Sunflowers are a natural pest control that attract beneficial insects that eat cucumber beetles, making them effective trap crops. They also attract suitable insects to help pollinate cucumber plants as needed. Recent research suggests that sunflowers can work as a trap crop for cucumber beetles, protecting your precious cucumber plants from these pesky pests.
Sunflowers are another useful flowering companion plant for the vegetable garden and are attractive to aphids and other sap-suckers. Planting trap crops (cucurbit varieties highly attractive to cucumber beetles) at the perimeter of the harvested crop can keep cucumber beetles from migrating into the harvested crop. For example, blue hubbard squash can be an effective trap crop for striped cucumber beetles. Row covers can be used to prevent beetles from reaching the plants, but these should be removed during flowering. When used in a cucurbit field, cucumber beetles are drawn to the traps and away from the cash crop. After entering the trap, the beetles are killed when they eat the bait.
Blue Hubbard squash, with its blue-gray rind and orange flesh, has long been recommended as the best trap crop for cucumber beetles, which cause disease and death in cucumber, melon, and squash vine borers. Buckwheat flowers attract pollinators and predatory insects.
Sunflowers are also effective trap plants for stink bugs and leaf-footed bugs, such as spotted and striped cucumber beetles and squash bugs. Adding globe amaranth to cucumber beetles can help keep cucumber beetles away from the crop. Black oil sunflowers, amaranth, or buckwheat can be used as trap crops for various crops, including apples, peaches, tomatoes, peppers, and corn.
📹 Pesticide Companies Don’t Want You To Know How To Use TRAP CROPS To Repel Garden Pests!
In this video, I’ll show you how to use trap crops to repel garden pests! This is a secret garden tip pesticide companies don’t want …
What is a natural trap for aphids?
To prevent the incursion of aphids into an area, a barrier trap may be constructed by wrapping plastic wrap around affected plants and coating it with petroleum jelly. This straightforward approach proves an effective deterrent to ants. Should further assistance be required with regard to other pests, it is recommended that a pest control expert be consulted in order to devise a bespoke plan that is tailored to your specific requirements. To obtain a complimentary quotation and to consult with experts, please contact us today.
What is the best deterrent for squash bugs?
Nasturtium, a vining plant with edible leaves and flowers, is known to repel squash bugs. Interplanting nasturtium with cucurbits can help keep squash bugs away. Floating row cover over squash seedlings can prevent squash bugs from laying their eggs in the garden. This thin barrier allows light and water to pass, but it excludes pollinating insects. Row cover should be removed when plants begin to flower.
To hand-pollinate squash plants, identify a female flower and a male flower. Peel back the petals to reveal the pollen-covered anther, brush the anther around the stigma of the female flower, and close the flower with a lightweight clip clothespin. Cover the pollinated flower in a nylon mesh netting bag, which is both cheap and reusable. This method helps to eliminate the threat of squash bugs and promote healthier plant growth.
Do cucumbers love sun?
To grow cucumbers, ensure they are well-watered, fed with a high nitrogen feed every two weeks, and have some shade to avoid scorching. Encourage greenhouse varieties to climb for increased yields. Harvest fruits early in the day and frequently to get more fruits during the season. Enjoy your cucumbers sliced into sandwiches or added to long cold summer drinks. Check out our full range of salad seeds or visit our hub page for more information on growing cucumbers in your garden or greenhouse. Happy growing!
What vegetables are resistant to squash bugs?
Squash plants are not immune to squash bugs, but some varieties are less susceptible. Butternut and Royal Acorn squash are generally resistant, while Sweet Cheese and Green Striped Cushaw squash are moderately susceptible. Black Zucchini and Pink Banana squash are likely to be sought out by squash bugs, and Hubbard squash is the most preferred. Butternut squash is also less susceptible to squash vine borer. To manage pests, it is recommended to plant a “trap crop” of a highly susceptible variety next to the less-resistant squash.
What doesn’t grow well next to cucumbers?
Cucumbers, a vining plant in the gourd family, are known for their crisp, refreshing, and high water content fruit. They are cultivated for their edible fruit, which is typically eaten fresh in salads, sandwiches, or as a snack. Cucumbers are grown as annual plants and are typically harvested in the summer months. They are valued for their refreshing flavor, crisp texture, and high water content. Cucumbers originated in India over 4, 000 years ago and are now grown in many parts of the world.
