What are unsurvivable surroundings for Bugs?

“Unsurvivable Surroundings” used to mean using insecticides or pesticides to spray plants the minute bugs began making their appearance. However, we have come to realize that spraying plants with insecticides or pesticides was creating other problems, not the least being that we were poisoning ourselves and our environment plus killing the soil’s microorganisms so necessary to plant growth. Finally other methods have been revived or created, methods which will [tag-tec]create unsurvivable surroundings for those unwanted bugs[/tag-tec] without putting people or other insect species at risk.

Different Ways To Create Unsurvivable Surroundings Which Gets Rid Of Unwanted Bugs:

1. Handpicking beetles or slugs or caterpillars.

The first way you may create unsurvivable surroundings is to handpick the unwanted pest. For example we know that the Colorado potato beetle usually lays its shiny golden brown eggs in clusters on the underside of leaves. By regularly checking the undersides of leaves and picking off these clusters of eggs before they even develop is one way to stop an epidemic of Colorado potato beetles. You may want to offer a beetle bounty to young children in your neighborhood — say at 1/2 cent for each beetle.

As for slugs, they feed at night and hide in the daytime. Put boards or pieces of tubing where you think you have slugs. In the morning, fill a pail of water about 1/4 full, add dish soap or detergent to the water, then lift the boards and remove the slugs by dropping them into the soapy water.

(I personally hate picking up slugs with my fingers, so I would use a trowel to carefully peel off the slug from the board and drop it into the soapy water.) Most slugs will remain at the bottom of the pail and drown, but the odd one will make its way to the side of the pail and try to crawl out. Just send these back into the soapy water.

If you use the tubing, just point one end of the tube towards the center of soapy water in your pail and dislodge the slugs by tapping on the side of the tubing.

You can use the same idea for caterpillars but using a can of water with a bit of detergent soap in it. You can easily carry the can around with you as you handpick the caterpillars.

2. Use Living Organisms (biological control) To Create Unsurvivable Surroundings

a. Beneficial nematodes: Not all nematodes are garden enemies.

One year I bought nematodes at a garden center and sprayed my lawn for grubs. Years after I sprayed (you must follow specific instructions), I never saw a grub, yet my neighbor had plenty of them. The nematodes did not bother with the grass roots or the earthworms. I was so pleased with the results.

The nematodes sold in gardening centers feed on soft-bodied, soil-dwelling pests such as grubs, wire-worms, and root maggots. To apply them to the garden, you suspend them in water and use a spray attachment on your hose. They may be expensive but are so worth it!

b. Milky Spore: Milky spore is a bacteria which when swallowed by grubs will cause them to die within two or three weeks. The white spore filling the grub’s body will then reenter the soil waiting for more grubs to come along. It can take two or three years for milky spore to become established in a treated area.

When applying nematodes or milky spores, avoid applying chemical pesticides to the same areas.

c. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt): Bt is often used to get rid of cabbage worms, hornworms, corn borers, and the like. When Bt is ingested by these worms, it paralyzes the gut and gives the worms a case of indigestion from which there is no return. Different strains of Bt are used for different pests, so read your label.s

Note: If you see pale green caterpillars with a series of yellow and black rings from its head to its tail chewing on your parsley, dill, celery, or cilantro, you are probably looking at swallowtail caterpillars often referred to as parsleyworms. Handpick these parsleyworms and relocate them in another area away from the garden so that they can become the beautiful swallowtail butterfly. Then you can apply your Bt to your garden.

When you are applying your Bt, make sure you are spraying only your garden plants and not those plants adjacent to your garden

3. Attract the creatures that prey on pests

A third way to create unsurvivable surrounding for bugs is to plant garden plants that attract beneficial insects. Did you know that morning glory vines attract ladybugs and hoverflies, that goldenrod attract not only ladybugs, but also the assassin bugs and parasitic wasps. You could plant some grasses, perennial alfalfa, goldenrod, or hairy vetch in front of a row of fruit bearing shrubs or near your garden as a perennial garden. You can intersperse fruiting bearing shrubs such as swamp holly or cranberry bush. The grasses and the flowers can attract beneficial insects and the birds can use their shrubs as their home. You could even include some aromatic herbs such as dill and thyme which attract beneficial insects that prey on pests.

There are loads of beneficial insects: Assassin bug, green lacewing, hoverfly, ladybug, minute pirate bug, praying mantis, spined soldier bug, and the trichogramma wasp to name a few. You can find information on these in your library.

To sum up, by diligently handpicking such pests as Colorado beetle or the caterpillars/slugs, by using bacteria or nematodes, and by attracting the beneficial insects to you garden, you are Creating Unsurvivable Surroundings For Bugs.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 6:27 pm and is filed under Natural Garden Pest Control, Unsurvivable Surroundings For Bugs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.