The most important concept to remember is that weeds
proliferate in unbalanced soils, and insects and diseases feed on
unhealthy plants. A garden or field full of pests is not normal.
Once
you know that, it’s all about implementing the steps in this book. When
we stop spraying toxins, provide sufficient water, increase humus and
improve the soil food web, balance soil nutrients and ensure there is proper energy in the system, pests go away.
- Phil Nuata
(The Holistic Gardening Hardbook)
If you really want a full understanding of pathogenis response in plants
An Overview of Plant Defenses against Pathogens and Herbivores provides an easy to understand yet in depth view of how plants fend for themselves.
I took my
bug zapper down after finding praying
mantis, and lace wings stuck to the wires. Zappers kill
indiscriminately. I found it interesting that spiders figured out that
there are a lot of bugs by the light. The webs were thick near the
zapper. It stands to reason that a high concentration of bugs will attract other beneficial insects into the killing zone as well.
Zapping
the good guys is not good, and tiny
insects like whitefly and aphid are probably too small to be zapped anyway.
So far my garden is doing well with nothing but compost tea. I bought some
insect frass
and BT
(Bacillus thuringiensis) several weeks ago, but I have not used it yet. The beneficial insects,
and the good health of my plants seems to be enough so far. I had a
lot of aphids for a short while, but then the ladybugs flew in, and ate
them. It was beautiful. I had hundreds of ladybugs come to my garden
and then most of them left after the aphids were gone. They laid a lot
of eggs, and I had lots of baby ladybugs too.
insect frass contains
chitin which stimulates the plant's auto-immune system to create plant
secondary metabolite s (PSM s or “exudates ”) such as Chitinase Enzyme,
Terpenes, Flavinoids, Alkaloids and Amino Acids, which protect plants
from Pests and Pathogens
Plants often wait until pathogens are detected before producing toxic
chemicals or defense-related proteins because of the high energy costs
and nutrient requirements associated with their production and
maintenance. This phenomenon is called systemic acquired resistance
(SAR) and represents a heightened state of readiness in which plant
resources are mobilized in case of further attack. Underground messaging systems also allow neighboring plants to invoke herbivore defenses before attack. Researchers have
learned to artificially trigger SAR by spraying plants with chemicals
called plant activators (
insect frass ). These substances are gaining favor in the
agricultural community because they are much less toxic to humans and
wildlife than fungicides or antibiotics, and their protective effects
can last much longer.
Ants can be particularly difficult but
Keveen Gabet wrote this in his article
Ants – From Warship to Worship (Mexico).
Despite the few occasional bites and their compulsive leaf-cutting
and seed-robbing habits, ants are wonderful allies. If you find the
mother nest, you will be blessed with a mound of great compost-like soil
as well as tiny gravels that will improve soil drainage. Now that’s a
great bonus. They also offer long hours of entertainment; watching them
fight other colonies, communicate or carry bulky items is like entering a
Nat Geo documentary for a bit. As for their destructive temper, I guess
all they want is food. If food it is they want, food they shall have!
Mango peels to keep my ants pacified
I now have opted for a more conscious approach and instead of making
them my enemies, I have declared them worthy of my adoration. Everyday, I
spread a bit of our food (fruit peels and sugary stuff like raisins for
instance) close to their nest or on their way to my garden as my
offering. I do it almost ritually just because it’s fun.
Overall, I call it a multilateral success as peace reigns over our
little oasis once again, and they seem to have lost interest in ‘my’
share of the garden.
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I planted quite a few beneficial plants to attract bugs. I have
asylum, nasturtium, poppy, and marigolds scattered throughout my
garden. I love to spend my time in my beautiful garden of vegetables,
flowers, bees and I'm willing to let the bugs eat some of my crop
knowing that there is balance.
Please be careful not to kill the pollinators. Modeled after nicotin, neonicotinoids only sound natural and safe.
"Scientists studying the massive global bee die-off have unearthed a
slew of evidence on the devastation across the food chain caused by the
most widely-used pesticide on Earth, neonicotinoids. Once they enter the
water supply, neonicotinoids wipe out dragonflies, snails and other
waterborne life. The few hardy species that survive are left so toxic
that they're killing birds -- and Lowe's and Home Depot are putting this
toxic product right in our back yards. ... Up to a third of all
honeybees vanish each winter, beekeepers are saying that we are "on the
brink" of not being able to pollinate all our crops."-
(Sum Of Us)
Insecticides such as Acetamiprid, Thiacloprid, Methiocarb, Abamectin, Imadicloprid are forms of
neonicotinoids.
I hope everyone will go to this site (Sum Of Us) and sign the petition
and discourage the use of bee-poisoning neonicotinoids.
