Question: “I have lettuce, mesculin, spinach, green beans, snap peas, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, and eggplant that are all developing holes. My tomatoes and peppers seem to be ok, so I’m not sure it’s aphids.”
“I also tried lady bugs, but they haven’t stuck around so I really don’t think it’s aphids.
I saw little bugs on one lettuce plant, but not on the others. Could holes come from over watering? Or is there a really good insecticide I could use. I’m going to be eating this stuff so I don’t want a horrible chemical.
Any ideas? Thx.”
Some ideas –
You can make a home made spray w/cayenne pepper, a drop of dish soap and a teaspoon of cooking oil.
Use a couple of tbsp. of Cayenne powder and add to a cup of boiling water. Remove from heat and strain it through cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Add the ingredients to the bottle and fill up with water. You’ll need to reapply this fairly often because, even w/the oil it will wash off in the rain.
There are commercial applications available at most gardening shops. Probably the least toxic is Safer’s Insecticidal Soap.
Not exactly sure as my parents used to grow their own food and as a kid I always remembered lettuce with holes all over it (yuck, probably why I didn't eat it!).
I think I've heard that you can just add some dish soap and water in a spray bottle and spray that on your plants. Not sure if it really works though.
If no one else gives you any good ideas why not call a organic farm and ask them what they use…..they might tell you.
References :
You can make a home made spray w/cayenne pepper, a drop of dish soap and a teaspoon of cooking oil. Use a couple of tbls. of Cayenne powder and add to a cup of boiling water. Remove from heat and strain it through cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Add the ingredients to the bottle and fill up with water. You'll need to reapply this fairly often because, even w/the oil it will wash off in the rain.
There are commercial applications available at most gardening shops. Probably the least toxic is Safer's Insecticidal Soap.
References :
Holes usually meen snalls. There is a granular snail bait that you sprinkel on the ground.
If chunks of the leaf are missing at the edge it could be moth larva — use, Bt "Worm Killer" . it is an organic stomach poison to them.
Or chunks out could be grasshoppers — treat when the small insects are first seen with an insecticidal concentrate like Orthenex (Acaphate) by Ortho Co. Spray in the grass around the garden
References :