Companion planting is an organic method that prevents or protects plants from pests and diseases, attracts the right insects for pollination, enhances nutrient uptake, and increases crop production by growing specific plants near each other. This helps create a balanced ecosystem in your landscape, allowing nature to do its job.
What is the best trap crop for aphids?
Trap cropping is a method of planting that attracts garden pests, such as insects, away from a crop, preventing it from being decimated without the use of pesticides. Examples of trap crops include Nasturtiums, mustard plants, and Sweet Alyssum and Buckwheat, which attract wasps, hoverflies, caterpillars, and bees for pollination. Trap crops also reduce the use of pesticides, which can lead to long-term insecticide resistance.
They are economical and have potential health benefits for consumers, as well as preserving wildlife and making them safe for pets, pollinators, and other beneficial insects. They also improve crop quality and yield, and help conserve soil and the environment. Implementing trap crops in the garden is easy and economical, but success depends on several factors.
Does anything repel cucumber beetles?
To prevent cucumber beetles from infecting plants, use floating row covers, choose non-bitter “burpless” cucumber varieties, attract bumblebees by planting borage, scarlet runner beans, and other flowers near cucumbers, grow repellent plants like nasturtium and marigolds, and keep the garden clean. Cucumber beetles can overwinter in garden debris, so keep it clean, especially at the end of the season.
To control cucumber beetles, fill yellow pails or plastic butter dishes with soapy water, buy traps, or spray an insecticide like Ortho® Insect, Mite and Disease 3-in-1. Spray blooming plants in the early morning or evening, when beneficial pollinators are less likely to be active. Remember to keep the garden clean and follow label instructions carefully to ensure the best results.
What is the best plant to repel aphids?
To deter aphids from keyhole gardens, consider planting basil, spearmint, garlic, or onion sets. Clover, mint, dill, fennel, and yarrow attract predatory insects, while catnip, garlic, chives, onion, and allium are aphid repellers. Mint is low enough not to hinder the garden’s beauty. Set up hummingbird feeders about a month before the birds arrive, as they love aphids and small flying things. Last year, a large backyard Ashe tree was cut down due to aphids, but hummers arrived, solving the pest problems. For lawn care, spray Medina soil activator and top-dress with compost.
What is the best trap crop for squash bugs?
Squash pests can be managed through various interventions, including growing ‘Blue Hubbard’ plants as a trap crop. These plants are preferred by squash bugs and squash vine borers, and can be started early in the garden when pests emerge in early summer. Delaying planting susceptible squash until the trap plants have time to grow can be helpful. Alternatively, a low-labor method involves putting ‘Yellow Crookneck’ seeds in a protected spot near a compost pile in spring. These seeds are not as attractive to squash bugs and borers as ‘Blue Hubbard’, but they are well-liked and always available.
The trap plants serve as indicator plants when squash bugs become active. Adult squash bugs spend time on squash leaves, looking for love, and females lay shiny brown eggs on leaf undersides. Handpicking the few squash bugs that appear in the cultivated squash is also recommended. Once the trap plants have squash bug eggs on many leaves and some hatch, the plant is chopped up and disposed of in a stationary composter.
What are the best trap crops for cucumber beetles?
The use of a perimeter trap crop of Blue Hubbard squash has been demonstrated to be an effective method for the protection of summer squash from infestation by low to moderate populations of cucumber beetles and squash vine borers.
Should you plant sunflowers next to cucumbers?
The use of sunflower stalks as a natural trellis for vining cucumbers represents a space-saving and garden-efficient solution. It is, however, essential to utilise a diminutive and lightweight cucumber variety, such as pickling cucumbers, in order to guarantee that the sunflowers are able to provide adequate support.
