silver mulch

[mayhaw]

has anyone tried silver mulch as a deterrent to flea beetles? i was happily anticipating my first greens until i remembered how much damage they did last year. floating row covers seemed to increase the problem.

[Pharmerphil]

I haven't myself, but monitered a gardener down the road that has tried it...Failure!
Row covers, I see this everywhere as a 'fix'..WRONG, gives them 'privacy' to dine!
Catnip will help deter them, but you must cut it down before it seeds, or next year, you will have a big old crop of it, and a bunch of Happy Kittys.
Some advice, from a Very popular source, suggests Talcum Powder, I advise against this. Some talc has minute traces of asbestos in it, others...more.
The more your soil leans towards organic, the less of a problem they should be.
Row covers don't work because they will be in the ground, just waiting for a little privacy, hence, the use of BENEFICIAL NEMATODES! These work wonders.
I use Neem oil, and garlic spray. as an alternative, you can interplant your crops with garlic. Keeping your garden clean and free of debris will aid you in your battle, and in the worst case scenario, dust, or spray with rotenone

[mayhaw]

thanks. i'll try the cat nip and the interplanting with garlic.

what is neem oil?

what do you think about planting say a bunch of boc choy all over the garden, you know a boc choy here and a boc choy there instead of in rows?

[Pharmerphil]

neem oil is a extract from the seed of the neem tree, It is a widely used component in both organic pesticide and fungicide products, although in very small percentages.
It is also avalable in a 100% oil form, and diluted to the optimum range is very affective.
As far as spreading the "choi" SORRY, I COULDN'T RESIST I suppose in small amounts, why not...I am not even concerned with the cosmetic value of a garden, just the productivity, I don't care about a row being crooked, or a plant, out of place, whatever that means! Your garden is just that, Do with it what you find pleasing.http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/chobb/pharmer.gif

[Liberty_Man]

neem oil is a extract from the seed of the neem tree, It is a widely used component in both organic pesticide and fungicide products, although in very small percentages.
It is also avalable in a 100% oil form, and diluted to the optimum range is very affective.
As far as spreading the "choi" SORRY, I COULDN'T RESIST I suppose in small amounts, why not...I am not even concerned with the cosmetic value of a garden, just the productivity, I don't care about a row being crooked, or a plant, out of place, whatever that means! Your garden is just that, Do with it what you find pleasing

I've got flea beetles this year for the first time ever on my bean plants. Are they really supposed to be such a problem? I see em.. just not that they are doing so much damage that i can see where it will negatively effect the plants. I don't know if the silver mulch thing was answered yet. Will it help or not? Cause i'm not worried about spraying the plants with neem if there isn't really gonna be that much damage. The catnip i'll try if it works.. so what's the answer?

[Ohiorganic]

I have tried white mulch as a deterant and that did not work at all, if anything we had more problems.

I find row covers with water filled sticky traps placed about every 4' in the row work the best-complete eradication of Flea beetles within 48 hours (as long as the covers stay on)

this technique will not work with beans, though. Beans tend to get way too leggy under covers and fall over when they set fruit. I use it fir eggplant and arugula as those are the two crops I grow that get hammered by FB's.

[JLJ]

What kind of "water filled sticky traps"?

[Ohiorganic]

any plastic pop or water bottle will do-actually, anything that can hold water and has a lid

[stone]

I've got flea beetles this year for the first time ever on my bean plants. Are they really supposed to be such a problem? I see em.. just not that they are doing so much damage that i can see where it will negatively effect the plants.
I don't usually notice them in the Autumn, & as long as they stick to the weeds... They're on the evening primrose... they aren't a prob...

They become a prob in my garden in the spring... They attack the mustard and turnips, laying eggs which hatch into disgusting looking larva... which quickly lay waste to entire beds of greens... once they start, I turn the crop under, it would be gone in a few days anyway...

[melodyelf]

the way I've been getting my kids to eat their veggies is by serving them first, like an appetizer. they get the rest of the meal after they finish their veggies. otherwise my daughter will always fill up on other stuff and then tell me she's too full to eat the veggies.