[Food] Production - Pests and Disease

Chaparral · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:54 am Post subject:

[quote="uNkNowN ElEmEnt"]I have pill bugs, little many legged annoying creatures. They seem to have killed off the budding squashes on my squash plant. [\quote]

Is this problem still ongoing? Often times on squash family plants, unfertilized female flowers will appear to develop a small fruit but since no fertilization occurred, the fruit will simply abort futher development and fall off.

It is my understanding that pill bugs and sow bugs are primarily scavengers as opposed to active plant predators.

Jake · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:01 am Post subject: [Food] Production - Allotment

I’m hoping for some advice for myself a perhaps others too.

With my day off today, I’m planning the use of my allotment for next year. I had it since about August this year so it was too late to make the best use, we grew some winter cabbage, cauliflower and established a Globe Artichoke plant near (3 meters away) some fruit bushes that were already there.

We have a white fly problem all over the cabbages, I think its because all the other cabbages in the lots have been harvested (almost) and ours are the only ones left. Any organic hints to get rid of these would be gratefully received, but I’ll have to spray them with some nasty stuff it the cold doesn’t kill em.

I want to be organic, or as organic as possible, but have been considering stocking up on Nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides, just in case my organic methods don’t work out so well. I want the land to save me money as well as produce delicious veg.

There are a lot of trees about 700 meters away and I would like to attract Thrush’s to eat as many slugs as possible, anyone know what I could plant to do this, if I find out in the meantime I will post it.

I have put copper pipes around the edge of the plot because apparently they don’t like to cross copper.

I have a big pile of muck, which I think I’ll be digging in on Sunday. (Hope its not this cold).

I haven’t really thought about raised beds because the soil is really really good apparently, and I don’t see the benefit. Other allotment holders have raised beds and I didn’t really understand the reasoning for them apart from it saved their weary backs.

I wanted to plant broad beans under cloches this weekend too, but it is very frosty now and I’m having second thoughts, wont the cold kill the beans?

We haven’t got a greenhouse yet, can’t quite afford one. Was thinking of making one but I am a bit unsure, I don’t want a cheap mini polythene one because they look like they wouldn’t last.

P.S. I did a search to see if there was a relevant thread to post this to and didn’t see it, so if its moved I’ll understand.

Pops · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 9:20 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Pests and Disease

Bump...
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Make a plan and work it:

uNkNowN ElEmEnt

I don't know if it would help with white moths but it works with white mites. I take a couple of tablespoons of chewing tobacco and put it in old tea with three drops of dish washing detergent. Let it sit for a few days or a week and spray your plants. Plants love weak old tea. THis is my remedy for mites on indoor plants.

green_achers

For fire ants: My brother used to say that whenever it flooded around his house, they'd form mats and float. He'd go out and scoop them up in a glass jar. I often use water to saturate the ground and drive them from some area I don't want them in, such as around a walkway or door. But they don't usually move far.

I was thinking of trying to use sandbags or sheet metal so I could flood the area around individual nests to the point that they would float out. Then I could scoop them up in a big pickle jar and leave them in the sun for a day or 2.

I had also heard that chickens will dig them out and eat them, so was thinking about using a portable fence or chicken tractor. I don't have chickens yet, so won't get a chance to try it for a while. I'm also a little worried that the ants might do more damage to the chickens than vice versa.

Chaparral

I started to get worried about aphids last month when the things swarmed on my Red Jewell cabbages (teach me to buy six packs again Mad

but the lady bird beetles came in force Dec and just cleaned every last one of them out. About 18 years ago when Home Depot first came on the scene I purchased a container of Ladybird beetles from them and released them in the neighborhood. I flung them downwards into thick brush at dusk. I've never had to use chemical pesticides since. I do get a few aphids now and then but the infestations never last; there is always a biological counter-attack that comes without me ever lifting a finger.

Now finally the same may hold for imported cabbage worms. I found three caterpillars on my Brassicas that had been eaten out by parasitoids; some sort of wasp no doubt. If this works I may never need to pick larvae off the plants again. Where I am gardening now has been organic, without pesticides since the late 1980s. There are plenty of "reservoir hosts" for things like aphids and whitefly in the form of ornamental perennials. Now I need to plant an alternative host for those cabbage worms. Maybe wild mustard species will work. The idea here will be to maintain a constant supply of prey (those little green caterpillars that come from those little white butterflies) for the parasitoids so that the predator-prey cycle will never oscillate so much that the parasitoids die off and leave my cabbage/broccoli/cauliflower/collards vulnerable to renewed attack. There will be a balance like I have with the aphids and ladybugs. Well see how the next 6 months shape up.

lateStarter

Back to the topic of moles... I'm not really into whacking anything. I would just like to keep them out of my garden area. They can enjoy the rest of my property, just stay out of the garden. Here in Poland I have noticed that lots of people use a metal rebar pole stuck in the ground with a bottle stuck on the top. There many be many of these around the perimeter and a few in the garden itself. The theory is that when the wind blows, the bottle vibrates on the metal pole and generates vibrations in the soil which deter the moles. Is this concept valid or just another 'urban legend'?

Grifter

Does anyone know anything about leatherjackets and millipedes. I have lots of them. Someone told me that the millipedes aren't a pest, what do they eat?

I believe Leatherjackets are a pest but nobody has told me of an organic prevention / extermination method.

I'm also aware that I might just be looking at a healthy ecosystem so I won't take action unless I see a problem manifest itself in my veggies.

Doly · Expert Joined: Dec 03, 2004 Posts: 4041

Diatomaceous earth is a wonderful way of getting rid of any kind of crawling insects. That's the way I got rid of my bedbugs at home! Nothing else would work, but diatomaceous earth did it.

Grifter

WisJim

If you use Diatomaceous earth, be sure to get the kind recommended for pest control, as the kind used in swimming pool filters is processed differently and doesn't have all the microscopic sharp edges that do the damage to insects.

Grifter

JoeCoal · Heavy Crude Joined: Feb 02, 2006 Posts: 296

Is Diatomaceous earth safe for Worms? It doesn't sound like it...
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Good night, and good luck...

Grifter

Does anyone know what might be eating my pea plants?

The leaves are all nibbled around the edge. I've tried google and I don't think its pea weavil(sp?). I suppose it could be mice but I would have expected larger bites in the leaves. The leaves have basically gone quite lacey around the edge, not in the middle.

No images I've seen on google or on a gardening website look like the problem i've got. Bit gutted, can anyone help?

mikeh433 · Heavy Crude Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 201

I will put this out FWIW: Some scientists and people of high education, for whom I have found respect for, claim that colloidal silver (water mixture, mine produces 12 parts silver per million), will kill any and all bacteria, fungus and viruses in carbon based unit animals and humans as well as if sprayed upon the leaves, etc. of a plant. In fact, it might not only kill those, but increase the plants immune system.

Note that many effective medicines have some component of silver in them. Just an idea that might protect plants from those sources of infestation.

Why I had 2 good tomatoe plants growing which suddenly got yellow leaves. Only thing I thought was malnourishment. Well I took care of that quite well, but now thought to spray them with colloidal silver water spray, just in case.

If poisons, or larger pests than bacteria are eating them alive, that is another problem to be addressed, probablly with outside shelter.

We see now.