every year i plant cucmbers and squash and every year a get some but then those pesky cucber beatles come and atack... i know i can use pesticeds to kill them but i thought the point of growing my own vegies is so i dont eat pestecieds.... anyone with experiance on this please HELP
Diatomaceous earth and or Neem oil, might be organic methods of control. I also have experimented with HOT garlic bulb species and cayenne pepper. These would have to be applied on a two week basis for many reasons.
Do a search for an organic garlic bulb grower in Texas. I am sorry, I don't have it at the moment, but I buy my Hot (insecticidle) garlic species from him. Seems to work on many varmints. As always rainfall, diminishes all of these controls.
I would check with your Agriculture agent or local nursery for some advice if you resort to pesticides. Some are organic based and have a short toxicity life. Nictotine sulfate used to be one of these. I doubt that it is available any more, for though it was safe (degrades in days) it is totally lethal to the applicant should it be orally or dermally applied. So much for "SAFE" organics.
One other footnote. Powdered ginger is another possible organic suggestion. Seems to have some affect on slugs at least. Again, you can make a spray of it, or simply sprinkle it around the perimeter of your strawberrys, whatever.
Diatomaceus earth and Rotenone remain my first suggetions. The former can be bought cheap in large 50 lb. bags if you go to an ag. store. If you buy it on the interenet or the small nursery you will pay big bucks for a 1 -5 lb. box.
Put a clove of garlic around the plants, seems to work on houseplants. Whatever you do, keep track of your application and experiment. Take note of the results around the different plants and next year you can get back to us.
I hope folks realize that 3 billion lbs of pesticides are used in the U.S. and Canada every year. Back to the chili thing. It also works on deer. I simply use a Melitta sp? type coffee maker and pour boiling water into the filter, filled with chili powder as one would use coffee. That quart of hot stuff could then be poured into a one gallon sprayer, be diluted and sprayed. Same thing for crushed hot garlic bulbs. Those I would just put in an old nylon/ panty hose and let sit in what was hot water overnight.
In both cases I would make sure not to re-use the items for normal use. I did that with the melitta filter, not realizing the hot chili would impregnate the plastic. My now ex-wife did not appreciate the chili coffee she gulped down the next morning. Go figure, I thought it put an extra spark in her morning caffein rush.
I also learned to keep a garden blender separate from the household blender. Somehow rinsing it out was not enough after I mixed manure with buttermilk to make the moss grow better on my rocks or bonsai.
My garden blog may help but when I try to give the site page it does not work so specific articles might load better.
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