Thank you. I tried it, and it worked great! Dead little flea beatles in just minutes, and haven't seen one since ;0) Now if my dichondra will just recover, lol...I'll have to mark the calender for next June, and have the triazicide ready...

"Rgreen, have you though about the beetles reproducing? That's what stops me from your technique... fear them taking over the following season! :)" Yeah, you have to take certain precautions. The first thing is to remove all plant debris from the space, then disrupt the soil a couple of times... basically tilling or turning the bed - at least once, but turning the eggplant bed in the fall, then again in the spring, will help. The next thing is to think about crop rotation. It's good for soil health, but rotating also helps to control pests. There are different techniques for rotating. For pest and disease control, I rotate by plant species. Each coming year I'll put the eggplants in a place that hasn't had Solanaceae for 3 - 4 years. It isn't a perfect fix, as some pests enjoy various species, but it's one more layer of protection. I've also used my expansions to my benefit. I've been expanding for a few years. each year, the eggplants go into new ground. Eventually, I'll need to put them in previously used space, but the rotation will help. A lot of people have smaller gardens, and rotation isn't practical. In such cases, removing plant debris, and turning the soil a few times helps a lot. Because I don't use chemical controls, every proactive step is another layer of protection. In our area though, everyone who tries to grow eggplant has the same problem. My stepdad, whose getting too old to do too much, is ready to use Sevin dust on the eggplant. I haven't checked yet to see if it works, but he's tired of not getting anything from his plants. Like I say though... it's a learning process, and some years are worse for certain pests than other years. I'll continue using this technique as long as it's working. Hopefully that will be a long time, but you never know.

Thanks tech biker. I know less about engines than I know about grass, which isn't too much, but your analogy makes sense. As well as the advice. As far as organic food choice compared to chemical, for me, I think its two reasons why I like it - 1. ease of use ; less chance of human error, over feeding, easier to apply and water in without chemical burn or cement discoloration (which I have a lot of visible mistakes lol) 2. safer for my family, pets, environment. My current goals are to keep it simple like you say. Adequate food, water, sunlight part I'm working on trimming trees. My father just got an extended chainsaw pole trimmer...we are going to share it. I'll be able to reach further up now to shape up all the trees. I"m mowing consistently at 1.0 inch height at approx every 3 or 4 days. I'm maintaining my equipment as best as I can. And I'm trying to be as healthy as I can. This last 2 months have been tough. I just applied texas tee tonight. I gave it a light soak in to keep the dust down. We just had a huge downpour saturday and then we are fried with 105 degree weather sunday and today. I'm still not pleased with a couple of yellowish areas..but I see some green forming. I'm guessing the recovery from my last human errors have just been taking a while to cure. I'll probably do another round of baby shampoo next time I water. Looking forward to posting some quality pictures soon. I do have some great looking areas though, carpet like. The sides of our house are still a no mans land riddled with weeds. They grow fast. I'm trying to keep it low. I really hate even cutting it. I feel like I'm contaminated my mowers just by cutting them, and that I'm spreading their guts everywhere infecting the rest of my yard! I'm guessing its 20/25 percent grass and 80 percent weed. Plus one side has I believe saint augustine growing thanks to the previous owner of the house next to us who planted it or something. I'm guessing winter might be the best time to start a weed attack and prevent regimen.

dragonflydee: For reference, please see The Logician LLC(USDA8b-OregonPDX)'s comments in your original thread, here. He/She says my critter is a true bug. Coincidentally, ZenMan was helping me on the Annuals forum (re: zinnias), and he mentioned flea beetles. However, my black critter didn't jump when disturbed. And according tothis article, flea beetle adults max out at 1/16" -- are your beetles that tiny? Gather up your flashlights for tonight, but I hope you won't need them. (We lost power for a couple of hours last night -- equipment issue, we were told by the electric company as there was no weather in the area.)