|
By Bill Scheffler
~ June 17, 2005
Greetings Gardeners!
This week's tip consists of two questions, and my
answers, that were recently posted on our Discussion
Board at http://pure-prairie-organics.com/talk/. If
you have questions about gardening, I encourage you
to post them there. Also, please feel free to
respond to posts from others, and to post your own
gardening tips and discoveries.
Concerning Aphids
#############################
Question:
**********
I have been in Wheaton for about 10 years. I have
owned two homes in that time, old and new. This year
I have been plagued by a huge amount of aphids.
Occasionally I have released lady beetles, even
though I had not encountered any parasitic bugs,
just for plant maintenance. Last year I did not
release any lady beetles, but had a million in and
around my home. This year when I need them, I see
none. Almost every plant is infested [with aphids].
I have applied organic insecticide, (beer,
mouthwash, dish soap, chewing tobacco mix) -- this
seems to help a little but not entirely. What is
going on? Please help!
Answer:
**********
Yikes! Sounds like a mess over there!
'Dawn' dish soap and water will make a good
insecticide spray (one squeeze per 12 ounce spray
bottle should be about right). That should buy you a
little time. Although the other ingredients you used
sound very interesting. Did you mix them all
together or use them separately? What kind of
tobacco do you use?
I spray sugar water on plants with aphids and
that will get them to back off for a while. One can
use corn syrup (glucose, Karo syrup) or powdered
sugar (dextrose) with good results. Don't use table
sugar (sucrose). Molasses is ok, but the first two
sugars work best. I mix 2 ounces of corn syrup /
powdered sugar per gallon of water and spray it on
the plants.
When plants have an internal circulation problem
(hardening of the arteries?), sugars that are
produced do not get evenly distributed. They begin
to accumulate at the nodes. The purpose of aphids is
to relieve the pressure at the areas where the sugar
is building up.
Circulatory problems are often caused by too much
nitrogen, the wrong kind of nitrogen, and many
times, too much sodium. Did you use mushroom
compost? Mushroom compost causes many of these kinds
of problems. It has 10 times the amount of sodium
needed.
Potassium and silica fix circulatory problems in
plants. Thistle is high in both minerals and one can
make a compost tea with thistle and spray it on the
leaves.
Thistle tea is not really practical, though, so I
recommend a handful of guinea pig food (alfalfa
meal) and bone meal for each plant, watered in with
the sugar water I mentioned earlier. Guinea pig food
is available at pet food stores. Fifty pounds should
be $10 - $12.
Alfalfa is high in minerals and does a really
good job of feeding the plants so that they taste
bad to the insects. Bone meal is also high in
minerals, especially calcium, which is very
important. Plants are desperate for carbohydrates,
so sugar water is a very important part of getting
plants healthy and getting rid of bugs.
Remember! Plants make their own insecticides!
Plants can make their own fungicides! We just need
to give the plants the raw materials they need and
they will make what they need to feed and fix
themselves!
What do plants need? Carbohydrates, minerals and
a little bit of nitrogen. Organic fertilizers have a
big advantage over chemical fertilizers because they
have more carbohydrates and minerals in available
form that the plants can absorb.
Concerning Japanese Beetles
#############################
Question:
**********
My roses are beautiful this Spring. So you can
imagine how I dread the unwelcomed entrance of the
Japanese Beetle. I spread Milky Spore on my lawn 5
years ago, but those little devils still find their
way to my house.
I can't squish them, but I can toss them into a
bucket of water with ammonia. By the time I do this
they have already damaged the bloom. Is there
anything I can do to divert them to my neighbor's
garden?
Answer:
**********
Thanks for your patience. Yup, Japanese beetles
hit hard, eat a lot and stick around way too long!
They are new to the Chicago area. I think this is
the third year here, although they have a long
history on the East coast.
