Question: “are your best tips to keep pests and diseases out of an organic garden?”
Answer:
Here’s 7 handy tips to try:
- Build up the natural resistance of your plants.
- Maintain proper balance of the organic soil.
- Enclose the garden with a fence or netting.
- Bring natural enemies of the insects as ladybugs, birds etc..
- Surround garden with marigolds, cosmos, basil and other plants whose smell is detested by bugs., etc.
- Hose down pests.or remove by picking diseased or infected plant structures .
- Dissolve soap or jalapenos in water and spray to affected plant.
Hi, get some frogs,or turtles.or toads,or tortoises . I almost said sprinkle a few moth balls around,but you have an all organic garden and I'm not sure that would fit into the picture.So ,do think about frogs,or make a bird feeder and supply some seed daily. After they eat the seeds, the birds go after the bugs. They do at my house anyways, and I have little frog houses around so the frogs can hide from the birds! Byeee
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Hello, I'm a Certified Master Gardener. Horticulture was
my major in college.
Since it's an organic garden, you would want to use beneficial insects like
ladybugs, praying mantis, assassin bugs, parasitic wasps, damsel bugs, soldier beetles, ground beetles, Syrphid fly, Lacewings, and Tachinid fly, just to name a few.
You can get further details about beneficial insects online.
I sincerely hope this helps you.
PAMELA J.
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My advice is to make sure your soil is healthy first. It should have lots of composting matter in it, and be loose enough for the plants to grow a good root system. Your plants will thrive and fill the garden. A healthy garden is the best way to keep pests and diseases to a minimum. There will always be a few bugs around, but your healthy plants will be able to take care of themselves because of their excellent growing environment.
I don't use any sprays, pesticides or fungicides in my garden. I just pay attention to the condition of the soil, and water and feed regularly. I pick off the dead leaves and get rid of the debris as it develops. I have had a wonderfully healthy garden for many years, despite the usual garden pests visiting it from time to time.
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Animal pests like cats, etc…, lay chicken wire on ground around plants or have them grown thru the wire.
You have good answers for bug pests.
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I'm by no means an organic gardener but I haven't used pesticides in years. Biodiversity, tolerance and patience seem to be key in allowing Mother Nature work things out. Diverse plants attract diverse insects, many are predators. I can tolerate the occasional weed or hole in a leaf. But, if something really pisses me off, I will, "nuke the begeezes out of it!!" RScott
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Above there are some very good answers, but if you live in an area with a large deer population then build an 8 foot fence. My father can't even keep a flower garden because of all the deer. Everything gets eaten (including the plants deer are suppose to hate).
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If you have an organic garden the pests will just balance themselves within the system, as good predators will thrive and the diseases will only occur if you neglect care the plants need.
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mainly worry about my roses as spring is here and they are being attacked by aphids. I just check daily and squash them still plenty left for the ladybirds and spiders. If I have black spots on leaves will pick those affected and destroy. I do cut roses for indoors and make sure that my secateurs are good and sharp (have a sharpening stone near their location) and disinfect with an occasional wipe with methylated spirits so careful not to cause unnecessary injury or infection. It has worked as my roses are good and I have grown them for decades.
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its called companion planting put pyrithium flowers, merry golds flowers they smell, lavender ,onions ,garlic mix it up ,water well & fertalized
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me
If it is deer you are trying to keep out of you garden, go to your hair dresser and ask them for their hair clippings that they sweep up. Put the hair clipping's around your garden and the deer will not go in because they smell human and they will leave. make sure to circle the whole garden with them.
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Lady bugs they eat so many other not so good bugs.
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4 feet fence, called chicken fence, buy it at Home Depot.com
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Build up the natural resistance of your plants.Maintain proper balance of the organic soil.Enclose the garden with a fence or netting.Bring natural enemies of the insects as ladybugs, birds etc..Surround garden with marigolds, cosmos, basil and other plants whose smell is detested by bugs., etc. Hose down pests.or remove by picking diseased or infected plant structures . Dissolve soap or jalapenos in water and spray to affected plant.
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Plant garlic and gophur weed in between your prize dahlias or anything else, for that matter. I buy a bag of ladybugs for the roses in the spring. Keeping plants well fertilized seems to give them the edge in combating diseases and pests. I like to use well rotted horse manure, the plants just love it.
Sulphur powder is good to obliterate mildew.
