Dealing With Pests In Your Organic Garden

Dealing with pests in your garden is inevitable, unfortunately. If you are growing an organic garden this is a little more difficult. There are organic pesticides that work great! The down side to this is that it can also kill the beneficial insects in your garden which takes away from a thriving eco system. This is my first year gardening, so I can only speak on the pests that I have dealt with (so far), which are squash bugs, vine borers, and cabbage moths. Keep reading to see how I have kept these problems under control!

Let's start with vine borers - I have seen two of them throughout the garden, that was early on and I have not seen them since. So far I am fortunate to see no eggs are damage and am hoping to keep it that way! One tip I read is that if you plant early enough your plant can be strong enough to withstand damage, I am hoping since my plants are at the point of producing I will be safe if damage occurs, but I am staying vigilant! I check my stems daily and look for the eggs, what looks like sawdust which is the inside of the vine being removed as the larvae moves through and entrance points. To help prevent them next year I will not plant my squash in the same spot and will be sure to till the area they were in to stop any larvae that is overwintering.

Next up, Squash bugs - An infestation of these can destroy your plant in days! The female squash bug will lay eggs until about mid summer. The way to prevent infestation is by removing the eggs, which can be found under the leaves of your squash plants (photo below). There are a few ways to do this, some us a lint roller, duct tape, or cut the leaf off. Personally, I cut the leaves off, if it isn't going to be too many. I like to prune my plants anyway to allow for better pollination and airflow, so I might as well cut those off and save myself the trouble!

And finally, Cabbage moths - when I first saw the "pretty white butterfly" in my garden I thought it was harmless. Then one day I realize my broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and radish leaves all were full of holes. I found these little green worms on them and did some research to realize these are cabbage worms! I got to work removing the worms and dropping them into soapy water, and using tape to remove the yellow eggs that are left by the moths. I've also set out on catching the moths! This can be done with a butterfly net, or for me, I just use an old pool skimmer net and catch them and dispose of them. The first few days I had a lot of work to do and was out there twice a day, now that it is under control I can get by with checking once a day. They will continue to lay eggs all summer, into fall. So I will continue to check daily and try to catch the remaining moths.

Squash Bug Eggs On LeafMyself