Sevin and many other insecticides including bifenthrin, and permethrin
(Eight), will kill the Aphids but also are deadly to many beneficial
insects such as bees, other pollinators, and Lady Bugs that eat Aphids.
Here's some good news.
This site says that Neem Oil does not kill bees or other beneficial insects. The insect must eat the plant in order to die. Ladybugs and bees are left unharmed.
I
have heard of people adding neem flour to thier soil and some even use
neem flour as their media to ward off pests. I have been wondering if
this would destroy the beneficial organisms in the soil. I asked the
worm farm where I buy my compost and castings to run a test, but they
never did. So I asked for a microscope for my birthday. I should have
an answer near the end of July.
According to
ladybug.uconn.edu/
Insecticidal soap does not kill bees or hard bodied insects and only
kills soft bodied insects when it is wet. Unfortunatly it does kill
some beneficial insects such as syrphid fly larvae and beneficial
predatory mites.
Molasses offers good protection, and it will not hurt the beneficial insects. It can also be mixed with
Essential Micro Nutrient (EM) to create a health boosting shield against the insects we which to keep away.
Chamomile tea, horsetail tea, copper and sulfur products are often used for fungicides. I have not looked to see if they are friendly towards the beneficial insects. Milk garlic and baking soda are also used and I would imagine that they are pretty safe.
There are different strains of B.t.
(Bacillus thuringiensis), each with specific toxicity to
particular types of insects:
B.t. aizawai (B.t.a.) is used against wax
moth larvae in honeycombs;
B.t. israelensis (B.t.i.) is effective against
mosquitoes, blackflies, fungus gnats and some midges;
Most of the
BT formulations contain
Bacillus thuringiensis var.
kurstaki. .
B.t. kurstaki (B.t.k.) controls
various types of lepidopterous insects, including the gypsy moth and
cabbage looper.
A new strain, B.t. san diego, has been found to be
effective against certain beetle species, Colorado potato beetle, and the boll weevil.
In order to
be effective, B.t. must be eaten by insects in the immature, feeding stage
of development referred to as larvae. It is ineffective against adult
insects. Monitoring the target insect population before application
insures that insects are in the vulnerable larval stage (
9). More than 150
insects, mostly lepidopterous larvae, are known to be susceptible in some
way to B.t. (
5). -
Extension Toxicology Network
The package label will say for which insects the product is effective. There are about 150 species of pest moths and butterflies that are susceptible to
Bt in their larval stage, including tomato hornworm, corn earworm,
cabbage looper, imported cabbageworm, and the diamondback moth.
Target pests of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki
The following pests are susceptible to B.t. var. kurstaki,
the most common commercially available species. Be sure to read all
labels before treatment to make sure your target pest is included. |
Armyworm
Bagworm
Cabbage looper
Diamondback moth
Fall cankerworm
Fall webworm
Gypsy moth |
Imported cabbageworm
Indianmeal moth
Mimosa webworm
Sod webworm
Spring cankerworm
Tent caterpillars
Tomato/tobacco hornworm |
It's important to learn
how to identify the bugs in your garden so you know whether they are beneficial or not. This is one of my favorite sites for insect identification.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740
This PDF offers many ways to protect your garden without pesticides and is a good place to start.
Insect Frass is also a great way to protect your garden and provide extra nutrients as well.
Here is more information about Frass.
or read the post I made about
Frass a few days ago
Boric acid which is nontoxic
to birds, fish, aquatic invertebrates, and relatively nontoxic to
beneficial insects is effective in killing fire ants, spiders, cockroaches, fleas, termites, beetles, silverfish, and cockroach colonies.
Spinosad has high efficacy, a broad insect pest spectrum, low
mammalian toxicity, and a good environmental profile. This is a unique
feature of an insecticide, compared to others that are currently used
for the protection of grain products.[5]
Spinosad is considered a natural product and approved for use in
organic agriculture by numerous national and international
certifications.[8] - Wikipedia
Spinosad is a novel insect control agent derived by fermentation of the
Actinomycete bacterium, Saccharopolyspora spinosa. Spinosad controls
many caterpillar pests in vines, pome fruit and vegetables (including
tomatoes and peppers), thrips in tomatoes, peppers and ornamental
cultivation and dipterous leafminers in vegetables and ornamentals.
Application rates vary between 25 to 100 g of active substance per
hectare (g as/ha) and 4.8 to 36 g of active substance per hectolitre (g
as/hL) depending on the crop and target pest. It is important that plant
protection products are authorized for use only in ways that do not
pose an unacceptable risk of harm to honeybees. For this purpose testing
was performed to enable the safety of spinosad to be evaluated. The
effects of spinosad to honeybees have been extensively researched.