They usually appear at the end of June in this
area, although all the insects are early this year
so I think we will be seeing them very shortly. They
feed until mid August but if the weather stays
really warm, like the forecasts are calling for,
then they will age quickly and finish early. I sure
hope so, because they do a lot of damage.
Milky spore only eats the grubs from Japanese
beetles and takes a few years to establish here
because of the winters. It is a little expensive but
it definitely works. However, as you see, the
beetles just fly in from the neighbors. For milky
spore to work, everyone has to use it.
Conventional agriculture says to use poison
sprays. The organic version of this would be neem
oil sprays which are available at Ace hardware, Home
Depot and Menards. I think the Schults Company puts
it out under their 'Garden Safe' label. It is
labeled as a garden fungicide AND insecticide with
the active ingredient coming from neem oil (azadirachtin).
Lots of organic growers are using neem oil for the
hard shell insects, like Japanese beetles, although
I'm not actually sure how well it works. It's
definitely worth the few dollars of investment.
Over the winter, I was discussing this problem
with some Amish farmers and they suggested I use
cinnamon as a repellent. Very, very interesting.
Recently, I read an article saying the active
ingredient in cinnamon was a terrific repellent for
MOST insects. I am very excited by this one and
definitely will be trying it. When I asked them how
to apply it, they just shrugged their shoulders and
said, 'just shake it on!' I'll let you figure that
one out and you can tell me how it worked for you. I
can just see Sam's Club having a run on large
shakers of cinnamon!
Garlic is also a universal repellent. Put one or
two cloves in a blender with water, grind it up,
strain the pulp with a coffee filter and mix 2
ounces of that with a gallon of water and spray it
out there. Or put some in a Miracle Gro sprayer and
hose everything down. If your husband gets a craving
for antipasto salad, then you will know it is
working!
Personally, I like the traps. They are available
at Menards (plastic bag type, $5) and Gemplers mail
order (800-382-8473 / gemplers.com / item# T9004,
$19 for the hard plastic type). Traps are placed 30+
feet from the good plants. People who use the
Japanese beetle scented traps get 75% relief from
the beetles. It is a huge help. The good news is
that it works really well. The bad news is that it
works really well. The bag or bottle needs to be
emptied everyday as it fills up with beetles from
the whole neighborhood! When the bag or bottle fills
up with beetles, empty them into a bucket of water
to kill them and then dump them into the compost
pile or a hole in the ground and cover them up (make
sure they are dead!). They are real high in food
value which makes them very valuable as compost.
It's the ultimate revenge, YESS!! :-))
Conventional wisdom says don't use the traps
because they will attract the beetles from the
neighbors' yards but, in reality, EVERYONE should be
using traps and then we can pull from each others
yards! Then it won't be so bad. That being said, I
still think traps are worth the effort. Think of all
the great compost you will get from them!
Every morning we need to scout our plants for the
beetles. When you see some, brush them off the
plants into a bucket of soapy water to kill them.
Add some ammonia to the water to kill them a little
faster. The ammonia will strip the waxy coating that
protects their bodies and allow the soap and water
to work faster. 'Dawn' dish soap is the best, but
any of the dish soaps will work.
Japanese beetles hit lindens and birches really
hard, so use traps to get the numbers down and a
garden hose to remove them, even if it is just
temporarily. I think aromatic oils will be a big
help for the trees. Cinnamon powder will not be
practical but maybe look for cinnamon oil or garlic
or lemon grass oil or mint oil or some other
aromatic that you can spray up there to repel them.
Menards sells a wasp and hornet spray that has mint
oil as the active ingredient. It is made by the
Victor company which makes many cool products (victorpest.com,
I believe). It shoots out in a stream which is cool
for getting mint oil into tall trees, but I don't
know if it will be too strong and burn the leaves.
Try some and let me know what your results are.
Insects are never random. They always eat plants
that are malnourished. I will be experimenting with
different nutrient sprays to see if there is a
nutritional way to get rid of them. That would be
the best.
Happy gardening!
Bill Scheffler |
