Category: Insects

Slugs. They are nasty.

Creepy. Crawly and slimy.

Not much else to say on them besides they are pretty gross.

But how do you rid them from your garden.

This is what Rita asked me.

She asked, “I am having trouble with slugs and really do not feel comfortable using the slug bait called “snail death” any longer. I have free range chickens and I don’t want them to ingest the slug bait either?Any good solutions?”

Here are 3 ways to rid your garden of slugs

Use cornmeal. Slugs love them some cornmeal and it makes them dead.

All you have to do is put a few tablespoons in a glass jar and put that jar on it’s side close to your container garden.

It will attract the slugs. They will eat it and die. Simple and safe way to kill some slugs.

Use beer. Slugs are known alcoholics and can’t resist beer. Dig a small hole and put a shallow dish in the hole. Fill it with beer.

The slugs will fall into the dish of beer and drown in the beer. I know some people that would love to go that way too.

Slug control products. There are also products that you can buy that are non-toxic and safe to use. Safer Brand has a few options for slug control that you can use.

If you sign-up for Safer Brand’s newsletter, you get 10% off all of your purchases. Be sure to sign-up today.

Aphids are wiping out your container garden…

…you have tried a DIY spray to no avail.

You’ve been told that lady bugs eat aphids and are thinking about buying some for your small container garden.

This is the problem that Catherine is having and sent me this question:

I’ve got several containers on my deck (no self watering though, sadly) and my tomato plants are getting hit pretty hard by red aphids and little white bugs. I tried a mixture of onion and garlic juice sprayed directly on them but to no avail. Should I try to get some ladybugs, and if so, how do I just get a few?

Don’t buy lady bugs!

When people say that they have problems with aphids, the “experts” almost immediately chime in like robots and suggest getting lady bugs.

For someone like you Catherine that would be a total waste, you’d release them and they’d fly away like white doves.

Here’s what I’d recommend since you already attempted you homemade spray:

1. Buy an organic pesticide spray such as EndAll™ from Safer Brand. It’s OMRI listed and safe to use.
2. When planning for next season, plant herbs and veggies that will naturally attract the ladybugs such as dill and cilantro.
3. Insect infestations are also usually a sign of a weak plant. You might want to feed the soil more fertilizer to build up it’s strength.

Save your money on the lady bugs, Catherine, and try one of these other solutions.

I know that aphids are a huge pain in the ass. They’ve wiped out a few of my containers in the past.

Your turn

In the comments below, let me know what insects problems you are currently having in your garden and what ridiculous advice have you received from experts to remedy the situation.

Image courtesy of علي الحسين on Flickr.

Are you noticing holes in the leaves of your garden?

Some foreign powdery substances that seem to be spreading?

It’s going to happen eventually. Nobody’s garden is going to be perfect. No matter what you read.

There is no need to beat yourself and think that you’re a failure. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Lets take a look at what might be eating your garden, shall we?

Here they are…

The four common vegetable garden insects and diseases. In each of the posts listed, you’ll learn how to identify, common signs of and how to defend against them.

• Cabbage worms. Learn the tell tale signs of whether you have cabbage worms and how to get rid of them.

• Aphids. You might be noticing some tiny little green, red or red bugs on the underside of your leaves — those are aphids.

• Ants. You will definitely notice if you have ants. It’s not like there are one or two of them.

• Powdery mildew. Is there a white chalky substance on the leaves of your plants? That’s powdery mildew.

If you are looking for products that can are non-toxic (OMRI listed) that can help with nearly all of these problems, I’d recommend checking out SaferBrand and their line of organic insect control products.

Your turn

In the comments below, let me know which of these problems you are currently facing in your garden.

Image courtesy of Jeff Kubina on Flickr.

There is a white chalky substance on the leaves of your plants.

Your container garden looks like Pablo Escobar and his boys had a party in it…

…What happened?

Don’t worry that white powder is not cocaine, it’s powdery mildew.

You’ll notice that the powdery coating is on both sides of the leaves and will eventually start to spread.

Those leaves will eventually turn yellow and die. It can also cause the leaves to twist and turn.

Your container garden looks like Pablo Escobar and his boys had a party in it. What happened? — Tweet This

Vegetables commonly affected by powdery mildew

• Cucumbers
• Peas
• Squash
• Tomatoes

Dealing with powdery mildew

If you are first starting to plant, then one effective way to prevent powdery mildew is to allow for air circulation by pruning the leaves, especially at the bottom. This is because excess moisture is a common cause.

