sheer fabric from a piece good store, it works great as a floating cover and is very inexpensive. Thankfully my pests have been very manageable this year, so hand picking worked on all of the pests. The bean beetles got ahead of me for a while, but they didn't seem to affect the crop much if any.

One advantage that we have is the big yard. I interplant and have scatterings planted in several locations. Also other than tomatoes just have a few plants or small patches of most everything, so the attraction for the pests is probably not that great. Lastly, we have large naturalized areas of annuals and perennials. Those spaces are much larger than the vegetable garden. I think that effort brings in large numbers of predetors and helps maintain a better balance throughout the yard. Of course the many insect eating birds that constantly visit our yard and gardens are also a great help.

[applestar]

As for strawberries, we're still getting some here and there, but we're feeding them to a Box Turtle that wondered into the garden. I just found out to my delight that they LOVE slugs. :Wink:

Yesterday, we put the box turtle on patrol duty in the chicken wire fenced New Kitchen garden. There was no question of him NOT finding food in there. This morning, DD10 came in after checking on him with a stricken look. She said he had something white coming out of his mouth.

I went out to look, but concluded it was probably a piece of something he ate without really identifying it.

A couple of hours later... DD10 yelled out triumphantly: "I KNOW! MR. T MUST HAVE EATEN A SLUG!!! THAT WHITE THING WAS SLUG SLIME!" I think she's right.

[Diane]

My biggest problems this year were slugs and aphids. I lost eight pepper plants. They not only chewed holes in the leaves, they kept eating the top off of the plants preventing it from growing. For months they never made it past four leaves.
I broke down and used an organically approved slug killer. My 5 remaining plants, in this bed, made a great recovery, but too late for this year.
So, I've learned something for next year.

Keep battling them Gixx. Or if it's a lost cause, you learned something for next year.

[gixxerific]

RainbowG I don't have any idea why the yellow finches were eating my Chard but they were. I snuck up on them several times and actually saw them taking chunks of of the leaves. Go figure that on out.

Alex or anyone I have heard the term "floating cover" many times. I have never done anything like that. Does than mean to just have fabric over the top of the plants, not around all sides front and back? Like putting your hand over a candle? If so how does that actually keep the pest out. Wouldn't they fly underneath the cover or are they just too stupid?

Like I said I have never had anything even near to this big of a problem before. I have been battling slugs, tobacco hornworms, aphids, couple different types of caterpillars, Finches???, rabbits I think that is it but come on give me a friggin break here.

Going to check on the garden right now, wish me luck.

[rainbowgardener]

Floating row cover is a very light weight translucent woven fabric that you can get at any garden store (or as noted you can substitute any light weight sheer breathable fabric). Usually you would put up wire hoops and then drape the row cover over the hoops and stake it down at the bottom. So it does cover the whole plant and keep any pests out. It filters light and water, but doesn't blocka them. The only trick is being sure there and no pests IN under the row cover with the plants when you put it up!

It works as a physical barrier to keep things away from your plants. As noted as long as there's nothing in there with the plants, it works well. For " hoops" for smaller plants (I.e. not tomatoes) I use the wire frames that political yard signs come on. Works great and they are free.

[gixxerific]

So let me get this right you would make an arch possibly and drape from ground to ground (left to right) than cover the front and back as well so it is totally sealed correct.

by the way I went out and killed about 6-7 cat's on my cauliflower. Nothing on my Brussles sprouts though that is good. I had a dream last night that there were hundreds upon hundreds of them, yeah I'm a freak.

[nes]

The arches are a good idea, but you don't have to make them if you get light-enough fabric.

You should also look at whole-sale options through seed-companies. The fabric doesn't have to be expensive if you buy a large amount.

[gixxerific]

Thanks I 'll see how it goes. It's is getting colder as we all know. So maybe that threat will be history soon.

I'll will have to research this as well as everything else I have learned this year, that is what I do.

[Diane]

I had a dream last night that there were hundreds upon hundreds of them, yeah I'm a freak.

You're not alone. I hate bugs anyway so they are nightmares. I have to remember I'm not outside sometimes.

[gixxerific]

I had a dream last night that there were hundreds upon hundreds of them, yeah I'm a freak.

You're not alone. I hate bugs anyway so they are nightmares. I have to remember I'm not outside sometimes.

Stupid bugs I really hate flies and other bugs that bug you. I will coexist with the other just fine.

But I had been thinking about my caterpillar problem so much that I dreamt about them. I have very bizarre dreams. But in my dream I went out to check my plants and they were just covered with worms top bottom front back just covered. I was thinking this is not good, not good at all, than I woke up.

[Diane]

I don't hate flies too much ever since I read that they help with flea beetles. They, flies and beetles, were all over my potato plants.
I see dead flies stuck to leaves sometimes and wonder what that's all about.