Pick one

[leelanau_ferg]

If you could only have one organic pest control product, but had multiple types of pests, which would you choose? (And healthy soil doesn't count, we already know that's a good idea) :D

[Cliff Timmons]

Seven Dust,...... errrrr sorry.

I'll sit here in the corner for a while.

[dirtundernails]

Guinea fowl...

[cReAtIoN gRoAnS]

Hey Dun,

I must have a particular stupid variety of guinea.....they have killed more than they have cured.....Just the other day they wiped out a zucchini plant.....the have done a number on my grapes and cherry bushes....read the gardening with guineas book....hmmm.....no comment....


I am really glad that you are having better blessings than I am!


Oh....mine would be safers.....

[Bellepepper]

Also read the gardening with guineas book. Unfortunately, the guineas didn't read it.
But then the guineas didn't read the book that says "Owls will get ya". We no longer have guineas. Now we have peacocks. They eat flowers. Thought for a while they were eating potato bugs. Nope, the potato bugs just haden't got here yet. Cliff, I'm going to have to sit in the corner with you with my empty shaker container of Seven.

[zebraman]

Hey BellPepper;Do you have Blue India's or Java Green's?Yeah We have Potato Bugs(Jerusalem Crikets) Can bite the %#*^ out of you.Our Potato bugs are about 3 in.long,Live in the dirt like a grub,Looks like an Alien Baby with really big "Teeth".Are these what you have in KS?-

[tabitha]

i really like the Safer Brand insect soap. we also use DE, but it has to be reapplied a lot.

everyone around here tells me i cant grow ______ (insert here) without Sevin dust. pathetic! of course you can. Ortho and the like just want you to think you cant.

i admit i spend over 3 hours a day in the garden, every day. but i love it, and i can eat and touch anything without poisoning myself.

tabitha

[bluelacedredhead]

"everyone around here tells me i cant grow ______ (insert here) without Sevin dust."

Tabitha, you aren't alone fighting the chemical crowd.
12 years ago, I argued til I was blueintheface with the wife of a childhood friend over the fact that I didn't use chemical fertilizers and spray corn for pests..To this day, she still insists that "You can't do that" because it's not the way she does it and she's never heard of whatever method it is that I am using...
But oddly enough, when I GAVE them a bushel of corn that year for free and asked later "how many borer?" in that bushel of ears..She sheepishly replied NONE..

I still am under suspicion for all of my gardening and livestock practices, but I don't hear "can't" nearly as often as I used to ;)

[tabitha]

nice to know i am not alone!

i am pretty new to this on my own (i grew up gardening, but my family and i have just returned to the country where we can give it a real go) and people think i am nuts. i guess i dont blame them. i have a Jersey cow and we dont buy milk products anymore. chickens and we dont buy eggs. meat chickens... building a root cellar. most people around here wonder why we would want all this, since their parents and granparents gave it up for modern things.

i dont care if i lose some ears of corn, or have holes in the outer leaves of my cabbages. bugs gotta eat, too.

tabitha

[flowerpower]

I don't use any chemicals either. I think the best pest control is animals. The toads, snakes, and salamanders are very good at keeping down the insects.

[TastyofHasty]

I LOVE laughing out loud as I read through stuff. So really enjoy THIS thread. CreationGroans, DUMB guineas ... har! and do you mean some of you-all are NOT compleeeeetly organic??? (hey, I sprayed some darned tentworms this spring with malathion ... I know, immediately find that corner!!) (it prob'ly wasn't even the right spray for 'em, shows what I know!) ... but so far ... with my veggies ... I AM INNOCENT!!! WANTed to do Pharmer Phil's thing and make tanglefoot traps out of margarine tubs ... but try finding tanglefoot at Walmart! (I actually DID find 'DORMANT OIL' at Walmart ... it was in late May. That is when to look for Dormant Oil at Walmart, everybody. Late MAY! You will only have to wait about 6 months to use it!) And so ... anybody know any recipes for "tanglefoot-like" insect catcher? Maybe ... jello(?) ...

And there's the "two onions, one bunch garlic, marinate in 1 gallon water in sun a day or two, remove solids, add 1 tsp veg. oil, 1 tsp. dish detergent, and spray" recipe. I made that. The bugs I sprayed it on lay down on their sides. Don't know if they got up again. Or just decided they didn't want to live anymore in such a stinky world(?)

[Mary]

I like to go out in the garden while I'm working and eat without the thought of chemicals.Yesterday I ate a snow pea while I was out there, it was so good.When you use chemicals its not organic so why bother buying organic seeds.Just my two cents worth,I not putting anyone down because it is awful to have them bugs take away all you have worked for.

[Lavandula Girl]

I send my kids and their friends through the garden with little plastic tubs. They pick off every bug they can find, and are rewarded with popsicles. It gives me a chance to look at what is actually out there, and separate the good bugs back into the garden. The baddies get sent to insect heaven. Of course, this will only work with creatures that can easily be picked off, but the kids definitely provide the garden with a formidible line of defense! We all like to be able to pick and eat while out there, so I don't do the chemical thing....

[ipaintedmyhousewhite]

When you all say "Safers" do you mean the bottle that says 3 in 1 on the front, that is the combo insecticide and fungicidal soap? Or are there other Safers things?

[Cliff Timmons]

I send my kids and their friends through the garden with little plastic tubs. They pick off every bug they can find, and are rewarded with popsicles. It gives me a chance to look at what is actually out there, and separate the good bugs back into the garden. The baddies get sent to insect heaven. Of course, this will only work with creatures that can easily be picked off, but the kids definitely provide the garden with a formidible line of defense! We all like to be able to pick and eat while out there, so I don't do the chemical thing....

I need to hire you kidletts to pick ticks off my property. <grin>

[tabitha]

i assume when people refer to 'safers' they mean 'safer brand', the entire line of which can bee found here. www.saferbrand.com

tabitha

[Lavandula Girl]

I need to hire you kidletts to pick ticks off my property. <grin>
Unfortunately, ticks only seem to like me out there - the kids NEVER find them, and I've done the lyme disease thing twice! Oh, and no, I won't come sweep your property! ;)

[Cliff Timmons]

Well, what kind of neighbor are you? <grin>

[johno]

Flowerpower has granted sound advice. I have found that a water garden in the center of my vegetable garden attracts hordes of bug-eating critters, just be sure to include a couple goldfish to eat the mosquito larvae.

Also, to answer your question more precisely, If I had to choose one organic pest control product, it would be neem. It doesn't get everything, but used early and on a regular basis, it controls a wide variety of insect pests. It is a fungicide, as well.