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Post by ottawagardener on Jun 9, 2009 8:08:17 GMT -5
I had leek moth damage (invader from Europe I understand) but found no moths or their spawn. This year, I found a catepillar on a garlic scape. I'm sad to say that it is now deceased. I did think of sparing its life but I like to pretend that hand picking pests really does help to control their populations... generally, I just ignore them.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 11, 2009 8:39:53 GMT -5
I pulled up a garlic from #9 yesterday only to find a "bad spot". When I squeezed gently, a tiny white grub looking caterpillar emerged. I promptly squashed it. However, I now need to determine if I should pull up all the garlic or just stay calm and wait until it's properly "matured".
As for hand picking, I am TOTALLY convinced that it does indeed go a long way in controlling pest populations! I hand picked the potato beetles and nymphs. After a week, there were no adults to be found, only nymphs which were easy to see and remove. There was about a week where there were no beetles at all. Then at the far end of the far patch I noticed a few adults. I believe they migrated from my neighbor who is a believer in Sevin spraying. Her potatoes all look like Christmas trees with fat nymphs hanging from the ends of the denuded twigs.
Another evil pest here are stink bugs. The pak choy I planted is a fabulous trap crop and I've gathered them daily for a couple weeks. The pak choy really needs to be replanted but the stink bugs do serious damage to many things not the least of which is my precious tomatoes. I've found a few here and there, but nothing even close to previous years.
The Japanese beetles have also begun their reign terror. But, me and my jug calmly go from plant to plant dumping them gently into the soapy water where they meet their demise and leaving grapes, elderberries, blackberries, etc. to survive and thrive. Yes, I know they will come in droves from elsewhere, however, each dead bug represents how many generations that will not exist? That though alone keeps me going.
For equipment I have 2, 2qt pitchers (.98 from Wal-Mart) on either side of the property. I put 2" - 3" of water and about 1 t. of dish soap in the pitcher. Then I use a tongue depressor (craft sticks) to gently tip leaves or push the more recalcitrant bugs into the pitcher. Sometimes they just fall in, sometimes they need a little shove. Hoppers you have to sneak up on and give 'em a quick dunk, leaf leg bugs require that you position the jug about 1' in front of them then approach with the stick from behind, they'll fly right into the jug just to get away from the stick. Those require more finesse than the others.
So, hand pick!
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Post by ottawagardener on Jun 17, 2009 12:20:51 GMT -5
Cuke beetles too are handpicked around my yard.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 17, 2009 16:04:06 GMT -5
I'm getting mostly Japanese Beetles (JB) these days. They congregate best on the blackberries, elderberries and grapes. I'm not sure the 4 o'clocks are doing their job...
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Post by maricybele on Feb 16, 2010 22:01:05 GMT -5
I squeeze the slug eggs whenever I see them in the garden and it keeps the population in the raised bed way down.
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Post by grunt on Feb 16, 2010 23:28:31 GMT -5
Make yourself a slug stick = drive a nail into the end of a stick about 3' long, cut off the head, and use it to spear the slugs and flip them away. Once punctured, they are toast, because they have no healing mechanism. Do the rounds of slug picking just before dark when they start to head for your plants.
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Post by canadamike on Feb 16, 2010 23:33:47 GMT -5
Can I do it to some local politicians? ;D
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Post by hiven on Feb 17, 2010 4:06:32 GMT -5
I don't have much slug here as mugpies are eating them, BUT we have tons of cut worms (from creamy colour to dark to green...yuck), white grubs and wire worms.
This cold winter killed a lot of cutworms...they hide at my mulched vegetables such as cardoons and globe artihokes and dine there... since these plant were killed, I removed the mulch material, no more hiding place and hopefully birds feast on them.
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Post by steveont on Feb 17, 2010 6:45:39 GMT -5
Can I do it to some local politicians? ;D Howz about we aim fer a politition from our neck of the woods that got sent to queens park?!  |
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Post by steveont on Feb 17, 2010 6:48:39 GMT -5
last year was such a wet year that many things did not go as planned (we still had first cut hay in september!) disease and bugs right off the scale! this year we are cleaning up our market garden patch and moving ops too a better site!
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Post by ottawagardener on Feb 17, 2010 7:59:09 GMT -5
Cutworms in our garden eat everything including alliums... so I use cut worm collars of various types from bottomless cups and yoghurt containers to toilet paper tubes. For large areas, I use garden edging.
Michel! Really! No, you can't handpick politicians. But maybe we could look at some sort of barrier protection...
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Post by steveont on Feb 17, 2010 8:08:48 GMT -5
Michel! Really! No, you can't handpick politicians. But maybe we could look at some sort of barrier protection... i like that barrier idea! we live in the wrong part of the world for that too work though!  (New Edinburgh back the way it was in my great grandfathers time!  ) |
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Post by hiven on Feb 17, 2010 9:01:41 GMT -5
I used cutworms collars sometimes ago,Telsing, but could't keep up doing this as our veg garden area is rather big. How do you do garden edging agains cutworms, Telsing ? I would like to try it this year. So far I place every found live cutworms in the bird feeding bowl... teaching the wild birds dining these nasty things should help me getting them under control. I even placed the frozen cutworms in the feeding bowl and they took it happily. I found some leek moth larvae attacking my spring onions, garlic and some small amount of onions 2 years ago... hope they don't come this year, fingers crossed ! Cutworms in our garden eat everything including alliums... so I use cut worm collars of various types from bottomless cups and yoghurt containers to toilet paper tubes. For large areas, I use garden edging. Michel! Really! No, you can't handpick politicians. But maybe we could look at some sort of barrier protection... |
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Post by ottawagardener on Feb 17, 2010 9:29:17 GMT -5
Steveont: Hiven: It is a huge pain to collar everything and I don't but thankfully I have a lot of perennials and self seeding annual veggies that I just leave to be thinned by the cutworms / slugs. I do however collar all my beans, peas, squash, tomatoes, cabbage, peppers... I'm getting tired just thinking about it. For areas where I will broadcast small seed, I use that common black garden edging. I surround the area to be planted with the edging, stuck several inches into the soil but left to stand above the soil. It can be hard to force it into shape. Then I stir the soil inside and leave it to be picked over by birds. Next, I plant the crop and hope that no cutworms survived if there were any there to begin with. It doesn't work as well as the collars. Leek moths! Eek. They don't yet have any 'natural' predators here though I keep telling the local predators about them... so they are quite destructive. Oh and for cutworms, I've also retrofitted pepper and tomato stems with aluminum foil. I wrap the stem, pushing it into the ground a bit, and then pull some soil/mulch around it. This has worked to protect large plants that were attacked, even those that were partially chewed. |
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Feb 17, 2010 9:36:19 GMT -5
Can I do it to some local politicians? ;D Howz about we aim fer a politition from our neck of the woods that got sent to queens park?! You're not referring to Randy are you? Are you upset that he turned in his overalls and tractor for a business suit? And Ladies, just wait until you have Chickens to help with gardening...Those durn grubs will be a thing of the past! |
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(New Edinburgh back the way it was in my great grandfathers time! 
)