Testing has been performed under a variety of conditions in a range of
countries globally. Studies to determine the acute toxicity of spinosad
under laboratory conditions were conducted to generate LD50 or LC50
values for oral and contact routes of administration. These demonstrated
that spinosad was highly toxic to worker honeybees under worst case
laboratory conditions and that the oral route of exposure provided the
greater risk. Residue tests conducted under laboratory, semi-field and
field conditions on worker honeybees foraging on treated foliage
indicated that dry product residues were harmless. Therefore the effects
seen in the laboratory acute toxicity tests did not translate to a more
realistic exposure scenario indicating that safe use patterns for the
product can be developed. Semi-field cage studies have also demonstrated
that spinosad was safe to bees when applied to flowering crops during
periods of bee activity. The majority of studies conducted have
indicated that spinosad does not adversely affect honeybee behaviour,
brood or queen. It can be concluded that spinosad when used according to
the approved product label recommendations, would be safe to foraging
worker bees, queen and brood. Additional levels of safety could be
achieved by avoiding situations where bees would forage primarily on
aphid honey dew. -
Dow AgroSciences
Essentria_IC3
http://www.envincio.com/essentria/product-dload/Essentria_IC3_PIB.pdf
This
product uses an Octopamine Blocker which is a lot like adrenaline to an
insect. It over excites their nervous system and kills them. I became
interested in this product when I had a severe outbreak of ants in my
aquaponic green house. While it is safe for mammals and fish I would
worry about using it around crustaceans. It is broad spectrum so you
must also be careful not to kill beneficial insects like ladybugs and
bees.
I used this product in my house and green house. I did
find one dead cockroach in the garage where I dumped a very large amount
of Essentria_IC3 mixed at the lowest recommended strength of 1/2 oz per
gallon of water. This same ratio did nothing to the ants and aphids I wanted to
kill.
I then mixed 6 oz per gallon (the maximum recommended
dosage) and sprayed heavily in the green house, and on a heavy
infestation of aphids on my cabbage. Once again the product failed to
kill anything including the aphids which received a heavy drenching. I
waited 5 days and then mixed the Essentria_IC3 at 96 oz per gallon.
Sixteen times the recommended strength. The good news is it did not
harm the fish and it did kill both the aphids and the ants. The bad
news is it destroyed many of my plants. It may be a better herbicide than it is a pesticide.
I would not recommend Essentria_IC3.
It's was ineffective in my green house and garden. The smell is
horrid, and required that I air my house out for two days when mixed at
the lowest ratio.
Diatomaceous earth (DE) is non toxic and far better than many poisons. But it kills all bugs including bees, and other beneficial insects so it's not always the best choice.
It's
only effective until it becomes wet. This is a really good thing
because it allows you to use DE for a specific period of time. Bees
tend to come around in the morning and afternoon. Dusting DE in the
evening will avoid getting it on the bees. But you still risk killing many other beneficial insects.
DE
kills due
to its sharp edges, and will only kill the insects that come in contact with it so it will not kill the other bees in a hive. It's
safe for humans and other mammals, but it would not be my first choice
because it's an indiscriminate killer.
For more information
http://www.wormfarmingrevealed.com/diatomaceous-earth-and-bees.html
Make Your Own Bug Sprays
Nicotine - Extremely toxic to insects. Nicotine tea is short lived, retaining its toxicity for only a few hours after spraying. It is relatively nonhazardous to bees and lady beetles because of its short persistence, but timing is required.
Pyrethrum - The dried, powdered flowers of the pyrethrum daisy, Tanacetum cinerarifolium, were used as early as 1880 to control mosquitoes.
Capsaicin - Black pepper, chili pepper, dill, ginger, paprika, and red pepper all contain capsaicin, a compound shown to repel insects.
Herbal Sprays - Extracts of Hyssop, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, White Clover, Wormwood, Nasturtiums, Catnip, Chives, Feverfew, Marigolds, or Rue can be used.
Garlic Oil - Combine with mineral oil and pure soap
Tomato Leaf - Soak chopped leaves. Contains toxic compounds called alkaloids and attracts natural pest enemies.Alcohol Sprays - Alcohol sprays work on aphids, mealy bugs, scale insects, thrips and whiteflies
For more information about these homemade sprays -
Comfy Country Creations
More Links:
Sierra Club - Imidacloprid Fact Sheet
The Basics of Organic Gardening in 15 minutes
Key to Major Beneficials and Pests
Update 5/26/13 Some of my cucumbers leaves are showing damage. I could not find the pest, but I suspect a worm, so I sprayed BT kurstaki.
