Natural Control of Insect Pests (Spider Mites, Cucumber Beetles, Flea Beetles, Aphids, Fireants and Red Bugs) With Predatory Nematodes

Spider mites, Cucumber beetles, flea beetles, aphids, fire ants, and Red Bugs (chiggers) have been the bane of my existence this year in the garden. I would have to say that this location has been the most challenging place in which I have ever tried to garden, due to the heavy clay soil and an abundance of insect pests that come back on the same plants predictably each year. I have been doing some research on natural control for various insect pests and came across predatory nematodes.

Predatory nematodes are basically microscopic "worms" that live in the soil and prey on the larval stages of hundreds of pest insects that have a life stage in the soil. You buy predatory nematodes in a powder or liquid suspension which you mix with water, apply to the soil, and water in. There they multiply and spread out attacking the larval stages of many many pest insects. Unlike some pest predators, predatory nematodes won't fly off to someone else's garden.

Its best to apply them in the spring or the fall when the soil is cooler.

I had forgotten I had used predatory nematodes in the past to deal with a stubborn flea problem in a rent house we once had. The house had been repeatedly bombed and the yard was treated by a professional exterminator twice to no avail, but once I sprayed the yard and the carpet indoors with predatory nematodes the flea problem went away. What I didn't know is that predatory nematodes are not just for treating flea problems.

Just a short list of some of the pest insects predatory nematodes prey on includes all kinds of beetles, such as cucumber and potato beetles, Japanese beetles and flea beetles, borers such as corn borers and onion borers, moths such as coddling moths and meal moths, weevils such as corn, and strawberry root weevils, worms such as cabbage worms, corn earworms, and hornworms, in addition to gnats, aphids, fireants, loopers, cockroaches and termites!

Most of everything that is bugging me can be treated with these predatory nematodes. Since I have used them before I have confidence that they will help me again. I am very reluctant to spray anything on my plants that will hurt natural predators such as lady bugs, or that might harm bees, so this fall I am planning to apply predatory nematodes. The plants that are heavily infested now will just be pulled and counted as a loss.

Predatory nematodes are sold in quantities that describe the "millions of nematodes". So you buy them by 3, 4 and 5 million which is just a small container of powder or liquid, which, as I said, you mix with water. They cost about 18 to 20 dollars and can provide protection for years. If you are interested in using predatory nematodes just do a web search and you will find many companies that sell them. This is the link that I think I will buy mine from http://naturescontrol.com/nemavictims.html

Ant Killer and Aphid Update

Carpenter Ants going to Homemade Boric Acid Mixture.

A couple of weeks ago I put out some homemade ant killer (Borax mixed with honey and splenda) and it is time to report on my results. The first set of ants were tending aphids on my lima beans. The limas were so stunted that they had stopped growing. To control aphids I put out yellow bowls filled with water with a drop of dish detergent in each. Flying aphids are attracted to the color yellow and drown in the water. The water mixture attracted and killed a lot of aphids and other insects, notably wasps. I simply squashed the non flying aphids that were attached to the plants.

The ants were immediately attracted to the pill bottle containing the mixture. You could tell that many of them were dying right in the bottle, however they were still bothering the plants. I was wondering if this was going to work, and yes over time I noticed less and less ant activity on the plants,and more activity in the pill bottle, until low and behold my lima plants recovered and began to grow again! The mixture did kill ants and it also got the ants attracted away from my plants enough for them to recover.

The second set of ants are carpenter ants going into our attic! Yikes! I put out the same borax mixture (no need to measure anything, just make a thick paste) in pill bottles and placed them along a lower fence rail they were using for their highway to our attic. Ants did go into the bottles, but mostly ignored them. They did not get all excited and swarm the bottles like the ants in my garden. I kept checking and there did seam to be a reduction in numbers of ants going in and out of the attic, however I wasn't too sure it had anything to do with my mixture. This morning I noticed a mass moving day of the ants from the attic of the house, over to the attic of our detached garage! Gerrrrrr! I mixed up more borax, honey, splenda and this time applied dollops of it directly on the fence rail ant highway. The picture above shows the ants after just a few minutes! Stay tuned.......

Adventures with Kaolin Clay (Surround), Ants Again!

Peach Tree Sprayed with Surround

Clay Tree Band-aid!

