Cabbage worms, flea beetles, potato bugs, tomato horn worms

[OhioBlue]

squash bugs, slugs, and the worst... cucumber beetles.

I now know what all of these are and what they do to plants.

Here's my mini diary for this year.

This has been my first garden. I have kept it completely organic. We made raised beds, added compost and I planted marigolds everywhere. I used the square foot method and mulched with straw and grass clippings. I tried companion planting and used the 3 sisters method for corn, beans and squash.

I started most of my plants from seed, indoors starting in late March. It was a lot of work - transplanting, misting w/ peroxide to try and keep them from damping off, watering, fertilizing, carrying them out and back in when the weather was nice enough to help harden them off - plus give them some xtra sun as they were getting leggy even in the windows and under the lights.

I think I was too ambitious. I won't start everything from seed again (while I still work full time anyway) - except maybe the tomatoes as I like the idea of trying some heirlooms and it isn't easy to find those plants. And the marigolds - they were easy to grow - very forgiving. (Plus it was kinda fun and I think I would enjoy it more if I only had a flat or two of plants to deal with)

I've had a terrible time with bugs/worms. The flea beetles killed my eggplant and nothing seems to deter them - tried neem, Bt and diatomaceous earth. they also did a number on my potatoes - I'm not sure what finished the potatoes off, the flea beetles or potato bugs. I did give the potato bugs a battle tho - picking them off, destroying their eggs, etc. but alas... the bugs won on the potatoes too. I flew the white flag, dug up some little potatoes and made a potato salad.

I've also been battling the cabbage worms - picked them off for weeks. (Didn't know what they were until my Amish neighbor pointed them out). Then I learned about Bt - fantastic! I sprayed and didn't find any more cabbage worms. I'm not sure what happened to my broccoli tho - seemed to take forever to start producing and now the heads are all spread out and thin -they look really weird and the plants are HUGE.

The day that I really got totally discouraged with the garden was when the cucumber beetles killed my cukes. I had no idea what those little yellow bugs were... but they are total evil. They're all over my squash too, but I think I caught them in time. *fingers crossed* They are killing my sister-in-law's garden too. When I figured out what they were, I sprayed the squash, melons and cukes with Bt (that was before I realized Bt was really only for Caterpillar types. But.. you know... Bt does have an odor to it and I think it may have repelled them for a time b/c it did seem like there were a lot less bugs after that. It also seems the mosquitoes didn't bother me in the garden while I was spraying it? weird huh? Since then, I have sprayed a couple of times with neem - again, they're not totally gone from the plants, but seem to be only a few now rather than total infestation. If anyone knows of a good organic control, I'm very welcome to suggestion on how to save my squash & melons. The plants do seem healthier now and are producing. Those little devils eat the flowers and kill the plants.

This is getting quite long - so I'll try to wrap up quickly. Squash bugs - not bad since they seem to only be on my pumpkins that were volunteers anyway. I squirted them with some neem for an experiment. Didn't really care about the pumpkins. SLUGS - seem to be going for the peppers. Tried beer traps once. caught some, should probably try again. Not too much damage. sprinkled some diatomaceous earth on the peppers tonight. Horn worms - holy crap are they big!! picked 3 off my tomatoes. sprayed with Bt... haven't seen anymore.. but I do suspect the birds are helping control them.

My tomatoes - I planted fox cherry, brandywine, amish paste and pink ponderosa. None have ripened yet. And.. I'm afraid they're showing signs of early blight. I'm in denial. I keep picking off the yellowing/spotted leaves and gave them a milk bath 2 days ago and fertilized with fish emulsion tonight. fingers crossed I can harvest a decent crop.

Any feedback is very welcome. I do have a theory as to why I have so many pests - I planted my garden in a little area of our field - it is about 10 tillable acres and our Amish neighbor plants the rest with field corn and pumpkins and uses non-organic pesticides... maybe that killed some natural predators and/or drove the pests to my pesticide free oasis for them? Also - I didn't do any preventative spraying of neem, Bt or anything... maybe I should have sprayed before I saw the bugs/worms/damage??

If you read this - thank you. The experience has been very educational and I did realize that I do enjoy gardening a lot... However, it is still quite frustrating at times... reminds me a lot of when I tried golfing.. lol.

[beac]

1. I feel your pain.

:pals:

Despite my best efforts and vain hope that I had vanquished them, the squash vine borers took down all but one of my zucchini and yellow squash plants and I'm guessing it will eventually get hit too. I've kind of resigned myself to enjoying cooking with the blossoms and the one fruit-per-plant I seem to be able to get before the SVBs strike.

