HELP ME WITH MY GARDEN!!!!!!!!!

[Luv to Cook]

Hello Everyone,

I need help! Last week it was aphids on my pepper plants...this week beetles are eating up my Canna tropical plant. I came home this evening to find just the veins left on one of the leafs! My hostas are turning a pale yellow and they are getting holes also. What is happening? How can I get rid of these beetles!

Thanks so much!

Anita

[LaraW]

Luv to Cook:

I can't tell from your profile where you live, but you might have some luck contacting your county extension office.

A garden center may help also. I have had luck with my local Earl May store.

Good luck!

[TheresaM]

Hi, my best bet for the hosta is slugs. Try putting a several large caps of beer near the hosta. Believe me this attracts the slugs and then kills them. For the peppers and canna, try the Jerry Baker method of just plain water and dish soap solution and spray on plants. This make the bugs tummies sick and they go away. I usually put my leftover car wash on some plant that needs it. The combo of water to soap I would have to guess at 2 gallons of water to 1/8 cup of soap. You don't need much soap. Good Luck.

[Vanessa]

I saw some of my plants with holes and yes slugs have arrived. I just sprinkle slug bait and watered. I only use it around ornamental plants. In the garden you might go to your nursery and ask for some organic bug control. You can try sopa and water but be careful its not in a hot day it might burn the leaves (I did that and the sun plus soap & water burned leaves one yr).

[SusanT]

If your hostas are yellowing, I would call the extension office and discuss it with them before I would assume slugs. Yellowing can be a sign of lack of fertilizer.

[Elisabeth]

I really can't recommend this to others, but what we do is pick the beetles off, one by one. Our garden is totally organic, we've never found any organic solutions that work, so we go out in the morning and in the evening and pick, pick, pick. I keep chickens, too, and they absolutely love it, since I catch the beetles in a cup or jar and let them eat the bugs.

I did find this really great thing at Home Depot in the Ortho bug spray section. It's a giant reference book that lists what seems like everything in the world that can go wrong with every plant in the world, with pictures of diseased plants and an analysis of what the problem could be. Of course, Ortho also suggests insecticides to buy to solve the problems, but I ignore that part.

[mandarin2j]

Originally posted by TheresaM:
Hi, my best bet for the hosta is slugs. Try putting a several large caps of beer near the hosta. Believe me this attracts the slugs and then kills them. For the peppers and canna, try the Jerry Baker method of just plain water and dish soap solution and spray on plants. This make the bugs tummies sick and they go away. I usually put my leftover car wash on some plant that needs it. The combo of water to soap I would have to guess at 2 gallons of water to 1/8 cup of soap. You don't need much soap. Good Luck.

We tried the soap method for aphids on our roses, and it worked beautifully!

-Amanda

[Wendy w]

This thread is very appropriately timed. Upon leaving this morning, I found one of the leaves on my 2 week old basil plant chewed up! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/mad.gif!!! This means war!!! I will have to put out a tray of beer which has worked well for me in the past but the disposal of it leaves a lot to be desired http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif-eeeewwwww!

I have tried the soap thing in the past but I don't think that it would work well with basil or tomatoes.

My other problem is that one of my roomie's dogs sampled one of green tomatoes right on the vine. I found teeth marks http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif on it so I may have to go out and buy cages for the tomatoes-even though I sometimes think that the dogs need one as they are not very well trained. Don't get me wrong, I do like them but one in particular gets into things, like 3 bags of beef jerky all of the time-even with a latched pantry door. I may need for Jewel to write an obituary sometime soon!

If anyone has any good ideas to keep my tomatoes from being "beagle bait", it would be appreciated. I don't know if the rubber snake thing would work with them.

Thanks for any help and the opportunity to vent!


[This message has been edited by Wendy w (edited 06-27-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Wendy w (edited 06-27-2001).]

[BJennif]

We have tons of hostas too. Last year we had some really bad slug damage. We tried the Ortho stuff and the beer. It is REALLY gross to get rid of the beer afterwards, not to mention that you need a shallow dish to put it in which means like a real dish you'd never want to eat off of again!!! This year I found a great idea that eliminates that problem. You take an old 2L soda bottle and cut it in half. Put some Ortho slug killer in the bottom half. Now invert the top and put it inside the bottom half with the top facing the bottom. Staple around the edges and place it near your plants. The slugs are supposed to crawl in for the bait and not be able to get out, then you just throw it away and make new ones!!! I saved my 1L water bottles to try, but haven't had time to make them yet. It sounds like it should work. I think if you tried beer in there it would seep out though, better stick to the chemical. Good Luck!

[mandarin2j]

I just wanted to mention about the beer option: I've been told to use old, cleaned out tuna cans and just to submerge them to where the lip is level with the soil. As for the ick factor, I would definitely use dish gloves to remove those babies!

-Amanda

[Luv to Cook]

Thanks for all the advice everyone...We tried the soap method for the beetles on the Canna. But when I came home today they were back....my plant is almost gone! I think it is time to bring out the heavy artillery (sp?)! Do I need to take off the chewed up leaves? Can I save the plant by doing that?

Thanks again!
Anita