Bugs in the garden

[OldMech]

I did not spray my garden this year, for fear of harming my bees... however.. the loss was nearly total..  So I am looking for alternatives.. If I cant figure something out, I will be forced to spray or at least use SOMETHING to keep the bugs out of the cukes, tomatoes and corn....  Months of weeding/watering/pruning etc to watch the bugs eat everything in the last few days is really upsetting...   Twice I have headed into the house to get the sprayer... but have calmed down by the time I got to it...
It seems a tough choice.. No garden, or no bees   :'(

[buzzbee]

There are alternatives to toxic sprays.Soapy water is one.Bees also are not usually interested in the plants unless they are flowering.So unless the hives are next to the garden and something is in Bloom,you can treat cautiously.Just be sure to follow label directions and avoid dusty things like Sevin.
Just do a Google search on Chen free pest control and you may find an alternative method that works for you depending on garden size.
One tip a local gardener told me about is plant your brocolli and cauliflower so that it matures early fall instead of early summer and you avoid a lot of the bugs that are normally attracted to it.

[GSF]

The soapy water thing works but some plants can't take it.

This is the time of year that the insects riot. They start in the spring. 1+1=3, 3+3=6, 6+6=12, ect.

I have purposely grew a second garden (starting in Jul/Aug) just to refresh my memory. It pretty much isn't worth it unless you are starving. I have 17 ea 55 gl drums that I used to water with a soaker hose(s). I sprayed and sprayed just to have cut worms cut the new sprouts down before or as they were breaking the ground. All that water and all those roots still underground may have had something or a lot to do with my root knot nematode problem last year.

[iddee]

Sprinkle hydrated lime over the plants. It will repel all insects without killing them. Don't get it on the blooms and you will still have pollination. It not only keeps the plants free of bugs, but also raises the PH of your soil.

What the old timers called sweetening the soil"

[Orlando]

You should look into planting a variety of herbs in your garden that you allow to flower (several mints, hyssop, etc.) They attract alot of insects (parasitic wasps, etc) that are natural enemies of bugs that attack your garden. I have.done this for years, never spray a thing.

[GSF]

Orlando, How big is your garden? How many feet by how many feet? I've looked into what you're talking about. I wasn't sure how well it would work for a spot as big as mine - heck I can't remember the size.

[LindaL]

My all around bug killer is to use a 1 liter spray bottle,  Old window washing bottle works fine.   Add two teaspoons of normal dish soap and a tea spool of vinegar mix it up spray it on plants.  Keeps most thing from munching on my plants.

Have you tried companion planting?  Radishes are a good deterrent against cucumber beetles. Dill planted with cucumbers helps by attracting beneficial predators. Nasturtium improves growth and flavor.    I planted onions and tomatoes next to my carrots last year and it worked grate why i didn't do it this year i don't know.


Linda.

[Orlando]

Orlando, How big is your garden? How many feet by how many feet? I've looked into what you're talking about. I wasn't sure how well it would work for a spot as big as mine - heck I can't remember the size.

We have 5 square foot garden raised beds. They are each 8x4. We plant just a few herbs in the beds. However, adjacent to those beds we have a 10x4 area with assorted herbs that we just let grow out.

[OldMech]

Wonder how well that would work in a 40' by 100' garden?

   My cucumber leaves looked like leaf skeletons. Every tomato had at minimum one hole in it, most had three, some had more. I took to picking the tomatoes about the time they started to turn orange and ripened them on the counter... but having 300 tomatoes on the counter left little room for normal activities.. the tomato plants grew so hard and fast they crushed the wire supports I had put around them, it was just difficult to keep ahead of the bugs.     
   Cabbage and lettuce were both thoroughly bored through in dozens of places. Sweet corn.. I managed to save some half ears by breaking them in half to get rid of the myriad of little black beetles and green worms. Peas were a total write off. beans as well. Everything that sprouted on them was devoured until they finally died. Radishes faired OK, but lots of holes in leaves and holes in SOME radishes.
   My peppers seemed to be unaffected by anything, as did my onions. Both produced exceptionally well, but ripening my tomatoes on the counter left the salsa a little more blah than I like it.

   I need to figure something out..   I will try the soap and vinegar..  anyone know what effect that will have on corn silks?  If I must, I can walk through the rows and spray every ear as they begin to develop..
 

[iddee]

If you garden looked like this, there would be no bugs. This is lime, NOT sevin.

[OldMech]

So you mix the lime with water and spray it on the leaves iddee?

   I will have to check the soil before I add more lime...  there was a pile 12 feet high and 70 feet long of cow manure and lime when we acquired the property, and 90% of that is now in the garden, the rest was tilled into what became our lawn...

   So you mix the lime with water and spray it on the leaves?

[GSF]

NO! NO! NNNNNOOOOOO!!!!!


You put the lime wid de coconut...

[iddee]

NO. I just throw handfuls of the powder on the plants. You may have to do it again after a heavy rain or wind.

[Joe D]

I have a collard or cabbage plant at the end of each row, the bugs loved them.  I have 16 tomato plants, couple of days ago saw the first cut (4) worms this year.   Rabbits did eat some of the blooms off the squash and zucchini.




Joe

[Linda32]

When you these kind of vegetables or fruits in your garden so definitely the bugs get attracted to your house, because they find there some food there, it's the reason why i don't like to grow these things in my garden.

[jayj200]

neem oil helps