Check out part one of my Natural Pest Management talk at Baker Creek:
This video covers:
- Definition
- Strategy
- Scouting and Monitoring
- Physical/Mechanical Controls
- Cultural Controls
-Papa
Pest Management
What to do about slugs and snails, naturally!
Lindsay – Snails! I really REALLY make every effort to garden organically, but I am having an infestation of snails, and am stumped as to what to do about it.
There are many natural solutions for slugs and snails.
- Sanitation is key! Make sure there is no debris for them to hide. Do not plant next to a compost pile.
- Plant trap crops for them to eat. Marigolds, brassicas, melons, lettuce,strawberries, etc. are great attractants of slugs and snails.
- Plant resistant plant varieties – lavender, rosemary, sage, wormwood, impatiens, poppies, geraniums, etc.
- Barriers – copper strips, Diatomaceous Earth, sand, and wood ashes. Be careful with wood ashes! You could make your soil pH go sky high!
- Traps – stale beer in containers at ground level, melon halves turned upside down, untreated wood boards laid on top of the ground.
- Guinea fowl will eat them. They shouldn’t eat your crops!
- Encourage your Lightning Bugs – their larvae eat slugs and snails!!!
- Iron phosphate baits such as Sluggo® or Escar-Go®
That’s quite an arsenal!
Papa
Question: Help! What do I do for peach tree borers?
Hi, my name is Kristina . I have a question concerning my peach tree. Last summer it got infected with borers (I was told these are a type of moth??). Anyway, the tree company I was with at the time couldn’t do anything about the borers since it wasn’t until late July early August that we saw the sap coming out of my tree. So I poured nematodes on the soil around my tree and in to the holes that were sapping. I did this 3 different times 3 weeks apart while I hung moth balls in a sock on the tree too. I am being told now by a new tree company that they don’t do pesticides for borers until June, since the borers aren’t active until then. My question is, what would you do for this peach tree? Should I just wait until June or can I be doing something more to help my tree that I don’t want to lose. Thanks
Here’s what you do! Spray the trunk of the peach tree with a strong solution of Neem Oil and water (3 tablespoons to the gallon of water and a little dish soap) Spray to the point of puddling around the trunk. The Neem Oil will either out right kill the worm or interrupt the worms life cycle, which will also kill the worm. You need to spray at 14 day intervals (twice) to be effective.
You will build up the immunity of the peach tree by spraying and drenching the tree with seaweed emulsion (i.e. Maxicrop®), at one (1) tablespoon per gallon.
-Art
Can you manage garden pests naturally?
Today I spoke about Natural Pest Management at the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company monthly festival.