I am trying an organic fruit tree spray this year. It is called surround and it is basically Kaolin Clay. It is supposed to keep bugs from biting and tunneling into your fruit. You just mix with water and spray it on the fruit, and the trunk if you want because it will protect from sunburn too. You can just wipe it off when you harvest your fruit. I called around the local feed-stores until I found one that had it, and would sell me only two pounds (instead of thirty) and I think this cost me less than $5.

I applied it to our peach tree before we went to Tennessee, but we had so much rain that I needed to reapply. I went out to the tree, after I had already mixed up half a gallon of spray, and I found that there were only 20 peaches left on the tree! What happened while we were gone? Did the hail damage some peaches and they fell off after we left? Well that was discouraging, but I went ahead and sprayed the nice looking 20 peaches that were left. I thought, "Well at least they will be 20 big peaches."

I had a lot of spray left, so I wondered if it might help me with another ant problem I was having. Ants were attacking a young red bud tree next to the house. It had started when I accidentally injured the tree while trying to tied it up straight. At first the ants were attracted to the spot that was oozing sap, then they started biting holes in the bark at all the branch junctions and eating the sap. They were swarming all over the tree. I tried blasting them off with the water hose, but they just came right back. So I sprayed the spots they were attacking with the kaolin clay spray, but it was too thin and did not seam to be working.

I was getting frustrated at this point and afraid they would damage my tree, so I mixed a thick solution of clay and water in a small cup, and used a paint brush to paint it on in gobs right over the ants where they were attacking the Red Bud. It worked! The ants left the tree and the clay dried into a tree band-aid!

Oh, by the way, when I checked the peach tree next day, two more peaches had fallen off! : (

Another by the way, I dont hate bugs! They are a fascinating part of God's world and I tolerate the "bad" ones as much as possible.

Parrot Sighting, Swarming Ants, Aphids and Termites

Everyday as I work in my garden I have been hearing a parrot squawking in nearby trees, but I could never see more than a gray blur as it flew by. Today I got up early to weed before it got hot and I took my binoculars with me. I finally got to see it well enough to get a description and look it up on the net, and I found out it is a Quaker Parrot! They come from South America and are wild now in several states. I am sure it is a Quaker because we know where it is making its huge nest of very large twigs about half a block from here on top of a telephone pole.

We went out to take a picture of the nest and the bird showed up. It was quite friendly and let us get close while it bobbed its head and squawked quietly. This makes me think it might be an escaped pet. The sad thing is that they are communal birds who live in large shared nests containing up to 40 birds, and the poor thing is making a nest all by itself. Im also thinking this might be a bad thing since in addition to eating seeds, they also eat fruits and vegetables. It is fascinating though, they are very friendly and will share their nests with other birds and even squirrels!

While I was weeding I saw that my tomatoes needed some tying up and pruning, so I got to work on that, only to be stopped by a swarm of ants that erupted out of the soil as I touched the last tomato in the row. Possibly they were fire ants but I didn't get close enough to find out. Most of them had wings and were climbing up and launching themselves from the top of the tomato. Some of them were falling back down on top of me, so I retreated to the garage to find something organic to kill them with. I couldn't find anything and by the time I got back most of the winged ones had gone. The others were still all stirred up so I had to wait awhile before I could get back to that tomato - carefully!

I also discovered that my lima beans have been almost devoured by a combination of ants and aphids while I was gone. All the other plants are fine. I know a good method for getting rid of aphids listed below in another post, but the problem is that I don't have any yellow margarine tubs since we never eat the stuff! I'll have to figure out something to use. Yellow really works best.

The termites come in to play in that they have been eating the supporting wood structure of the rotating composter my Dad made to the point where it has fallen apart. (I didn't realize this of course until it would no longer work.) I needed to move it anyway to make room for expanding the garden, so, since it is very heavy Anna had to help me move it. While doing this we found two large leopard geckos, a termite tube, and a gigantic grub at least 4 inches long and as wide as a thumb, that escaped down a hole. I dont know what the grub was, but it was ugly! Now I have a new project for Garry, which is to make a new and better (termite proof) support for the composter. Next I need to learn how to make compost!

Well that was my morning! By 11:00 it was too hot, so I quit the outdoors for indoor pursuits.