(no subject)

[alonewiththemoon]

Japanese beetles have been devouring my basil, and so today I am researching how to deal with the situation in a way that will keep the basil fit for human consumption. By far the most appealing solution is to get a couple of guinea fowl, who eat Japanese beetles. The least appealing solution is to go out into the garden every morning and knock the beetles off the plants into a jar of soapy water or kerosene to kill them. The compromise solution, I think, will be to get carnivorous nemotodes that attack the grubs. The nemotodes, rather than directly eating the grubs, inject the grubs with a bacteria that the nemotodes then suck back out of the grubs as the numbers of bacteria multiply.

I must confess a part of me wonders if this is really such a good idea. Shades of Tremors...

Comments

[tiny-chicken.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you're having pest woes! I keep my basil plants inside on my porch to keep the pests away. If I were a pest, I'd eat basil too. It's delicious.

Last year we had a white fly infestation of our pepper plants. I tried taking them into the porch, but it was too late -- the soapy water remedy didn't work for them, and the only other alternative I could find was to purchase carnivorous wasps. My research on this yielded the fact that it's difficult to get wasps in quantities less than 500 or 1000. My thought was that a thousand carnivorous wasps would probably be a bad idea to protect 8 pepper plants living in pots on my back steps, especially considering that H has a bee sting allergy that I'm guessing would apply to wasp stings, too. Why couldn't lady bugs have done the trick!?

[alonewiththemoon]

The good thing about the nemotodes is that they apparently come dehydrated in a powder form, so that I'm only "making" as many as I need. Though now that I think about it, I would feel guilty about the leftover ones... maybe I can mix them up and let them go in a park or something, everybody hates Japanese beetles...

O Great Creator (of Nematodes)

[tiny-chicken.livejournal.com]

It's extremely cool that you get to play God of the Nematodes. I'm sure if you made it known that you had "extras," another gardener would gladly take you up on the offer -- not I, unfortunately, as my garden is wee.

In a bizarre coincidence, I discovered another white fly invasion this morning. They're visible on 3 plants, which I took outside and sprayed liberally with warm-to-hot water. Which may kill the plant, too, but the whiteflies will eventually suck them dry if they're not killed off. It's likely that the other plants are infected too, isn't that awful? Let me know if you discover any whitefly remedies (beyond soapy water or wasps!) in your research...

Re: O Great Creator (of Nematodes)

[alonewiththemoon]

Well, the pyola stuff that eeryg suggested in comments below sounds like it might do the trick for most bugs--I think I'm going to give it a shot on my basil.

Re: O Great Creator (of Nematodes)

[tiny-chicken.livejournal.com]

I'll look it up -- thank you!

Re: O Great Creator (of Nematodes)

[tiny-chicken.livejournal.com]

Actually I just looked it up, and it's basically canola oil with pyrethrins... which, to the best of my knowledge, may be toxic to household pets despite the fact that the compound may be derived from flowers (but then, so is digitalis). I do know that pyrethrins are *extremely* toxic to fish.

When I was evaluating Hammy's options for topical flea control products, we ruled out pyrethrin-based products because Elvis regularly grooms Hammy, and pyrethrins have been proven toxic to cats when ingested orally. Granted, doses have to be fairly high to cause any neuro- or hepatotoxicity, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

i meant to post that the japanese beetles were devouring connecticut. we were pelted by them all evening sat night.

[alonewiththemoon]

we were pelted by them all evening sat night

*shudder* Apparently this is a bumper year for them--bugs don't bother with my tiny little garden most of the time :(

[frederic.livejournal.com]

What about buying some Japanese beetle traps? They're quite effective from what I remember.

[alonewiththemoon]

According to what I read at a variety of places online, they are only effective if you have a large property and can place them away from the plants the beetles are eating. Otherwise, they just serve to attract more beetles. I suppose I could put some traps in my neighbors' yards though... muahaha!

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

beetle traps = BAD

i've never had any luck with them other than sounding the dinner bell for more beetles :) apparently these beetles can fly for around 3 miles (i can't
nematodes only work if you have grubs in your lawn. and nematodes don't migrate far either, which is also a bummer, so they are only effective if they're sprayed almost directly on top of the grubs.

I use Pyola. I started treating the plants probably 2 weeks before I saw the beetles. I've had only a few since.

I also have Bulls Eye which is effective on the plant for up to 2 weeks. I have only used it on some thripes that were devouring a hibiscus though.

just my $0.02

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

(i can't

ha! that is supposed to read:

"i can't remember which one of my organic pest control books i read this in, i'll take a look!"

[alonewiththemoon]

I'll definitely look into the Pyola and Bulls Eye--I'm a little concerned about using spray products on herbs, but I'll see what I can find about their safety. I note that for vegetables the Pyola instructions say that it can be used up to the day before harvest, but I'm always harvesting the herbs.

I didn't think about the lawn aspect of grubs--you're probably right that the nematodes wouldn't work for me, since I don't have any actual grass in my yard :-)

[eeyrg.livejournal.com]

You may want to just stick with the Pyola though. Since it's mostly just an oil. It's fairly long lasting, it's actually the only thing I use on my herbs and veggies. Anything stronger I generally limit to my landscaping. One of the biggest reasons I like this company is because they are "Environmentally Responsible".

I hate Japanese Beetles. I still have a few and (as I'm sure you've read) take quite a lot of pleasure in drowning them in soapy water each morning. After all, they're eating something I've spent a lot of time nurturing. The bastards. :)