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poutmouse

bugs!!!!!

poutmouse
14 years ago

I'm losing my mind. bugs bugs & more bugs. I spend my whole day squashing bugs and its really grossing me out. I've always been organic but I'm ready for poison. Cucs beetles, squash bugs, slugs & unseen super invisible bugs.I've never experienced anything like this before. I'm in upstate NY & the spring has been rain, rain, clouds etc. Slugs have eaten my string bean seedlings 5 times, squash & cuc seedlings 3 times now the cuc beetles & squash bugs appear. Sometimes things I've never seen germinate. I'm usually much further along by now but cuz of the weather I'm limping with only 2nd leaves & some 1st leaves. I have so many birds I'm afraid to use poison- any suggestions? Oh yeah I'm also vaccuming the bugs. The knats have bitten me from head to toe. Is anyone else having the same problem?

Comments (3)

  • oilpainter
    14 years ago

    No but we had it cold and wet earlier and the last month it was hot and dry. I don't have many bugs at all. Safers slug bait or sluggo contains no chemicals but iron phosphate instead. It kills slugs but is safe for the birds.

    Another earth friendly pesticide is insecticidal soap. I don't consider myself organic, but I do consider myself earth friendly and avoid harmful chemicals especially in the vegetable garden. There are more and more chemical free green products coming on the market all the time.

    To me it's about striking a balance and reading about exactly what you are using

  • oilpainter
    14 years ago

    If you don't want to use bait( by the way iron phosphate is a mineral found in the earth) for slugs at least deter them or read about organic ways to deal with bugs.

    For slugs:
    Some say beer attracts them. bury a jar up to the neck in the earth. fill it half full with beer and prop the lid so it doesn't get diluted with rain. The slugs crawl in and drown.
    crushed egg shells or wood ashes or anything sharp sprinkled around your plants will keep them away from them. They don't like to put their soft bodies over anything sharp.
    Earwigs:
    A rolled up wet newspaper or hollow reed or anything that they will crawl in in the early morning will work. In the morning check these traps and dump the bugs into a pail of soapy water.

    There's more organic ways to deal with bugs than just squashing them. You just have to do some reading

  • Jo-Ann
    14 years ago

    I'm in the South Shore of Nova Scotia and I feel your pain. I have planted and replanted beans at least 5 times since the middle of May. I'll bet I've seeded 5000 carrots and have about 20 that have sprouted. My new strawberries, raspberry and blackberry bushes were decimated by 'something', as yet unidentified. I planted 5 zucchini plants and 16 cucs (started from seed, indoors) and one zucchini has survived. The only things that weren't being eaten were my tomato plants; however, the weather has been so bad that they are only just now starting to fruit.

    I am trying to be as organic as possible and was at my wits end, particularly with the beans. I ended up mixing up vast quantities of Neem oil solution and spraying everything weekly. In fact, I would check the beans daily...if a sprout appeared, I sprayed it and the soil around it. It took a couple of weeks, but whatever was eating my new sprouts, stopped. In fact, having sprayed everything several times now, the only plants that still seem to be suffering are the everbearing strawberries, and I think they may have a fungal disease rather than an insect problem.

    I should also point out that I don't have a slug problem (well, not a major one). Whatever was eating my plants is still a mystery to me, but it wasn't slugs as they are not deterred by Neem. I am also convinced that ants ate or carried away my carrot seeds. We've had a horrible ant problem this year.

    You are not alone....