My poor broccoli. All the leaves have been chewed on, and several are half gone. So far the bugs haven’t touched anything else but I assume its just a matter of time. And no, I’ve not caught sight of the bug in question.
I don’t really want to use outright pesticides, but if I have to I will.
I have DE, and if the weather would stop raining on us every day I’ll get out there and dust everything including the garden with it (it helps with the ticks and the like, but things have to dry out at least a bit before it’ll do any good).
I don’t mind having to wash things before we eat, but we do like raw broccoli and peppers so it would be nice if we didn’t have to use an outright pesticide on it….Any ideas or suggestions??
Is it bugs or birds? We don’t get too many bugs eating things, but the starlings will bite the tops right off of things. Best way to take care of that is a little bit of birdshot…
Pretty sure its bugs, doesn’t look like bird damage, but when I get home I’ll snap a picture. Haven’t seen birds paying attention to the garden at all yet.
Husband pointed out something’s been chewing on the ruhbarb leaves too.
Saw cabbage moths fluttering around our garden the other day, so bugs are out there. If you have fine mesh netting, that could keep future flying bugs off. But it might also be earwigs; those little buggers will even eat rhubarb leaves. Hope you get some drier days, so you can use the Diatomaceous Earth.
Hmm, like window screening mesh? I’ll have to look around, but yah, the rhubarb is chewed on a bit too, and I noticed a hole in a pumpkin leaf just now….
Note: any starling who starts taking bites out of my garden is fair game for the pellet gun…..they’re legal to shoot as pests here in NY state….
Hey, I looked at your broccoli leaves. Try this, I’ve copied it from E-How off the web this should help.
A homemade insecticide can be mixed together as a green worm remedy. Soak 3 ounces of minced garlic in 2 tablespoons of mineral oil in a glass jar with a lid for 24 hours. Strain out the garlic and add 1 pint of water and 1 teaspoon of liquid dish soap. The soap will act as a sticking agent. Dilute 1 to 2 tablespoons of the garlic-soap mixture with 1 pint of water in a spray bottle. Shake well and spray on the plant leaves, covering both top and bottom.
Test this spray on one or two plants for 24 hours to make sure the plants do not have an adverse reaction. Always spray homemade insecticide in the morning, as full sun exposure can burn your plants
Read more: Home Remedies for Vegetable Garden Green Worms | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5563360_home-vegetable-garden-green-worms.html#ixzz1vX8CrJtt
Also check out a friends blog, she made something similar for bug/worm deterient. Her blog is :http://hickeryhollerfarm.blogspot.com/
You will need to look back several posts.