8 - Pest Control

Organic Pest Control

Remember never to use pesticides and herbicides (conventional agricultural products) which can kill essential good organisms as well as bad ones. Also, grow plants that discourage pests and attract beneficial insects.

The book Good Bug Bad Bug by Jessica Walliser is an indispensable field guide for common invasive and beneficial insects in the garden. It has the best organic advice on attracting good bugs and managing bad bugs. Book on Amazon

Rotate your plant families every year

Don’t plant the same crop in the same bed (or same spot) the following year since pest eggs are in the soil. Usually a pests damages plants from one family. So rotate the crops. Be creative about rotating crops. Best to rotate between 3 raised beds. Rotating between 2 raised bed rotations can also help. If you have only one garden bed rotate with neighbors who also have raised beds. Watch video

Squash vine borer moth and caterpillar

To keep the vine borer moth from laying eggs on squash plants in the early summer after planting cover the seedlings with Floating Row Covers. Secure the fabric to the ground to keep the vine borer moth out. Cover a whole bed of squash or just individual plants, The moth is small and looks like a red and black bee. If you see eggs (tiny bronze dots) remove them immediately. Dust the soil around the stem with diatomaceous earth to kill vine borer caterpillars. Tromboncino squash resists vine borer because it has a hard stem. Watch video

Cabbage worms and cabbage loopers

Cabbage worm and cabbage looper eat holes in leaves of the brassica family (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, collards, bok choy and kale). The cabbage worm is the larva of the cabbage white butterfly. The cabbage looper is the larva of the nocturnal brown moth. Although green like the cabbageworm, the looper is slightly larger (1.5-2 in) with white stripes. Prevent cabbage loopers

First, block the butterfly and moth from laying eggs on your seedlings with Floating Row Covers. Place it gently and bury the edge in soil or lay rocks along the sides. It can be annoying to remove the row cover to cultivate and weed, but a lot less annoying than losing plants to hungry worms.

Kill cabbage worms and loopers with insecticidal soap spray. Buy it or make it yourself. Insecticidal soap kills common pests on houseplants and garden plants on contact by suffocating small, soft-bodied bugs such as aphids, mealy bugs, thrips, whiteflies, spider mites, leaf hoppers, and earwigs. The fatty acids disrupt the permeability and structure of the insects’ cell membranes, dissolving their exoskeletons and dehydrating them. Watch Video.

Keep squirrels from eating your tomatoes

Learn about the squirrel combat zone.

Try growing only cherry tomatoes. Squirrels tend not to eat my cherry tomatoes, but do eat all larger tomatoes from my experience.
Put a small brown paper lunch bag over the tomato when it starts turning red but is still mostly green. If the squirrel doesn’t see the tomato it doesn’t know it’s there. Check every day for new ripening tomatoes.
Cover the tomato bed with deer barrier netting. Securely attach vertical posts in the corners of the bed (or pound into the ground) and drape the netting over them. Weight down the bottom of the netting with bricks or stones. If you grow indeterminate tomatoes make the roof of the netting a little taller than your trellis or tomato cage.
Surround a single tomato plant with hardware cloth – a kind of screen that can be taller than a tomato cage.
Dogs and some cats often will keep the squirrels away from your tomato beds even if they are NOT always in the yard. Squirrels don’t like to nest and hang out in yards where dogs and cats live.

Slugs

Slugs lay clusters of translucent, pearly-shaped eggs under debris or buried beneath the soil surface. They can lay between 20 to 100 eggs several times per year, taking approximately two years for slugs to reach maturity. Watch video “How to get Rid of Slugs.”

Powdery mildew and blossom end rot

Spray first with insecticidal soap to kill and bugs. Then spray with dilute solution of baking soda and water (one tablespoon per gallon). Do this every 3 days until the powdery mildew is gone. Watch video1 Watch video2

Jumping worms

Jumping worms are a new invasive species that harms our soils. Watch video. See photo below.

Organic ways to keep pests away

Pest repelling plants like marigolds. Marigolds are edible! Try them in soups, stews, rice, or other dishes to add a subtle flavor. They can help to get rid of pests and add beauty/color to flower and vegetable gardens.
Natural pesticides can control some insects and diseases. Some ingredients are neem oil, BT bacteria, copper, and sulfur. Because they break down quickly, natural pesticides have to be applied much more frequently than their synthetic counterparts. Make a natural pesticide yourself called insecticidal soap using dawn dish soap, vegetable oil, and soft water. Mix 2.5 tablespoons of dish soap and 2.5 tablespoons of oil with 1 gallon of warm soft water.
Use beneficial nematodes to control grubs, fungus gnats, fleas and over 200 other soil pests! They are thread-like microscopic, colorless, round worms found in soil and water throughout the world. More nematode details
Plant pest resistant veggie varieties. Tatsoi (similar to broccoli) and tromboncino squash resist pests. Our seedling pre-ordering sale includes our favorite pest resistant varieties.