I read somewhere here on Garden web that planting garlic, onions,and chives helps control aphids. Planning on giving it a try the aphids are feasting on my potato vine!

Dill is supposed to repel tomatoe worms.

My personal favorite is nasturtiums with broccoli. It's kind of a sacrificial plant for black aphids. They gather on the nasturtium leaves and leave the broccoli alone. The flowers remain pretty much untouched.
There's another trick for slugs in your garden beds. You crush eggshells and sprinkle them around the base of your plants. The slugs won't crawl across them because the shells stick to them.(Diatomateous earth works, but egg shells won't cut you and you don't have to worry about inhaling them!)
If you've ever had a problem with cutworms (you put in your plants and the next morning they've been chewed through about a 1/4 inch above the ground and felled like little trees) try pushing a small twig into the ground next to and up against the stem of your seedling. A cutworm will wrap around the stem and chew through the other side of the stem. With the twig next to the stem this can't happen. This is especially helpful with peppers and eggplants.
Marigolds are supposed to be the workhorse of the garden. I know they're especially good for combatting nematodes in the soil. These are the creatures that cause club root in broccoli plants. Unfortunately, the slugs in my garden love marigolds and once they're blooming, I don't always notice their leaves have been stripped bare! That's where the egg shells come in.

Has anyone tried Four O'Clocks to control Japanese Beetles? I heard that they are attractive to the beetles but are poisonous to them. Heard the same thing about Larkspur, but it wouldn't be blooming during my beetle season. I am going to try it this summer.

Mommagee your slugs obviously arn't as persistent as mine. Crushed egg shells don't work round here, the little monsters just slither over the stuff like little tanks to destroy my plants. One thing which does seem to work is sharp edged gravel, they haven't got to my hostas yet (touch wood).

I don't have as many eggshells as I used to since my husband started watching his cholesterol! So when I run out of eggshells, I cheat and sprinkle something called Bugetta around the plants slugs seem to think are delicious. One of my neighbors told me about it. He referred to it as snail bait, so maybe I'm referring to it by it's brand name. It's a pellet sort of product (actually reminded me of rabbit doodoo) and the slugs eat that instead of your plants and just sort of slime themselves to death. I can be tolerant of just about any other insect in my garden, but I have yet to see anything eat a slug, so there's no sympathy there. And I only use the stuff when we've had a lot of rain. Besides, how can you feel sorry for an insect (and I'm sure someone will correct me for calling a slug an insect) that can only decide if it's male or female by how much it eats?
Mommagee ;0)

Check out this site. It even tells what it repels. Too bad it does not provide more details on the science/chemistry.

More site out there. Try a search.

Here is a link that might be useful: Companion Table - veg, flower, herb

Yes.. good point! What *is* the predator of the slug or snail?

L

The natural predators are beetles, frogs and birds. the frogs would need a pond or like for water. Then you have a breeding ground for mosquitoes, etc.

Check the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: All about Slug Controls

Rove beetles eat snails & slugs. my friend says that he put his morning shavings on his plants & it repels those mollucks. since i'm not a guy and i'm not that hairy, i mine my bunny's fur and snug my little seedings with her fur. i've experimented with fur & snails and those monsters do crawl right over the fur. oh well. at least fur is good mulch.

i read somewhere that someone used oats. says that the mollucks relishes them, crawls away to puff up & die. i'll experiment. if it works you'd have to reapply oats whenever they get wet or else it'd be useless since it'd be already puffed up.

-s

Read somewhere that copper is not liked by slugs. Perhaps a border of pipe or copper foil will do the trick. Try a penny on your tongue; almost an electric charge.

Have a bottle return site in the area that empty contents into a bucket for dumping. What a source for the stail beer traps.

Employed the corn meal last year for the slugs and earwigs in combination with the old garden hose pieces. Seemed to clean them up nicely. Also put out the 4-5" foil pie plates with 1/4" vegetable oil and a tablespoon of soy sauce. Found all sorts of creatures next morning. Only have to replace the soy sauce daily and the oil weekly. Even found cutworms attracted the the sauce.

OrganicDan

Here is a link that might be useful: All You Want to Know about SLUGS

I planted the following companions in my veggie garden:

\- 4'Oclocks (back of garden) \- Tasty yet lethal treats to Japanese Beetles. \- Nasturtiums (rows along tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers) \- Aphid trap. Deters wooly aphids, whiteflies, squash bug, cucumber beetles and other pests of the curcurbit family. \- French Marigolds (thick rows along onions, zuchini, beans just because that was only space free) \- Roots excude substance that kills bad nematodes. Deter whiteflies and possibly other insects. \- Borage (scattered among squash, tomatoes) \- Deters tomato hornworms and cabbage worms. Attracts bees and wasps. May help with overall disease and pest resistance.

Most companions repel bad things or attract good things instead of actually killing them. They may also attract bad things away from more desirable plants - this is a "trap crop". Trap crops can be a great way to concentrate pests in a spot where you can spray them with BT, safer soap, or other pesticides.

The only true "killing" companions I have found:
- Chrysanthemums C. coccineum (not all varieties) - kills root nematodes.
- White Geraniums - kills Japanese beetles.
- Four O'Clocks - kills Japanese beetles.

I am hoping these plants provide the benefits listed. If they don't then they will provide good color and some edible flowers. I don't believe any plant can be a magic bullet for pests, but may at least lessen the need for other options.

