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Saturday, June 09, 2007

Depestication

Anything that crawls, creeps, walks or flies wants to eat your hard work. It's not that they want to make your garden look bad, they're just hungry. And so are their relatives. Though there's no cell phones in the bug and varmint world, they've got other ways of googling for food. The flying insects have the bird's eye view, and can distinguish the shapes of leaves and crops quite well - especially if the pattern is repeated:

yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yucky
yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum
yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum
yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum
yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum
yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yucky
yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yucky

Perhaps a little too subtle for a morning read, but you can discern the good from the bad, and there's plenty of it!

yuck yucky yuck yuck yum yucky yum yum yuck yum yum yuck yuck yum yucky yum yuck
yuck yum yuck yum yum yuck yum yum yuck yuck yum yum yuck yum yuck yuck yum yuck
yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum
yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck yum yuck

Better, though still visually so web 1.0 - some would say web 0.5 beta, but I digress.

yuck ick yum avoid yum bad yum danger yuck ick yum avoid yum bad yum danger yum
ick yum avoid yum bad yum danger yuck ick yum avoid yum bad yum danger yum yuck
yum avoid yum bad yum danger yum yuck danger yuck ick yum avoid yum bad yum bad
yuck ick yum avoid yum bad yum danger yuck ick yum avoid yum bad yum danger yum
yum avoid yum bad yum danger yum yuck danger yuck ick yum avoid yum bad yum bad
ick yum avoid yum bad yum danger yuck ick yum avoid yum bad yum danger yum yuck

Why am I not illustrating this? It's early, and my girls hid the crayons. At any rate, this is a text example of intercropping and/or companion planting. The potato hornworms wouldn't see a small continent of heaven if there are other plants that they either don't care to eat, or avoid due to irritation or danger and the same goes for most other insects. You'll still get the odd brave, and sometimes the swarm of voracious pests, though (slugs and Japaneses beetles come to mind for our neck of the woods). This is when you move onto:
strategic plantings (homes for predatory insects),
Invite the carrot cousins over! - Brooklyn Botanical Garden article
Garden "Insectary" - compact list, PDF's quick and complete article to get you started from GrinningPlanet.com
Like to make bird houses? There are some links for insect houses and a short list including dill, sweet alyssum and more (a good quick general read interspersed with links) at Scott’s Beneficial Insect Page
deterrents (home made sprays, covers),
Recipes and more:
Aphids and mites - "Mix 1 tablespoon of liquid soap and 1 cup vegetable oil. Dilute a teaspoon of this solution in a cup of water and spray on aphids and mites" - short article at ezinearticles.com
Beetles - A 2% emulsion of basil or avocado oil can be used to repel the Colorado potato beetle. - Symbio's has an exhaustive recipe book for insect deterrents
Specific Species, and rather horrific if you're one to anthropomorphise at all: "Species specific- Collect 1/2 cup of a specific pest and mash well. Mix this with two cups of water and strain. Mix 1/4 cup of this "bug juice" with 2 cups of water and a few drops of soap and spray." - Nine more from Pollution Prevention and Remediation's site

and finally downright destruction (traps, lures).
Slugs love beer. Bury a shallow container of beer in the garden, with just the lip above the ground. When they go in for a drink, they will drown. NOTE: Don't make them too deep! Salamanders eat slugs, and cannot get out of deep dishes.
Also a nice step-by-step for a "Slug Beer Garden" at stopwaste.org
How to Make Your Own Yellow Sticky Traps at eHow.com
Fruit flys can be a bother, so here's a link to a simple trap at makeyourown.com


The same goes for microscopic pests like bacteria and fungus. Crop rotation can rid a lot of these, but sometimes you need more methods. Some recipes include:
"RECIPE: homemade fungicide spray: KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN!
1 tablespoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon vegetable cooking oil per gallon of water."
from Sarasota Extension of the University of Florida
Also, "Cinnamon powder is a natural fungicide and has been shown to be particularly effective against damping-off. In addition, Weak chamomile tea (after it has cooled) is another natural fungicide." from gardenguides.com
Posted by Andrew at 10:12 AM
Edited on: Saturday, June 09, 2007 10:31 AM
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