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Garden Gate:  Garden pests  |
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earthcore
Farmgirl in Training
19 Posts
Kate
Ohio
USA
19 Posts |
 Posted - May 20 2006 : 12:49:26 PM
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Maybe this is a dumb question, but this is my first year planting a garden, so....
I'll just go ahaead and ask.
How do I keep the critters from eating my spinach? |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - May 20 2006 : 2:39:05 PM
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Have you seen what is eating it?
Eileen
Songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - May 20 2006 : 3:41:59 PM
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don't know why .. but last year (my first planting year here at Cabin Creek Farm) .. critters didn't seem to bother my veggies. I've been hearing a lot about RABBITS destroying not only veggies but PLANTS (hostas especially) down here this year. I researched it on 'google' .. and all i could come up with so far is: GET A BIG DOG .. and BUY A GUN! Well, i've got the big dogs .. but won't hear of them gnawing on those little critters (they are fenced in a HUGE yard). and i can't swat a fly .. so i know i surely cannot shoot at a living creature.
I did hear tell of sprinkling hot pepper on plants .. but you have to do that every time it rains .. and that could get fairly expensive.
I'll be watching to hear what great sage advice some of the girls come up with! xo
True Friends, Frannie |
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Phils Ann
True Blue Farmgirl
1095 Posts
Ann
Parsonsburg
Maryland
USA
1095 Posts |
Posted - May 21 2006 : 3:56:47 PM
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Frannie, I don't know if this is sage ;) but after several years of rabbits eating the flowers, biting the stalks and killing the whole plants, my yard which is not grass but really various weeds grew a large patch of clover... the wild, white flowered type. The rabbits don't seem to bother anything else. I watch them out the kitchen window devouring their salad.
Actually, we cover-planted red clover in the veggie garden way out back, and since have learned that clover works well to keep deer happy and out of the garden. Our experience verifies that clover and deer live happily together. 8 at a time are in there eating away. So, bottom line is try planting a patch of clover somewhere not far from the garden. Good luck. They're adorable (so are foxes in my mind... and mice) but not necessarily welcome.
Ann
There is a Redeemer. |
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earthcore
Farmgirl in Training
19 Posts
Kate
Ohio
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - May 21 2006 : 6:11:51 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Eileen
Have you seen what is eating it?
Eileen
Songbird; singing joy to the earth
No, the only animals we see in our yard are chipmunks, squirrels and rabbits. |
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CarolC
True Blue Farmgirl
85 Posts
Carol
Santa Fe
New Mexico
USA
85 Posts |
Posted - May 22 2006 : 12:48:33 PM
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I was determined to have an organic garden, this first chance in 30 years to grow edibles...but I'm losing the battle with what look like leaf hoppers (that's the closest I can identify them with the myriad of gardening books I have). They are tiny, hopping bugs with a voracious appetite and they are chewing up beans, canteloupe seedings, bachelor button plants, pepper plants, etc. The only advice offered in any of the books was a garlic/hot pepper spray. SO, I made a toxic brew of garlic and jalapenos and sprayed it heavily yesterday on every inch of the areas where they prey...and it nearly killed me and my dogs but the bugs just ate it up! Argh! Anyone have any suggestions? Having marigolds nearby hasn't helped either.
I shoulda turned left at Albuquerque..Bugs Bunny |
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Annab
True Blue Farmgirl
2900 Posts
Anna
Seagrove
NC
USA
2900 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2006 : 09:33:09 AM
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Try looking up Neem oil and ssee if you can order some to fit your budget
and here's a nasty one, but interesting I read in a 1980's issue of organic gardening.
Take for instance colorado potato beetle problems on your plants. Go out and collect as many adults as you can find the liquid for this concoction is, I think dish washing liquid, but don't quote me on this you are supposed to take the bugs, whirr them in a blender and spray back onto the plants. Apparantly a fear phermone is released. So when other adults land or find the host pants they will pick up on this pheremone and go somewhere else. And I tihnk you can do this for just about all the garen pests.....IF you can stand the stink and mess. Have never tried it but kudos to anyone out there fed up enough to do so!