Hornworms, disgusting creatures, made their first appearance this year and took out my nicotiana plants and tried to do the same with some tomatoes but met a watery death instead (*evil laugh*) Oddly, one of the tomatoes they attacked was the ONLY one I'd planted with supposedly hornworm-repelling borage around it. Ah well, the blue flowers were pretty anyway.

I didn't even try to grow eggplants this year b/c of flea beetles. NOTHING worked last year and I got nary an eggplant.

Icicle radishes and oregano are supposed to repel cucumber beetles. I just planted some radish seeds in w/my month-old cuke plants. Will let you know how it goes. I've also heard dill attract bugs that eat cucumber beetles (but you have to let it go to seed.)

The icicle radishes I planted with my squash did do a GREAT job of keeping away the squash bugs this year.

Organic gardening is definitely a huge challenge.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Pyola works for flea beetles

At least it's worked for me. It's a combination of pyrethin and canola oil.

[OhioBlue]

5. Thank you!

:hug:
I will try the icicle radishes.

One thing that I haven't figured out about the companion planting with herbs... Since you are supposed to rotated where you grow things and the herbs are perennial.. how does that work? Like if you plant dill next to your cukes... do you move the dill the next year?

[MrsBrady]

3. my first time to garden this year as well.

I think Garlic Barrier works as someone else suggested to me, but I started too late.
Next season I think I will start from the beginning while the seeds are in the ground...garlic is systemic and gets "into" the plant.
I think if I start earlier, it will help.

I did a little bit of companion planting, but will do more research on plants that repel and nourish, etc. I think next year I'll segregate the squash to another area of the back yard.
I don't have that much room in the suburbs, but I think I'll try it anyway.

Before it got "really hot", I think the Garlic Barrier was working. But I realized too late what was getting to my squash.
And now its too hot to use it. The squash bugs were so thick after I stopped the garlic you would have thought it was an Alfred Hitchcock Film.
The garlic was keeping the aphids off, too. But like I said I can't spray now, so my tomato leaves are beginning to look like Swiss cheese.

I'd like to know what organic pet control I can use that won't burn the plants up in this heat we're having in Texas.

I've got wonderful tomato plants, but now it's too hot and I haven't got any fruit at all.
My pepper plant that has survived is finally getting some blooms so I'm hoping for some peppers.

I had a horrible time with squash borers and squash bugs...but not at first. I think they found me later, but once they did...man oh man.
I did have a great squash crop until they found me.

I haven't had too much trouble with the horned worm, that I know of. Hopefully, I'm not speaking too soon. Because I've been watering more than I would normally, we have more frogs and lizards and geckos. Lots of spiders. And the birds I think have been somewhat helpful. If I begin to get tomatoes, though I'm going to need to get one of those mesh barriers. The grackles are so thick in the suburbs. They've been helpful with the caterpillars. But I think I know ahead of time what they'll do to my tomatoes.

My watermelon is going like gangbusters. I've kept it watered, and it apparently loves this heat.
I've got ONE squash plant hanging on...so I'm leaving it for the bugs as a decoy for the melon.

I'm probably going to try a second planting of squash from seed one the temps stay steady at low 90's...could be another month.
We've had almost 3 weeks of over 100, which is actually pretty normal for North Texas...however I've never gardened before, either.

I started small, but it was still a lot of work. I really enjoyed it though, for all its problems. I had no idea I liked to garden. My husband wanted a garden, so I thought I would try it.

[OhioBlue]

4. I obviously don't have much in the way of advice

for pest control. They seem to be winning... But.. the Bt does seem to be the best thing working as far as pest control that I have tried. But it is only for Caterpillar types. So, if you do see any horn worms, I would try that on your tomatoes.

I would also try giving your tomatoes and peppers a milk bath as another poster has mentioned. It does seem to really help to bring on the blossoms and other posters have said that it helps keep the plants healthier to deter/survive any pest attacks. You use non-fat dry milk. You can look through the threads for instructions. I just shook some in a container and added water and put it on the plants.

The squash bugs seem to have left my squash plants alone.. cross fingers... (the cucumber beetles sure do like my squash plants tho) I think it might be b/c of the pumpkins all around. They are all over them like a Hitchcock film like you mentioned.

Thanks for the tip on the garlic barrier. I'll have to try that next year. I did try a garlic/cayenne spray on my potatoes early on against the flea beetles with no luck... I should have tried it again on some other pests.