Organic Guide

For a safer, healthier world use Organics!

The Guide to Organic Gardening

Chapter 8

Garden Variety Bugs

Tips and Recipes for Controlling Other Pests

General Tips

Helpful Plants:
Intersperse your roses and vegetables with other helpful plants, such as onions, garlic, and chives.

Helpful Bugs:
Ladybird beetles (ladybugs) and praying mantis are great assistants to gardeners. Ladybugs are sold in a "cold" state. The praying mantis egg sac is usually obtained from a garden supply store, or hardware store with a gardening center. Secure the sac to the stem of a plant in the center of an infested area. When the insects hatch, they will quickly devour aphids and other problem insects. Here is an online source for ladybugs AND Praying Mantid Egg Cases.

NOTE: Both of these helpful insects will stay in an area where there is plenty to eat. If you have only one or two lightly infested rose bushes, don't expect your helpers to stick around.

Organic Insectice Formulas

HOMEMADE FORMULA FOR THE ORGANIC PURIST

You can make your own herbal insect repellent using your own favorite herbs that have insect repellent qualities. Just remember that if you are mixing your own concoction, use care and tenderness when using any herbs. If you are unsure of an herb, you can find information from a lot of sources: libraries, book stores, on-line, etc. Never use an herb that you are not familiar with.

1 oz. Wormwood (If Wormwood is not available, use Tansy)
1 oz. Lavender
1 oz. Sage

Place these herbs in 1 qt. jar. Fill the jar with boiling water and let set until cool. Drain and set liquid herb solution aside.

2 c Water
1 t Castille Soap or Murphy's oil Soap
1/8 c Liquid herb solution

This can be sprayed on plants with a spray bottle or using a cotton cloth, it can be wiped on the plant. Used as an aromatic organic pest and disease controler.

GENERAL INSECT REPELLENT

To help protect flowers, vegetables and shrubs from insect attacks.

Recipe 1

1/2 cup dead insects
2 cups water

When insects infest flowers, vegetables or shrubs, identify and gather the pests. Collect at least 1/2 cupful. Place in an old blender with the water. Blend on high, and then strain out the pulp using a cheesecloth or fine sieve. Dilute at a rate of 1/4 cup to 1 cup of water. Pour liquid into a spray bottle and apply to plants. Will keep up to a year, stored in a tightly sealed container.

Recipe 2

3 hot green peppers (canned or fresh)
2 or 3 cloves garlic
3/4 tsp liquid soap
3 cups water

Puree the peppers and garlic cloves in a blender. Pour into a spray bottle and add the liquid soap and water. Let stand 24 hours. Strain out pulp and spray liquid onto infested plants, making sure to coat both tops and bottoms of leaves.

CAUTION: Always test any new insecticide on a few small leaves before starting a full-scale application.

Mothballs

MOTHBALLS AREN'T JUST FOR MOTHS!

Just about everyone knows that mothballs are used in basements and attics to save our prized possessions from hungry moths, but did you know that mothballs can help you get rid of lots of other pests, too? Believe me, we're not the only ones who think mothballs smell bad. The critters listed below don't take kindly to them, either.

ANTS: Sprinkle mothballs on and in anthills to quickly disperse the ant colony.

BORERS: In early April and again in late September, sprinkle 1 cup of mothballs per 3' tree circumference underneath your birches, dogwoods, and lilacs.

CARROT FLIES: Before sowing carrot seeds, crumble up a handful of mothballs, and sprinkle them over the soil, lightly working them in with a hoe. This will protect the vegetables against carrot fly attacks.

CATS: Felines hate the smell of mothballs, so fill several small mesh bags with mothballs, and scatter them around your garden. Or you can put them in pantyhose, and hang them near areas where cats enter. If your cat is digging up your houseplants, hide a couple of mothballs in the soil to keep that pawing feline away.

CHIPMUNKS AND SQUIRRELS: To discourage chipmunks and squirrels from eating your bulbs, place several mothballs in the soil when you do your fall planting.

DOGS: Keep man's best friend from digging up your flowerbeds by sprinkling the beds with a homemade repellent. Just combine equal parts of Cayenne pepper and mothballs, with a few orange peels thrown in for good measure. You can also try burying mothballs about an inch or so down in the dirt, around the perimeter of your garden.

MOLES: To control these underground critters, throw handfuls of mothballs in and along their runs.

SLUGS: When planting potato seeds in the ground, place a mothball next to each tuber before covering with soil. This will stop slugs and other pests from eating them. Don't worryŃthe potatoes won't taste like mothballs.

SNAKES: Shred the skins of two lemons, and mix the shreddings with a container full of mothballs. Sprinkle this mixture in a band around any area you don't want snakes to enter.