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Soapy dishwater or insecticidal soap if you can find it in the stores.
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all I know is to buy the seeds (instead of getting them from a friend) so you know they come from good stock. Make sure all the weeds and leaves and stuff are out of your garden when you initially dig it up. There "may" be something you could add to the dirt before you plant your garden. And, we used to use Marigolds (we called them stinker plants) to keep away some of the bugs. Other than that I used to use water with a little dishwashing solution (joy) in it and sprayed the plants. It's said that the bugs will get diarrhea and leave. I "heard" to use beer for slugs as they are supposed to get drunk and leave. Jerry Baker, a plant and garden guru has a lot of organic type things he uses in his gardening, has put out a lot of books you might find interesting.
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The first problem starts with the soil which very likely contains arsenic (lead) poison used back in the day. This causes cancer. You can get it even from neighboring plots as it is very aggressive. It stays in the soil forever and is hard to remove. You can have it tested or just deal with it by installing a landscape type plastic barrier down about 8 inches depending on the types of plants and root depth. Put new compost (purchased) mixed with sandy loam taken from wooded areas with trees that are pre arsenic or more than 70 years old. Depending on your climate you may need to provide drainage as new rain will not soak into the ground beyond the barrier. This can be done with a couple of 2 inch plastic pipe with multiple seep holes laid on the barrier. Run the pipes to a low spot that goes into ground without a barrier. Mix a small amount of modern biocide in with the soil to prevent bugs and worms. Do not use recycled water as it will most likely contain lead.
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Make the garden attractive to hedgehogs, toads and birds as they help to keep the slugs down.
Keep the place tidy and pick up any dead leaves quickly as nasties gather under them.
Rotate your crops as much as is possible.
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i normaly would say go and ask home depot but u should just get like 1 of those flame lamps that atract and kill mosquitos and stuff.also there are those ant repelants that keep away ants roches and worms away from ur yard.
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There aren't any special tips there, pests always are in the garden.
With suitable biological splashing means, stinging nettle liquid manure or also mixed cultivations.
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Mulch with cypress mulch all around the garden bugs hate the smell,but it's not harmful for gardens.
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That every planter dream ,keep on dream.
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While I can't be considered an organic gardener (I'm just cheap and don't want to spend money on products that may or may not be good for my garden, my plants, or my family), I think there are a couple of things that you can do that will help.
The previous tips to plant marigolds and such around the garden are good. I've also heard that garlic and onions should be planted on the outer edge of the garden as well to keep pests away.
Water your plants frequently – this not only keeps the plants healthy, but also sometimes knocks those little pests off. Use mulch to keep moisture in the ground, and to keep the weeds down.
Check your plants frequently to see what critters and bugs are around. I personally don't get too upset when a few leaves have holes in them, but if you start losing plants its time to bring out the big guns… lol. When you see something eating away at a plant, just pick it off and take it away.
I would recommend the book, "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. He has many great tips, but here are two of my favorites:
1) companion planting – plant 2 plants together that repell the other plant's most notorious pests
2) can't remember his term for it, but you plant a small planting away from the garden that draws your problem pests to this special planting area (if they can find a source of food somewhere else they leave your garden alone)
These are just some ideas, I'm sure there are many more. Good luck, and happy growing!
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LAdy bugs will eat small insects. and there are a lot of good organic cures for diseases. Check out Mother Earth News. They have most of their old magazines and articles on their web site.
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to keep dogs out sprinkle black pepper around the perimeter
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life
open up a green house and put candles with a leaf on the side of the candle and lay this candle in a puddle of water the pest will jump in the water because they are attracted to the green light but make sure you don't put the leaf on top of the candle
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history
Make sure there is good air flow between your plants. This keeps them dry and disease free generally. Check them regularly for bugs and keep a squirt bottle nearby with some detergent and water mix. Try not to get the leaves wet when you water. I sprinkle 'Dipel' powder on the stem and leaves during the growing season. You can sprinkle it on up to one day of harvest.
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Companion planting, which is the marigolds, garlic, borage etc, and also at our kindergarten, we grow lettuce, spinach , tomatoes etc without using any sprays. We water with garlic water. Soak garlic cloves in a bin of water and just use the water from there. You can top up the water and garlic when it gets low. We have had NO trouble with pests etc. which is necessary as the children are helping to work in the garden.
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