Posted by Dragonfly in Growing Stuff on January 14, 2014 at 18:17
PermalinkAs a newbie to veggie gardening, what natural methods work best for controlling aphids, worms, etc. on the veggie plants?
I have read articles about mixing water, cayenne pepper and a little liquid soap into a sprayer. Has anyone tried this with any success?
I may give it a shot today as we have some aphids on the underside of some of the chard. They wash right off, but I don't like having to really wash and examine every leaf THAT closely before I eat it! I am sure I may have eaten a few . . :)
5 comments
I've had good success with loading a bit of dishwashing liquid into a hose-on spray bottle, which originally came as a liquid seaweed fertiliser bottle with a hose attachment. The bottle has a capacity of about 1 litre, and I just add a good solid squirt of detergent, and then spray it on until it's all gone, as part of a normal watering session - it takes around 15-20 minutes of hosing to empty the bottle.
I do this twice in a growing season. There are still a few bugs, but not nearly so many, and my chard leaves are no longer more hole than leaf!
I agree the other thing that seems to help gardens is planting some flowers to attract bee's which help get rid of smaller bugs and also planting onion or garlic plants on the out side of the garden which seems to help as well. We had a huge bug fest that was clearing the bean plants on either side of our garden plot but our garden really just had some visiting here and there.
I know this sounds crazy - but I went to a lecture about good bugs and bad bugs. Last year my squash plants were covered in aphids. I sat on my hands "literally" to see if the PhD. from my lecture was correct or not. I knew what lady bug nymphs looked like, and sure enough, within days, lady bugs were all over the situation. As long as there is no infestation, trust the good bugs to come to the rescue, but you have to wait and look for the signs and google the bug cycle of the lady bug so you know what the Calvary looks like. Sometimes, if you treat for aphids, you also hurt the lady bugs. Give Nature a chance to work.
Marigolds!
I agree the other thing that seems to help gardens is planting some flowers to attract bee's which help get rid of smaller bugs and also planting onion or garlic plants on the out side of the garden which seems to help as well. We had a huge bug fest that was clearing the bean plants on either side of our garden plot but our garden really just had some visiting here and there. Katni Marble Exporter.