7 dust going the way of stuff that works

[bp fick]

Just thought of something....there's probably no reason I can't add some of the stuff to the soap spray, right? The soap would help disperse the garlic/pepper oils I would think.

BTW, is mint oil any good as a repellent? I have a heck of a mint patch I could use.

Chuck

I'd question it. Maybe. Maybe it would attract? That's the fun part of this is trying. You never know. You might become the King of Mint repellent and retire early!! Yes, you can "spike" your soapy water with pepper, cayenne, garlic oils anything obnoxious to the bugs.

Citronella is available on eBay. A buck an ounce, give or take. Not bad, since it makes a gallon. Again, folks, bears repeating, we aren't talking torch oil here. That would solve your bug problems, by killing your plants, obviously.

 

[Chuck52]

I was just thinking of the mint because nothing much seems to eat it....except for me in various adult beverages. I'd guess that many of the herbs might repel some insects. Basil doesn't seem to have many pests, for instance. Hey! Garlic, onion, pepper and basil! If I spray all that I might attract two-legged pests to the garden looking for the pasta!

While looking at various natural pest control sites I also saw one where lime, the fruit that is, was touted as a repellent. I guess lots of essential oils can be useful.

Chuck

 

[bp fick]

I was just thinking of the mint because nothing much seems to eat it....except for me in various adult beverages. I'd guess that many of the herbs might repel some insects. Basil doesn't seem to have many pests, for instance. Hey! Garlic, onion, pepper and basil! If I spray all that I might attract two-legged pests to the garden looking for the pasta!

While looking at various natural pest control sites I also saw one where lime, the fruit that is, was touted as a repellent. I guess lots of essential oils can be useful.

Chuck

Sure. If the bug is "used to" or programmed to eat a certain leaf, it is expecting and prefers that taste. Change the odor of the micro-environment and flavor on the leaf surface and the critter has no use for that leaf. Simple stuff.

 

[clemsonfor]

here are some pics of my garden the first ones are tonight, and the one with nothing but small stuff is the day or two after planting. Even with wide rows the cataloups, watermellons and butternut squash are over running the garden. I try to turn them back on the two vine rows but there everywhere.

-Nate

 

[bp fick]

Nice!!! Great job. Buddy, you are going to need more land committed to gardening.

 

[clemsonfor]

i only live on 3/4 of an acre. I have to much shade farther back and unless i want to garden in my side yard i really dont have anywhere else. I have 130 acres but its 3 hours away, not realy feasable. I wish i have at least 2 acres so i could sprawl!

 

[bp fick]

On smaller plots, I might recommend a different crop mix than the one you listed. Onions, green beans, radishes, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, and so forth.

Your love for vines shows. Unfortunately, these take tons of room.

I know!!! Man, you gotta move out to the property. Yeah, that's it.

 

[clemsonfor]

Thats what the wife and i want, work dictates otherwise. And me being 28, unless something changes or i loose my job, (i hope not, knock on wood) i dont see that happening for lets see 35 years if im lucky.

The wife is the reason for the vines, i told her it did not matter if the rows were 4 feet wide the vines would take over. The pole beans are fine in the back, the tomatoes are on the left (this is all if looking at the pre garden pic) second row from left is squash and zucs, third is butternut squash and okra in the back, and the far right row is cantaloups in back and front half of row is watermelons. So really loosing the rows on the far 2 right rows is no big deal, just looks messy. I am working or tieing the tomatoes up, i was neglecting them. And after putting the trail cam up the neighbors d@mn chickens (luckily) quit pecking the green ones, or either they got all the low ones. :ashamed: So i am working on getting them back up.

-Nate

 

[Chuck52]

I never post pics of my garden 'cause it would be embarrassing. It looks more like I'm growing various grasses than vegetables. Eventually I'll get my raised beds under control, but I added lots of weed seeds along with some manure and grass clippings I used for mulch. Live and learn.

The only vine crops I've got going now are cucumbers and some gourds for the wife. The cucumbers are on arches I made from cattle panels. I have to "encourage" the vines sometimes, but it will be cool to walk under the arch and pick the cucumbers eventually. The gourds are on the perimeter fence. I'd like to grow cantaloupe and other melons, but until I make my garden coon proof it would be a waste of time.

Looks like the Japanese beetles are going to hit my place hard again this year. They seem to be mainly on the raspberries right now, though they are also hitting my grapes right next to the raspberry bed. Time to try the traps again. I did that last year and caught pounds of the darn things. I'll be spreading the milky spore when I can find a decent price on it, but since it will just be my place getting inoculated it might not make much difference.

BTW, the soap spray seems to have worked better than I thought on the cucumber beetles. I was going to try some additions like garlic and pepper and spray again, but yesterday afternoon the infestation seemed to be much reduced. I'll probably still apply some kind of cocktail in the soap this week as a preventative, but just the plain soap seems to have done a pretty good job. I might try that on the #$%%^& Japanese beetles, too.

Chuck

 

[Pops15]

looks like they are taking seven-10 off the market: an the weaker 5 will be next: they already took the water soluable(misspelled) off the market: not sure what i would use now if we had another round of army worms hit?
heehaw

Thanks for the heads up. I guess I better stock up.