July 27, 2015

 

Once the critter is ID’d and you know its life history you will find out how quickly it can reproduce. This can give you a clue as to how quickly you need to respond. Spider mites are tiny little guys that like to suck the fluids out of plants. An ID book shows a picture (of a spider mite) that is roughly 3/16 of an inch in size ( 1 /16 of an inch is one inch broken into 16 equal parts) and by the picture it states that the 3/16 inch picture is 10 times the actual size. These guys are miniscule. Spider mites do not like water and spraying the foliage with water can help control them, careful you can drown your plants.  Spider mites are a very formative predator. Their reproduction capabilities: 60 degrees, egg to adult is 30 days. This would provide a bit of a buffer to get them under control. At 90 degrees the egg to adult period is a mere 3.5 days. If you know that you have a spider mite problem at this time, most likely there is nothing you can do. Signs of spider mites are leaves that are dull in color with lighter spots on the leaves, a general dull desiccated look. As the population increases webbing shows on the leaves, hence their name sake. Spider mites colonize the tops of plants. The driest location of the plant.

Plant predation can happen quickly.

Your bug is ID’d and you have learned all you can about it, you are ready to control them. I must emphasize Control. Control is what it imply s, one does not want to eradicate ALL of your would be diners. If you did then there would be nothing for the beneficial insects to be attracted to your garden.

Most of the following defenses should be in affect before the diner guests arrive. These have the potential of alleviating or even preventing an outbreak.

First line of defense: create a very diverse environment in your garden. This could be just a wide variety of veggies, collection of flowering herbs or even a wild flower garden to draw in predator Predators. Has a nice ring to it.

Secondly: exclusion is the least lethal but also one of the most affective controls. If a critter can't get to it, it won't be eaten. I must relate a grasshopper story. The outbreak of 2004 there were so many that they were literally eating through the fabric. This was a very hopeless situation. This is why you need many different approaches to your control practices! Control solution later.

Thirdly: hand control, not for the squeamish but very affective. At least you have 100 percent certainty that that bug will not see your garden ever again. For small gardens this may be the only control that is needed. It becomes more difficult when a garden has several hundred plants.

Fourthly: repellents, can move would be diners out of the garden. This could be a garlic spray for flea beetles.

Fifth: Traps can be effective but they must be monitored daily. A trap can be as simple as a board in the garden to lure pill bugs, squash bugs or any pest that likes to hide in the day. Lift the board in the morning and pour boiling water on these guys. Organic control can be ruthless.

Sixth: fowl, will clean a buffer around your garden, but be very  very  very careful if they enter the garden proper!!! They will thrash anything green!!!.It was my guinea fowl that finally brought the grasshoppers that ate their way through my fabric under control. They are awesome!!

Lastly one would move onto sprays. One has to be very careful because YOU can very easily destroy all of your patiently created biodiversity in one swoop.

There are a number of Organic pesticides on the market. Not screaming but being very adamant!. JUST BECAUSE THE SPRAY IS ORGANIC APPROVED DOES NOT MEAN IT CAN NOT BE DETRIMENTAL TO HUMANS TOO!

That said one must research their pesticide use. READ THE LABEL! Be careful of over spray onto non target areas, wear appropriate attire, use proper timing and follow up spraying.

I have said on many occasions that I am a reluctant sprayer. But sometimes push comes to shove. I will list some of the sprays I have used and the results I have achieved with them. Johnny's Selected Seeds, Peaceful Valley Farm Supply and most other seed houses sell organic pesticides.

I have used soap spray. A very effective spray on aphids and spider mites along with most other soft bodied pest, but a huge drawback of soap spray is that not only is it a broad spectrum pesticide but also it causes a photo and phyto toxicity to your pants. Simply it burns the foliage even if it is washed off after a few minutes. It must be noted the only killing power is right at the time of spraying, no residual affect.

Bt, Bacillus thuringiensis is very effective on caterpillars. It can kill any of the Lepidoptera family (moths and butterflies). This is where it is EXTREMELY important to know your target and be very careful with over spray. This will kill non targets just as easy. One must be very careful of over using Bt because it can cause insects to build up an immunity to it. Bt works on contact but also can be ingested.

Clarified hydrophobic neem oil is very good for aphids and spider mites. This is a neem oil that has had most of the growth hormones removed and is just a contact pesticide like soap sprays. It does have a smell to it that works as a repellent too. There is no residual affect from clarified neem oil.

Probably my biggest cannon in my arsenal is Cold Pressed Neem oil. A very impressive pesticide! I have not found any scientific data showing any contradictory info on cold pressed neem. Neem has been used in India for a very long time and India seems to be thriving. It is used for hair wash, gingivitis, along with other hygiene uses. Dosages would be small but none the less, it is not the same as spraying yourself with DDT to remove body lice.

Cold pressed neem, other than its oil properties, does not kill on contact. The oil suffocates the pest. Care must be taken that there are no beneficial insects around when it is sprayed. This contact property of the oil WILL kill lady bugs and honey bees as well. The best time to spray is in the evening.

Growth hormones within the neem once eaten, cause the pest to either stop feeding and / or stop molting. Death is certain but not directly from the neem. It is for this reason that insects have not been able to build up a resistance to neem oil. It is affective on over 100 garden pests. The oil does exhibit systemic properties and is taken up by the plant roots. There is a neem oil smell that has repelling properties too. Used as a foliar spray, it breaks down in 8 hours of sunlight. As a systemic there is a 14 day period that it remains active within the plant. Do not expose freshly sprayed foliage to sunlight it WILL burn the plants.

 For me this is a last resort remedy. Whenever a pesticide is used there usually are secondary casualties that may not be evident right away.

 Those hormones removed from Clarified hydrophobic neem, are sold on the market in concentrated forms. Like so many things I feel that the whole of something is much more than the parts. Take the simple tomato, grown in the ground taking up all those soil goodies coupled with warmth and sunshine and then bite into a vine ripe tomato it is a bit of ecstasy. On the other hand take a hydroponic grown tomato that is “getting all it needs” with a chemical solution of NPK. Granted there is warmth and sunshine too but there just is not that same moment of bliss when you bite into a hothouse tomato. The whole is greater than the parts!!

 I still search for scientific data against Cold Pressed Neem Oil. I may not be asking the right questions!

If the neem oil container Does Not specifically say “Cold Pressed Neem Oil”, it is Clarified Hydrophobic Neem Oil, the refined one without the hormones.

One last important note: if the veggies need to have insects washed off at preparation time, this is not a bad thing. This could be considered as a proof of purchase sticker. If insects can eat the veggie and not die, it can be consumed by humans!!