posted
I brought in my herbs and my hot and green peppers, the aphids on the peppers I'm only slowing down with 'soapy' water sprayed nearly every day. then today I see I have no sage for Thanksgiving, the thyme is sheared way down and basil looks naked, but the rosemary was untouched. The herbs may come back, but I think I saw the culprit:(see url below) I took four off the sage, I haven't found the name of this creep(er).
I do not want to use insecticide but I also don't care to feed my herbs to 'pets' I never see.
* * * * Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious. -- Brendan Gill Plants: 12 | From: Michigan | Registered: Jun 2004
| Seeded: 216.65.162.159
I have those guys on my columbines... I have never done anything but hand squishing, but posting this to get a name (I think) to the pest and to bring the post back up to the top...
Anyone else???
Weezie
* * * * Weezie
Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. - Bible - Hebrews 13:2
posted
Thanks, Weezie, that's what I thought too, but I just can't find them all to squeeze them, every day more is lost, soon nothing will be left, sigh, I did find one 'lady bug' and 'p;anted' it on my worst infestation, but I think it flew away. I'm not so sure it's a real Lady bug anyway. Some years ago our local government imported what the were told was a lot of Lady bugs, now since there are no local natural enemies and we have gazillions of them, so many we HAD to get our home sprayed this year.
I still need help. sigh
PL
* * * * Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious. -- Brendan Gill Plants: 12 | From: Michigan | Registered: Jun 2004
| Seeded: 216.65.170.220
posted
I don't know the name of your caterpillar, but you could *try* using a product with rotenone in it - in NZ we have one called Derris Dust... it is approved for use as an organic product, so it's not nasty like spraying with an insecticide, but you still have to be careful - it works by uncoupling the caterpillars' respiratory chain (the way our cells turn glucose into energy), and has no effect on humans and animals BUT it does kill fish with the same mechanism - so keep it away from your goldfish pond. ....I just read over this and i have made Rotenone sound like a vile poison - it is actually quite an effective, environmentally friendly way of keeping caterpillars under control. Still, best to prevent the situation in the first place by planting marigolds etc in close proximity to at-risk plants when possible, though.
Plants: 7 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jun 2004
| Seeded: 210.54.19.187
posted
forgot to say that rotenone also gets rid of aphids - or, for the aphids, you could also try adding a bit of crushed garlic to your soapy spray. I do this, but you still have to spray all the time....here is a link to a US rotenone product: http://www.acornorganic.org/acorn/pdf/21350.pdf Despite its low toxicity, there is still a 1 day stand-down between application and consumption....so....hm.
Plants: 7 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Jun 2004
| Seeded: 210.54.19.187
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