Trying to grow organic, but bugs are eating my crops!!!

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nickiben
nickiben Posts: 117 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So this year Ive decided to grow some of my own fruit - strawberries, loganberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. I buy organic whenever I can, and love to watch my own fruit grow. But now, bugs are eating my crops!!!! Anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of insects without having to use fertilizer. I feel if I use it to save my fruit, I really dont want to eat it.

Any suggestions will be most welcome!!:sad:

Replies

  • wickedcricket
    wickedcricket Posts: 1,246 Member
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    sprinkle them with flour or talcum powder - suffocates the bugs. make a solution of about 25% dawn, 75% water & spray that on plants - it repels bugs (dawn is kryptonite for men, same thing for bugs I guess)
    At your local nursery, you should be able to purchase some lady bugs. They eat the bad bugs

    Good luck! keep up the good fight
  • teasdino
    teasdino Posts: 228 Member
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    Have you read any organic gardening books? There is also a website www.organicgardening.com that looks informative. Also check the library on magazines and books if you don't want to buy them.
    Hope this helps :-)
    Jac
  • purplecait1212
    purplecait1212 Posts: 56
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    Not sure if it would work on fruit, but I make a homemade garlic/cayenne pepper spray to keep the grasshoppers off of my herbs and veggies!
  • birdlover97111
    birdlover97111 Posts: 346 Member
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    Get a bar of Ivory soap and using a vegetable grater, grate it up and dissolve in one gallon of water....Pour into a spray bottle and spray your plants once per week....Works wonders..!!...Just be sure and wash your lettuce's well.... :flowerforyou:
  • u2fergus
    u2fergus Posts: 422 Member
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    I find diatomaceous earth and insecticidal soap very effective. Another one that I haven't tried yet but mean to is applying a spray of weak chamomile tea... this is supposed to help with flies. Also, I've been told to try cinnamon oil, but I haven't tried it yet myself.
  • jb_2011
    jb_2011 Posts: 1,029 Member
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    Oh no! So there are bugs in your berries - what kind of bugs? Worms? You might need to identify them in order to properly treat the problem. You can contact a local University Extension for assistance.

    In the meantime you can mix up a mild solution of cayenne pepper and garlic powder (no salt added) mixed with water and spray your fruit. Of course you'll want to wash the berries before you eat them, but at least the spray isn't poison.

    Try 1 tsp cayenne pepper powder and 1 tsp garlic powder per 1 gallon of water. Cover your mouth and nose when you spray, and wear eye protection.

    Good luck! Nothing worse than buggy berries.
  • Dkenny74
    Dkenny74 Posts: 26 Member
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    Get a bar of Ivory soap and using a vegetable grater, grate it up and dissolve in one gallon of water....Pour into a spray bottle and spray your plants once per week....Works wonders..!!...Just be sure and wash your lettuce's well.... :flowerforyou:
    +1
    You can also buy pre made soap based insecticide at a garden store.
  • teri1956
    teri1956 Posts: 221 Member
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    We got Diatomaceous earth for our plants; it works by the bugs eating it and it destroys their joints. Doesn't work if it gets wet. Found it at a health food store in the bulk supplements section because people take it for parasites. I sprinkle it on with a kitchen flour shaker. We don't get much summer rain where I live.
  • nickiben
    nickiben Posts: 117 Member
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    Thanks for all the great tips! The bugs look like white fly. Yuk!!!
  • Paddy31
    Paddy31 Posts: 115 Member
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    Eat the bugs - good protein, low carbs!

    I have the same problem. Whitefly ate my cabbages and slugs destroyed everything else.

    Next year I'll try some of these tips.
  • ymhand
    ymhand Posts: 188
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    Haha, that's what I thought too. Little buggers!
  • RangerSteve
    RangerSteve Posts: 437
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    Have you also tried to use ladybugs? They eat white flies and you can find ladybugs at local gardening stores. Be careful about transporting them though.
  • jagizmo
    jagizmo Posts: 1
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    It depends on what is "bugging" you. If you can identify the bug, you can usually find natural ways to deter the insects. Many stores, including local gardening centers, wal-mart, home depot, etc., carry organic sprays that contain flower oil to deter the main crop of bugs that most people encounter, or you can use diluted soap (you can make the diluted soap at home) and I find these methods work fairly well if you spray the plants either early morning or night . , . not during the heat and sun of mid-day when plants can get burned. If you have flying insects, some gardening centers carry traps, depending upon what type of insect problem you are having. If its crawling bugs that you're having, you can try spreading diatomaceous earth around the base of your plants. Some people take it a step further and use companion planting to try and deter bugs, but as one person noted below, there are also "good" bugs, like lady bugs for example, that can help, depending on what you're growing. Someone mentioned having a slug problem. Sluggo (I think it's called) is an organic product that I've heard people rave about, although I've never used it. :smile: Organic gardening can be challenging and I often times just hand pick bugs off of my plants once or twice a day to keep them at bay, but the end result is worth it. Good luck!
  • lovemydrmartens
    lovemydrmartens Posts: 144 Member
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    we have been growing organically for several years on an allotment... here's my two penneth

    give it time... if you have been using pesticides it will take a while for things to balance and the good bugs (that will eat up the bad ones) to biuild up in numbers

    look into biological controls, there are some really good ones out there. x

    encourge biodiversity by making ladybird homes etc around your plot, piles of logs,sticks and leaves are good for encouraging ground beetles, which are really voracious!

    learn to tell your friends from your enemies... even some slugs eat other slugs!

    If you would like more feedback message me :happy:
  • lovemydrmartens
    lovemydrmartens Posts: 144 Member
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    also, do you have a fruit cage? all those things are very attractive to birds too...

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