Last year I didn't worry too much about pest control in the garden. I was too concerned with planning and harvesting and canning and all that business. I lost a few plants along the way, but it certainly wasn't anything I was too concerned about; I figured I could sacrifice a few plants to the insects and slugs if it meant I still had the majority for my own harvests. I do still feel this way; I know I will lose some of my plants to pests and that's just the nature of things. I began to get frustrated last fall when I lost my entire cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower crop to slugs eating up the baby plants before they had a chance.
Now that I have a little more of a handle of things I'm trying to focus more on pest control. I know that my kale is covered in aphids. And I know I have slugs nibbling at my transplants. I've already lost one lettuce to them.
The aphids are a relatively easy fix. A soapy water solution sprayed on the plants will help. Ladybugs are a beautiful fix. I've seen a couple ladybugs around, but in the future I may buy a bag of ladybugs and let them feast. The other option is to plant scapegoat plants. There are several flower types that aphids love and you can plant them away from the precious vegetables and direct the aphids to the lowly flowers. One of them is a hollyhock, which I wanted to plant in the yard at some point anyway. Bonus! However, right now the kale is functioning as a scapegoat plant. We aren't harvesting it anymore; we're just waiting for the seed pods to mature before we pull it out of the ground. So, I'm just going to let them be for now.
I read somewhere that coffee grounds are supposed to deter slugs. I started saving up our spent coffee grounds the last week and instead of putting them into the compost, I put them straight out into the garden. I put a thin layer of coffee grounds around several of my lettuces. Upon further research I found that it isn't actually the coffee that deters the slugs and coffee grounds applied directly to the soil will do little to keep them at bay. Apparently it's the caffeine they abhor. It seems the better option is a caffeine spray. Some people have had success putting their undrunk coffee in a spray bottle and applying it directly to the plants and soil. I might have to try this one.
Slugs also hate copper. Since my garden is all raised beds at this point I could get copper tape and cover the edges of my beds. The slugs won't cross them. Of course, that means the slugs that are already inside the beds are stuck in there. And I have to invest in copper tape and periodically clean it with vinegar to keep it from tarnishing, which sounds like a lot of work.
The other option that seems to be across the board well reviewed - Sluggo. It's an organic, non-toxic slug-killer made from iron phosphate. Next time I make it to the store this is going on the list.
The other major pest in the garden is the cats. Last fall we put a chicken wire netting over all the beds to keep the cats out. They thought the beds were all really big litter boxes. It's worked great since then, but now that larger transplants are going out and plants are starting to grow through the wire some of it is coming off the beds because we can't get it back on over the plants. So far, so good....(((knock on wood)))
Now that I have a little more of a handle of things I'm trying to focus more on pest control. I know that my kale is covered in aphids. And I know I have slugs nibbling at my transplants. I've already lost one lettuce to them.
The aphids are a relatively easy fix. A soapy water solution sprayed on the plants will help. Ladybugs are a beautiful fix. I've seen a couple ladybugs around, but in the future I may buy a bag of ladybugs and let them feast. The other option is to plant scapegoat plants. There are several flower types that aphids love and you can plant them away from the precious vegetables and direct the aphids to the lowly flowers. One of them is a hollyhock, which I wanted to plant in the yard at some point anyway. Bonus! However, right now the kale is functioning as a scapegoat plant. We aren't harvesting it anymore; we're just waiting for the seed pods to mature before we pull it out of the ground. So, I'm just going to let them be for now.
I read somewhere that coffee grounds are supposed to deter slugs. I started saving up our spent coffee grounds the last week and instead of putting them into the compost, I put them straight out into the garden. I put a thin layer of coffee grounds around several of my lettuces. Upon further research I found that it isn't actually the coffee that deters the slugs and coffee grounds applied directly to the soil will do little to keep them at bay. Apparently it's the caffeine they abhor. It seems the better option is a caffeine spray. Some people have had success putting their undrunk coffee in a spray bottle and applying it directly to the plants and soil. I might have to try this one.
Slugs also hate copper. Since my garden is all raised beds at this point I could get copper tape and cover the edges of my beds. The slugs won't cross them. Of course, that means the slugs that are already inside the beds are stuck in there. And I have to invest in copper tape and periodically clean it with vinegar to keep it from tarnishing, which sounds like a lot of work.
The other option that seems to be across the board well reviewed - Sluggo. It's an organic, non-toxic slug-killer made from iron phosphate. Next time I make it to the store this is going on the list.
The other major pest in the garden is the cats. Last fall we put a chicken wire netting over all the beds to keep the cats out. They thought the beds were all really big litter boxes. It's worked great since then, but now that larger transplants are going out and plants are starting to grow through the wire some of it is coming off the beds because we can't get it back on over the plants. So far, so good....(((knock on wood)))
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