HELP!! I'm a total beginner but I have planted a pile of different things in my new garden. All are growing well except the lettuce which is being eaten by something.
Apparently I should plant marigold among the lettuce.
Is this correct or is there something better.
I'd hate to lose the lettuce because they cost a fortune to buy here in Vanuatu!
jim

Two questions for OrganicDan:

What is the cornmeal/old garden hose pieces technique?

And were beneficial insects also attracted to your soy sauce and oil in the pie plate?

Thanks!

lizards and NON-water frogs are great insect enemies also toads i put black 5 gal buckets or pots upside down for them to hang in and cover with straw etc to keep heat down they hang there during day and at nite feast on tha bugs also cut up small pieces of black and green old hosepipe to make fake snakes and also rubber snakes or lizards from wal-mart help as well keeps birds rabbits etc outta there

Egg shells doesn't deter slugs. Slugs will even cross over sharp razors. Last year, put lots of egg shells around my bell pepper plants, and saw the suckers crawl right over them to get to my plants. Almost every bell pepper I picked had a slug inside of them.

Just recently discovered that 4 o'clocks were deadly to Japanese beetles. Wished I had known that before I plant them, would have planted around my rose bushes since Japanese beetles love my roses. Here is the article that I read on the Internet:

FOUR-O'CLOCKS: Draw Japanese beetles like a magnet which then dine on the foliage. The foliage is pure poison to them and they won't live to have dessert! It is important to mention that four-o"clocks are also poisonous to humans. Please be careful where you plant them if you have children. They are a beautiful annual plant growing from 2-3 feet high with a bushy growth form.

Sheila

White geraniums are poisonous to Japanese beetles? Any certain variety? The hardy type or annual? I had some 4-o'clocks planted last year before I learned about it being deadly to Japanese beetles. I did notice some bodies around the plants. This year I have planted lots more 4 o'clocks. Anything that kills Japanese beetles must be good. They demolish my cherry trees, crape myrtles, roses, raspberries, hibiscus, hollyhocks, & ... I could go on & on. Only pest I have any real problem with, but boy do they make up for the others.

Not being a insect specialist I am unable to identify all the creatures attracted to the soy sauce; but I do see a lot of the earwigs. Perhaps if I take a day's kill to an IMP specialist friend, he will tell me.

Since the soy sauce draws mostly at night, I am confident that the trap is getting the night feeders which are mostly the pests. I clean out the traps in the morning and refill in late evening.

A similar trap is an old soup can with 1/2" molasses and filled to half with water.

The hose piece trap is simply old 15-18" sections of hose that I place about the garden. The earwigs like to use it as a daylight shelter. I check them early in the morning and dump them into a soapy water pail and replace the hose piece.

I know it's already been mentioned, but I'm a huge fan of nasturtiums in with the squash and cucumbers. It helps control both cucumber beetles and squash bugs - both beasties that have given me considerable trouble in the past.

ReuseRob....Dill might repel hornworms but they are aphid magnets and not worth the trade off.

I still think marigolds are the best! I plant them everywhere! I have planted one marigold per tomato plant this year and no, I repeat, NO BUGS! No aphids, no slugs, nuthin! I also plant them in borders around my pole beans, and interplant the beans with morning glories. This combo does double duty. It keeps the bugs down and the rabbits away.

My Boss is always complaining about japanese beetles on her bushes. Other than picking them off does anyone have any suggestions?
thanks, Marsha

NGraham said:
White geraniums are poisonous to Japanese beetles? Any certain variety? The hardy type or annual? I had some 4-o'clocks planted last year before I learned about it being deadly to Japanese beetles.

G. maculatum (which is actually pinkish) is a perennial geranium, sometimes also called cranesbill, and it is death to Japanese beetles. Other species of perennial geranium (note: Pelargonium species, which are the "geraniums" you're apt to find in a Mother's Day bouquet, won't work) will knock the little pests unconscious for a few hours, long enough for a bird or toad to find them.

Soybeans and marigolds make good trap crops, as the beetles will seek them out (easy target for the old soapy water bucket). I've also read that peonies attract beneficial wasps, which will feed on the beetles.

As a last resort, you can put down milky spore, which is a bacterial control against the grubs, but be aware that this will take 2-3 years to be effective.

Hope this helps!

I have planted fava beans and have black aphids eating the tops. I have planted in the perimeter mint, basil, rosemary and marigolds but they are feasting and I have tried to find a resource for a companion planting or a organic pesticide and have come up with cutting tops of plants, spray with hose, and hand pick!! Also seem to have black flies but they are appearing dead on my cucs, and tomato plants very weird!

What *is* the predator of the slug or snail? pazzaglia asks.
Snakes eat slugs. Here in the Northwest, where our snakes are not poisonous, they do more for the garden than not. I jump/scream every time I see them, yet realize they are hard at work.
We have watched them swallow a large slug. The slug mucus's up and must be like swallowing dry dirt clods. It takes an hour or more for him to get it down his throat...a discusting display, yet very interesting. Once the slug is gone, his face is sticky and he wants to clean it up so he whipes his head all over the groud trying to get the goo off. Sometimes other snakes come to the feast wanting the catch..I'm not sure why as I live in the slug capital. There is plenty to go around.
Idea: fill a spray bottle with water and add about 1/4 cup plain ammonia. Spray under the leaves of plants where you see the very smallest slugs, snails. The solution will kill them and the nitrogen will aid the plant.
Oh, hte best preditor is MAN!!
Smiles,
D.....