I have a large garden that I work very hard on, and I hate to see my plants half-eaten by bugs. I do not grow any vegetables or fruits, but I do have three dogs that spend a lot of time around the flowers. Does anyone know any pesticides that are not harmful to the environment or other animals?
Pesticides would include Neem oil concentrate- mix with water and spray- it is an insecticide and fungicide. Does not harm plants, children or pets. There are other proprietary organic pesticides available at garden stores.
Use a mild liquid soap like Ivory mixed with water, oil and other ingredients like hot sauce/ garlic etc.- plenty of homemade insecticidal spray recipes are available on the web.
Other methods include releasing or attracting beneficial insects like ladybugs (for aphids), diatomaceous earth application (all kinds of pests including slugs), handpicking the bad guys, blasting with water (for plants that do not mind their leaves getting wet).
Companion planting helps certain plants (e.g.grow marigolds with tomato). Herbs like basil, dill, garlic chives help repel certain insects. Nasturtiums repel insects and also have edible flowers.
Yeast (use beer/yeast with sugar water) traps for snails, slugs (insert saucer with lip at soil level- put some abovementioned liquid in it almost till the top)- slugs drown in it. Also, copper strips around containers/ raised beds/ trees is what we use in our Sunnyvale organic community garden. Place little pots upside down but raised slightly on one side(use a pebble) in shady, moist places- slugs crawl in when it gets hot and can be handpicked. If all else fails, use products like Sluggo (safe for pets).
Make sure there are no debris (rotting leaves, etc) in the garden to shelter bugs. Raise pots and rocks etc. to catch the culprits munching on your plants hiding during the day.
Hope that helps you and your plants while keeping the dogs safe.
mix a tiny bit of liquid dish detergent with some water and spray it on your plants.
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INTERGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT101
IMP- This is the usage of one insect to eat another, and my very own PERSONAL FAVORITE is the LADYBUG.
Most Horticultural Experts will tell you this is one of GOD'S best kept secrets. Remember when you were little, and they use to tell you: DON'T KILL THE LADYBUGS, THEY ARE GOODLUCK!!! Well they have been my savior for years now, and they're pretty to look at, and they don't bite, or spread diseases or sickness.
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TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY class of 2002
KAMOOR'S LANDSCAPES/AQUASCAPES2000
Ditto on the dish detergent. Dawn seems to work very good.
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Well putting copper strips around plants will protect them from slugs and snails (it creates a reaction with their slime basically giving them a small electrical jolt)
A soap and water solution will kill many pests (try on small area first to make sure plant can handle it)
There are several things like BT a natural bacteria that kills caterpillars but are harmless to people
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There is an oil spray that you can use. I dont know the name of it, but I just saw some on sale yesterday at whole foods. If you dont want to spend any money, you can mix some olive oil with water in a spray bottle and try that. The oil immobilizes and smothers the pests. But this will probably only work on some pests. Certain pests like certain plants. Buy a book on common pests. They usually have organic methods of riddance in them.
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Try Safer Insecticidal Soap. We've used this company's products successfully for years. It's available pretty much everywhere.
Check out our website for more organic gardening ideas at-
http://www.gardening-at-the-crossroads.com/organic-gardening.html
Good Luck and Happy Gardening from Cathy and Neal!
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Ditto that on the dishwashing soap. Just a little soap in a bug sprayer with water will do the trick against most bugs. spray te leaves tops and bottoms and the stems.
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Most of the above answers are good. Insecticidal soap is good (products made by Safer are enviromentally friendly). You might also look into some plants that bugs don't like. Many garden pests hate marigolds, for instance. Also, look into diatomaceous earth. I know you can stop ants with that.
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Soap and water mixture works fine. If a bug eats part of a leaf, the soap messes with its digestive system and it wont eat any more and it will die of starvation.
TOM.
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dawn is the way to go works for me
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Marigolds are good for keeping away alot of pests..but slugs love to eat them…if slugs are a problem..you can try leaving out a pie tin of beer..or some other container with short sides. The slugs go in..get drunk and drown…(just kidding about the drunk part) but it draws em from all over.
I agree with alot of the answers already given..especially the lady bugs. Here i am lucky because i have hedgehogs in my garden..they do a good job..as do the frogs.
Good luck
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Pesticides would include Neem oil concentrate- mix with water and spray- it is an insecticide and fungicide. Does not harm plants, children or pets. There are other proprietary organic pesticides available at garden stores.
Use a mild liquid soap like Ivory mixed with water, oil and other ingredients like hot sauce/ garlic etc.- plenty of homemade insecticidal spray recipes are available on the web.
Other methods include releasing or attracting beneficial insects like ladybugs (for aphids), diatomaceous earth application (all kinds of pests including slugs), handpicking the bad guys, blasting with water (for plants that do not mind their leaves getting wet).
Companion planting helps certain plants (e.g.grow marigolds with tomato). Herbs like basil, dill, garlic chives help repel certain insects. Nasturtiums repel insects and also have edible flowers.
Yeast (use beer/yeast with sugar water) traps for snails, slugs (insert saucer with lip at soil level- put some abovementioned liquid in it almost till the top)- slugs drown in it. Also, copper strips around containers/ raised beds/ trees is what we use in our Sunnyvale organic community garden. Place little pots upside down but raised slightly on one side(use a pebble) in shady, moist places- slugs crawl in when it gets hot and can be handpicked. If all else fails, use products like Sluggo (safe for pets).
Make sure there are no debris (rotting leaves, etc) in the garden to shelter bugs. Raise pots and rocks etc. to catch the culprits munching on your plants hiding during the day.
Hope that helps you and your plants while keeping the dogs safe.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/neem_oil…
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-some-na…
http://www.familymatters.tv/level_4/home…
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art22735.asp