Bug, bugs,

 

Hello,
Id like some suggestions for bug control.
I got bugs holes  in my eggplant  leaves already .  Two days ago it was 1/8
inch holes. Tonight  there's sections missing.   And I see a chew spot in
one of my lettuces.   In the past I used to just buy seven or bug spray.
Diazinion ,Pyrithon,  And spray everything.
    I had some 70% neem oil  from my old hydro setup I put on them for
tonight. As I have to go to work. The bug are very small black and some
white bugs. I'm guessing aphids or something similar. I'm also thinking the
neem oil will drop them.  But I foresee more problems as it warms up.  I
have some books with common bug pictures in them. So identification isn't a
problem.

I've just grown a bit smarter about chemicals on my food . And I'm not sure
what to do.  I saw some grubs when I was putting my onion sets in last week.
Which isn't the problem now. I just saw them.   And my old mode of operation
would be to get a big bag of Grub x and do my whole lawns and garden. Kill
everything for miles.


But if I want pesticides in my food I will go to the supermarket.

I will get Japanese beetles in my grape vines later on too.    I have
earwigs in the lawn.    Last year I sprayed beetle spray everywhere because
earwigs got in my tent. And the spray  wiped everything out.  I was pleased
with that stuff. But I had no garden then.

I found a bottle of vegy and fruit  spray. Some of that diamatous dirt .

I guess I've just started the wheels turning .

Ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

Diesel.

 



Last year Bill suggested "Milky Spore" but I guess it was too late in
the season. For some other ideas around integrated pest management (IPM)
see <http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/pub_phjbeetle04.pdf>
and
<http://www.landscape-america.com/problems/insects/japanese_beetle_contro
ls.html>

Good luck,
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

 




problem.
    Well, then, why didn't you tell us what  kinds of "bugs" they are?
Sharing is a good thing. If you establish a well-balanced community
garden with a variety of interplanted and succession planted veggies (as
opposed to a communal garden in which a few active gardeners provide
their deadweight neighbors with food for no good reason), with a few
exceptions, you will find that insect "pests" will not decimate your
produce as they do when large areas are planted with the same thing.
    Down here, it never gets cold enough to reduce the insect
population significantly and I've gardened for many years without the
use of synthetic or manufactured pesticides. My most reliable natural
insecticides are insectivorous semi-social and solitary wasps that I
encourage to nest in my low-tillage garden, Bt, Octagon brand soap
(although, those premium priced high-fat "insecticidal" soaps might work
as well), water stream, hands/digits. I am using neem oil for the first
time ever this year and have found it, so far, to be completely useless
for any purpose. I don't suppose the targeted insects have read the
literature. It remains to be seen whether neem oil will protect against
downy mildew and/or powdery mildew, both of which are serious problems
in Florida's humid climate and against which copper-based fungicides
have little effect.
    I adhere to highly intensive garden practices. My garden is _never_
without something growing in it. The necessity of allowing ones garden
to lie "fallow" and non-productive for any significant period (longer
than a few days) is a myth. I learned long ago that the most important
thing a gardener can do to ensure healthy veggies with minimal insect
damage is to keep the soil well-stocked with organic matter and
micro-organisms, even if you have to buy them, and to monitor soil pH
closely. You can judge your garden soil's health by its smell, its
taste, and the relative density of earthworm population. You may not be
able to define it but healthy earth smells and tastes "good".
    Don't make the amateur's mistake of buying adult predatory insects
thinking that they will protect your garden. They won't. They will
leave. If you must buy insects, buy only pre-adult instars so that
adults emerge amidst their food supply; buy only species that occur
naturally in your habitat and introduce them only when they would emerge
naturally. If you are going to depend on so-called "beneficial" insects
to help control pests, you must bear in mind the basic law of nature
that predator species, on their own, do not exhaust their food sources
and you must be willing to accept some residual level of "pestiferous"
species and the damage that they do in order to keep the good guys
around to keep the bad boys within bounds.
--
the Balvenieman
running on single malt in USDA zone 9b
"You know what they say: Once you kill a cow,
You gotta make a burger" --Lady Gaga

 

nospam@nospam.none says...

If the leaves are shot through with lots of tiny holes, that would be
flea beetle.

Look up predatory nematodes and their application. They are a control
for flea beetle and other larvae including IIRC, lawn grubs.

Earwigs are relatively harmless. -- Wiping everything out, if you are
serious about this is not good. Wiping everything out means that you are
creating more problems than you solve by destroying your predators.

Aphids can be knocked down with stream of water from a hose but be aware
that a water stream can shred some tender plants

http://eap.mcgill.ca/PCA_2.htm

Wasps are your friend. They clean up on caterpillars including
cabbageworms.

Our nearly quarter acre garden/lot takes care of itself for the most
part. We lose a little to bugs and the predators kill off most of the
bugs. Our only occasional real critter problem is Marmota monax
(groundhog).

 



  Thanks,  Further  observation confirms  They are flea beetles.    Is
rotonone  still legal??