Once powdery mildew strikes, you can combat it with a homemade spray using baking soda and water.

There are also organic fungicidal sprays that you can use as well to help, such as Safer Brands Garden Fungicide.

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Win a Safer Brand Organic Insect & Fungicide Gift Pack

Lucky for you I am now running a contest on Facebook (through April 12, 2012) that includes the Garden Fungicide as part of a gift pack. Check it out and enter today.

Your turn

After you’ve entered the contest, in the comments below let me know which plant of yours has been affected with powdery mildew.

Image courtesy of Jeff Kubina on Flickr.

You have insects in your urban garden…

…and are looking for practical advice and a non-chemical way to treat them.

I’m with you on that.

Some of the worst advice that I’ve received about controlling insects is to buy beneficial insects and release them into the garden.

Really?

Ladybugs have better things to do then what our urban gardens have to offer.

Instead of buying beneficial insects, grow herbs and veggies that will attract them.

Instead of buying beneficial insects, grow herbs and veggies that will attract them. — Tweet This

A Practical Solution to Attracting Beneficial Insects

Grow something that will serve two purposes. One for you to eat and one to attract the beneficial insects.

This isn’t a post of every single plant that will attract every single insect. Those aren’t useful.

It’s a post that will attract two beneficial insects that will help out most urban gardeners – ladybugs and lacewings.

Both of them will take care of aphids and other soft-bodied insects.

What You Can Plant to Attract Ladybugs & Lacewings

Here is a short list of herbs and veggies that you can eat and use to attract these good guys:

• Coriander/Cilantro
• Dandelion
• Dill
• Fennel
• Lady bugs will also be attracted to Marigolds

There are billion other flowers that can be planted to attract these and other beneficial insects, but want to help you really maximize your small space.

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Your Turn

Which of these plants will you start growing to attract these beneficial insects to your urban garden?

Photo courtesy of marakawalv on Flickr

When I was checking out my balcony garden, I noticed that one container looked pretty empty. After taking a closer look, I thought to myself…when did I plant aloe?

Turns out it wasn’t aloe, but it was a container that used to be collard greens? Cabbage worms went to town on them and completely devoured them. By the time I noticed, it wasn’t even salvageable so I let them have their way.

I’ve had pest problems before with the aphid infestation and have also wrestled with cabbage worms.

What pests are eating your garden? How to do you combat them without using toxic pesticides?

I had my first problems with garden insects a few weeks ago. I wound up wrestling cabbage worms and fighting aphids.

Since then, it got me thinking…What would Mr. Miyagi do when faced with cabbage worms and aphids?

It came to me. Mr. Miyagi would use natural garden pest control, so would I.

I’ve been using chopsticks to pick the cabbage worms off the purple kale and toss them off of my balcony garden. The damage that’s been done is pretty serious. They’ve managed to chew up most of the leaves. The kale is looking pretty weak and beaten up. On a good note, I haven’t seen cabbage worms in a few days.

For the aphids I thought, “Spray on. Spray off.” So I made a homemade organic aphid spray using Dr. Bronner’s soap. I’ve been spraying down the plants once a day with the soap, then spraying it off with some water afterwards.

That’s how Mr. Miyagi inspired for my natural garden pest control.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Q3JM0aO9I

I was tending to the balcony garden, taking care of the self-watering containers and spraying down the seeds when I noticed a big bit hole taken out of a romaine lettuce leaf.

When I took a closer look at the leaves, I saw a little green critter on the back of a leaf. Pretty sure it was a cabbage worm that was going to town and munching on my stuff.

It took a few attempts to get him (of course it’s a him, right?) off of the plant. A knife was used to get him off the leaf and he fell into the container. I was having a bit of trouble getting him out of the container. Finally, I scooped him out with a piece of paper and tossed his ass off the balcony.

Then I noticed one chilling in the oak greens as well. I got rid of that one much quicker.

Once I got rid of those two little bastids, I was poking around for some signs of more. I noticed little whitish/green bugs on the romaine lettuce as well that I believe are aphids. I just used a water spray bottle to get rid of them.

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Not sure if this is something that I should be more proactive about in preventing. I could just keep checking each morning and wrestling the worms or I could make a garlic or pepper spray to use on the plants to combat the pests.

What’s your thoughts on the best way to handle this? Check every morning? Garlic spray? Pepper spray?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZUotGCoCh0