getting ready for the BUGS!!!

[Deleted User]

Won`t be long now and the bugs will start to make hay with our plants. They can make you give up veggie growing if you aren`t expecting them. I an getting prepared ie soft soap ordered, calendula, nasturtiums and so on are planted in plugs and are thriving. Sprayer is ready for soft soap and just water. Cabbage collars are made. Environmesh brought and set up over hoops. Bird mesh at the ready too.

Don`t be lulled into complacency, as this time of year is the calm before the storm. Don`t expect to be buying effective bug killers as they have been banned (a good thing) so you have to get used to dealing organically with pests

Poached egg plants at the ready

soft soap is made by savona and someone is bound to ask where to get it from

http://www.organiccatalogue.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=61_181&products_id=550

Get your plants into optimum health ie feed and nourish them so they can stand up to bug attack

cubegame

My tactic for the allotment is to douse everything with copious quantities of pesticide and hope the bugs treat everyone around who is playing the organic game as sacrificial crops!

Furny

Just waiting on the poached egg plants seeds to arrive & I have Marigolds on the go in the prop.
Nasturtiums need sowing & I have the slug pellets at the ready but to be truthful I didn't suffer last year at all as my planting is in containers on a decking & I don't think they seem to be attracted to it as much as a garden but you never say never!

misskool

we have an astounding slug population so slug pellets and nemaslug ready.

annie123

They have already started here in London, nearly eaten all my rhubarb leaves:mad:

beer traps going in this week.

splodger_seedswapper

i just use a sprinkle old soot and / or ash - to deter bugs on the ground (especially flea beetle and pea weavil) and use rhubarb and garlic as a spray for flying bugs (especially aphids and blackfly)

i don't like to use anything artificial / chemical on my allotments - so slug pellets are also a no no (beer slops from the local pub put into traps will get rid of a fair few wood lice, slugs and snails)

SailorSam

I think you need to go easy with the slug pellets, we're all looking for an easy solution but don't forget the harm these poisons do. Birds; hedgehogs; even your cat may eat them either directly or indirectly by eating the dead bugs.

ps.
I'm a learner gardener .... How will a poached egg plant help ?
I've just planted Nasturtiums i didn't realise they helped but i'd read Marigolds were good in the veg patch so have a tray of them coming up ready.

xnatalie81x

saw some suspicious bluey green mouse poos in my cupboard (mouse prob nearly sorted thanks to a hungry cat!) and realised the little boogers had chewed through my slug pellets and obviously eaten some as their poos are the same colour as the pellets! Still not hurt them and cat got bored and went home to my mums so he is also safe

Sambucus_Nigra

cubegame wrote: »

My tactic for the allotment is to douse everything with copious quantities of pesticide and hope the bugs treat everyone around who is playing the organic game as sacrificial crops!

That's bizarre - as I get very few bugs in the first place after being organic for several years.

A few nets to keep cabbage whites out and I'm pretty sorted. Chilli spray for the few that make it through and bob's your uncle. Happy days.

Sambucus_Nigra

SailorSam wrote: »

I think you need to go easy with the slug pellets, we're all looking for an easy solution but don't forget the harm these poisons do. Birds; hedgehogs; even your cat may eat them either directly or indirectly by eating the dead bugs.

ps.
I'm a learner gardener .... How will a poached egg plant help ?
I've just planted Nasturtiums i didn't realise they helped but i'd read Marigolds were good in the veg patch so have a tray of them coming up ready.

The organic slug pellets are fine to use - if you need them.....no effect on other wildlife and the slugs don't explode like the non-organic ones do.

Limanthes [poached egg plant] bring the good bugs in - for pollination - they are usually the first flower out and the bees love them.

What you want to attract is a good environment where lots of wildlife feels at home, so the more flowers the better - this brings in other bugs like parasitic wasps which attack caterpillars, and ladybirds which eat black and green aphids that would otherwise attack your crops....I leave last year's corn stalks on my plot all winter for the ladybirds to hibernate in and come the first aphids they are there ready to snaffle them all for me. Nice ladybirds [and their larvae...don't forget the larvae]...

Rummer

I hate cabbage white caterpillars, they destroyed my Brassicas a couple of years ago and I am only planting them again this year. I will need to get netting sorted, any cost effective sources out there?