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lamarguerite farm
True Blue Farmgirl
649 Posts
missy
Battle Ground
Wa
USA
649 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2006 : 5:49:17 PM
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I went out to check on our garden today. I had a sungold cherry tomato in a pot and the deer at all but the top two inches of that. Looks like they nibbled on a few bush beans and then walked through some of the beds. I have had a worse time with the cats using the beds as a litter box. Any suggestions for this? We did raised bed for square foot gardening and the cats think they are gian litter boxes. ugh!!!!
For the bugs I have heard of using spray with detergent and orange oil or you could try lavender oil. This works great for aphids. I mix a little natural dish soap in water and then add 8-10 drops of essential oil. a friend of mine has an organic farm and used pureed garlic with water in a spray bottle for a beetle problem.
Love and blessings,
Missy
If you have a dream, even if you don't feel qualified to accomplish it, just try your hardest.-Maggie Jensen
http://18happyhens.blogspot.com
http://LamargueriteFarm.etsy.com |
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CarolC
True Blue Farmgirl
85 Posts
Carol
Santa Fe
New Mexico
USA
85 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2006 : 5:59:03 PM
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I guess because of the dozens of loose dogs and cats and cows that roam this kind-of-rural area, we don't have other wild life, like deer, raccoons, possums, etc. I don't even have rabbits here. Just dogs, cats, cows and gazillions of bugs (most notably the grasshopper infestation). I know in the past I have read and heard on TV that (this is gross but works) human urine really bothers deer and keeps them away. My father was having a similar problem with armadillos rooting around in and ruining all his gardens (that was before Hurricane Rita destroyed his entire yard and a good bit of the house last year). In desperation, he started collecting urine in large jugs and mixing it with all kinds of awful stuff...garlic, onion, soaps, etc. (sorry, don't remember the exact formulas but they seemed to vary a lot). A few applications of human "essence" and that problem was gone. Dad said at the time the hardest part was remembering to save the urine in the first place! I'm thinking pee won't do much good with a ground literally covered in crawling, jumping grasshoppers but it just might help with your deer problem. I'm writing down all the suggestions all of you are posting here....Thank you! Worth trying them all, if I can afford it. As I said, the garlic/chile spray didn't do squat for the bugs and I put it on really thick. I think New Mexican bugs just naturally have a yen for the hot stuff!
I shoulda turned left at Albuquerque..Bugs Bunny |
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Annab
True Blue Farmgirl
2900 Posts
Anna
Seagrove
NC
USA
2900 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2006 : 09:38:23 AM
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Has anyone tried diotomacious earth. hubby says you put this down, plow the field and then plant. When new soft bodied critters hatch, they will be olbiterated by the microscopic hard shelled crustaceans.
You can also use this for other animals as a feed supplement too I think. It does the same thing to the soft bodied parasitic worms.
I have read posts on this for dogs and chickens. Haven't tried it, so sadly, can't pass on pearls of wisdom yet. |
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CarolC
True Blue Farmgirl
85 Posts
Carol
Santa Fe
New Mexico
USA
85 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2006 : 09:44:14 AM
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I've heard pros and cons of using it but have never tried it myself. Sure wouldn't work on grasshoppers since they jump over everything. Did hear it's good for slugs and caterpillars, etc. I finally found a book last night that had something that might help with my grasshopper "plague"...it was a recipe for grasshopper mush (molasses and whole wheat flower and canola oil and water) that supposedly lures them to little containers I'm to stick in the ground). I hope the grasshoppers have read the same book! I'm heading to the store today and will get some molasses.
I shoulda turned left at Albuquerque..Bugs Bunny |
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Garden Gate: Garden pests |
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Garden pests
