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How do you control insect damage?
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Posted by heirloom_lady z5 OH (My Page) on Sun, Sep 3, 06 at 23:37
| This is my second year selling flowers and sales have really picked up, but insects have really given me a lot of trouble this year. My snaps were beautiful until they became infested with little black bugs. The suns received damage from little worms that munched on the centers. Japanese beetles had a party with my zinnias. Miscellaneous insects chewed on my rudbeckias. Help! I've been trying to grow naturally without spraying, but I'm to the point where I have to do something if I want to sell any flowers. What do the rest of you do? Do you spray, and if so what do you use? Hopefully I can find some preventative maintenance for next year. Sherry |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: How do you control insect damage?
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Sherry,
I too have been plagued by a small black (with red) type of stink bug or tarnish bug on my snaps. I have only knocked them off the plant into a bucket of soapy water, but there are just too many and I'm not vigilant enough to get them all. If you smash them with your fingers, they smell like cilantro.(I can no longer tolerate cilantro) Is that the bug you have? They are triangular shaped. For some bugs, you can mix up rotenone with water and spray it on your plants. That is ok even if you're organic. I had more bug problems than usual too this year, I thought it was all the moisture we had. Next year won't be much better due to all of the tent catapillar we have everywhere. I hate to think about spraying. If I hear of any other alternative, I'll let you know.
Cheryl |
RE: How do you control insect damage?
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Cheryl,I think I that is the same bug I had on my snaps. I didn't try smashing them, but I did try knocking them into soapy water. Like you said, there were just too many of them.
Someone recently suggested I try spraying Murphy's Oil Soap diluted in water. Apparently it is supposed to help with Janpanese beetles. It's too late to try it this year, but next year I'll give it a try and rotenone too. I'm just not sure what the oil soap would do to the flowers. |
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