I hadn't noticed that you haven't had any pest, other than mysterious paw prints in an earlier post. I'm overrun with japanese beetles! They turn foliage to lace. Horrible! And I, too, am fully organic, so my only choice is to kill them one by one. It's a losing battle on my sweet potatoes, but I think everything else is going to do well, better than last year, when another smaller black beetle destroyed eggplant and peppers so that I didn't get a single one of either. I sprayed nematodes this spring, which seem to have reduced those, but the japanese beetles are out of control.
RE: I'm growing potatoes SO tasty, the worms are having some too!
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I'm growing potatoes SO tasty, the worms are having some too!
Sorry to hear that! Have you tried diatomaceous earth? It's an inert rock powder that irritates bugs and drives them away. It can be used on the plant itself or mixed into the soil. Thankfully, we don't get those beetles over here.
Hm. I haven't. I also have never heard it mentioned as a remedy for the beetles. I have some, maybe it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. Thanks for the tip.
I'm getting plenty of food so far, despite. I worry I won't get any sweet potatoes, because the beetles are going to town on that plant. EVerything else seems to have only minor damage, and I'm not worried about the rest.
I'm getting a ridiculous amount of cucumbers, pickling something nearly every day, which Is no fun if you ask me. Maybe this year I'll pickle so much I won't even plant cucumbers next year. I've had zukes, onions, cukes, mustard, arugula, lettuce, kale, herbs, shell peas, shallots, beets, carrots and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Tomatoes coming soon, peppers, eggplant, and hopefully watermelon are on the way. I'm having an excellent year in the garden, despite the japanese beetles. Nature provides beautifully. It's astonishing really. It's very hard to eat veggies from the grocery store if you have ever grown your own.
Wow, you've got plenty of vegetables in your garden. Can we have a glimpse to inspire us ?♥️👍
Neem oil is helpful, and Neem is an herbal; so it's not a poison. I've heard that weak dish soap works too. With soap, you can just wash the leaves before you eat them. Not a poison, and both are considered organic.
I understand the cucumber problem! Try fermenting some pickles, it's really good for you.
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I spray the affected plants with a dish soap/EO/neem/water mixture as strong as I dare, hopng to repel them, but it doesn't kill the beetles. I could increase the neem I suppose. This seems to repel them for a day. I do not spray this on the rhubarb which they also like, hoping I can use the rhubarb as a trap. I can cut those leaves off, which can have as many as a dozen on one, and dunk the whole leaf in a bucket of soap water. Next year I will try growing the sweet potatoes in a bag on the asphalt, where the beetles don't seem to go. It's all a learning curve!
So sick of cucumbers. I would not have thought that possible until this year.
Spray them with alcohol if they are that concentrated on your plants. It will evaporate right away, and they will be dead!
I hear they have beetle traps that really tear them up too.
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I've been warned off from the traps - supposedly they will attract every beetle for miles around. I'll give the alcohol a shot on my rhubarb first, since I don't need that as much as I need the sweet potatoes this year. Thanks for the info! Just straight alcohol?
I just use the 70% rubbing alcohol, added to neem oil. If the beetles all die, who cares? They compost fine I'm sure....
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OK I'm gonna try it. These things are driving me insane. so many!!!
Maybe try a vacuum cleaner too? If there were that many, I bet it would lay waste to them! The little upolstery brush would loosen them up, and the vacuum will remove them.
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hm. You have such great ideas. Thanks!