📹 7 Pests You Probably Have In Your Garden (And What To Do)
IN THIS VIDEO → Epic 6-Cell: https://growepic.co/3Ai0oSf → Epic 4-Cell: https://growepic.co/41lC0Lf → Universal Bottom Tray: …
I love this idea of trap and inter-cropping. Last year I grew some Ethiopian kale thinking it was kale but it was instead a type of small leafed mustard. In my area we don’t have much of a spring causing the mustard to bolt pretty fast. The flowers were pretty so I left them in. I noticed one day that they were covered in Harlequin bugs. It was easy to knock the bugs off into a bowl of soapy water. The bunch of mustard was close to my real kale which were not touched by the bugs. I am growing this mustard again. Another trap crop I discovered by accident is Morning Glory. I love them so let them grow almost any place where they aren’t a problem. They are a magnet for the type of leaf miner I have here. The leaves are a mess but they still bloom. The leaf miners are on the morning glories and nothing else. I have trouble with flea beetles on my young turnips and beets so this year I plan to use the multi-sowing technique that Charles Dowding uses starting them in modules rather than in the ground since the flea beetle mostly attacks the young seedlings. I discovered small tan bumps on top of the leaves of my peppers late in the year last year. I thought something was laying eggs on the leaves. When I looked closer with a magnifying glass it turned out that the tan bumps were mummified aphids with a little hole in the abdomen .Turns out that I had a native wasp that lays its eggs in aphids. The wasp larvae must turn the aphids into zombies causing them to sit on top of the leaf.
Trap crops are totally underused! I need to plant more blue Hubbards to attract the relentless cucumber beetles in my garden. I grew a northern Georgia candy roaster last year and it did a similar job- just don’t expect any squash! Instead of mustard greens you should try upland cress, it’s what’s called a “dead end trap crop”. It not only attracts the cabbage moths but it also liquifies the caterpillars from the inside out when they eat them and kills them off. Works like a charm!
I don’t know what kinds of weeds are growing in between my rows. I used to pull them all out as best I could through the season, but I eventually realized the bugs preferred 2 specific weeds over my plants. Now I leave a few in between each row of those 2 types… I only keep them while they’re small (since the bugs like them better at that stage) and sprinkle diatomaceous earth on them occasionally. I let a few go to seed at the end of the season. Works better than any other method I’ve tried before. Thanks for the Hubbard squash tip.
If you found this article helpful, please “Like” and share it to help increase its reach! Thanks for perusal 😀TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 What Are Trap Crops? Trap Cropping Explained! 1:47 Companion Planting / Interplanting VS Trap Crops 3:36 Trap Crop For Leaf Footed Bugs, Stink Bugs, Shield Bugs, Japanese Beetles 7:34 Trap Crop For Cucumber Beetles 8:49 Trap Crop For Cabbage Worms, Caterpillars, Moths 11:14 Adventures With Dale
The harvest problem with alliums can easily be resolved by just using walking onions, perennial bunching onions, or chives as those have no set time at which they are “mature”. They can also be overwintered indefinitely so they’re always available to transplant into the place where you need them as decently sized plants from the beginning. I can confirm that sorghum is incredibly attractive to leaf footed bugs and various types of shield bugs. As far as I know you don’t need a special type, though a dwarf grain sorghum like Texicoa will remain a sensible size. If you want to harvest the grain (the plants tolerate all the bugs they attract fairly well), lop off the heads when they’re ripe and the plant will grow smaller additional heads from the sides. The plants look a bit like corn, but they need less water and fertilizer, don’t need to be clustered for pollination, are likely to survive the whole season, and are attractive to bugs any time they’re in flower or have maturing grain.
I am a Garlic, Chili and Tomatoe grower in Poland, and am very interested in companion planting. My Insect set differs from yours but this year will plant my Toms and Chilis with Basiliica against Aphids. My pest with the Garlic is Wireworms and will use Radish as sacrificial trap crop along with potatoe. I made a mistake with cover cropping and planted with Buckwheat as opposed to Mustard and bio fumigating. Pyerethrin you can make yourself using Dalmation Daisy.
I grew one lonely cabbage next way away from the bed with the bulk of cabbage. I half watered it and never fertilized it, which made it a weak plant. And THAT’S the one the caterpillars and grasshoppers are on from spring into fall. They never touched the ones in the bed. Also. We LOVE ❤ mustard greens. So, that could never be a sacrificial crop here. 😆
This past season, I planted mustard, kale, and turnip greens for winter crops. They all did well, except for the mustard greens which were eaten alive by the cabbage worms—even though I planted these crops in August! This spring, I allowed the surviving kale and turnips to go to seed and wondered why I wasn’t seeing cabbage moths on my other brassica! Now I know why. I do like eating he mustard greens, which have a much milder, sweeter flavor when grown under cold conditions, so I will likely have some under a row cover for me this fall! The mustard were not cold-hardy and died when our temps got below 10 degrees F. The other crops thrived all winter, growing slowly, and tasting sweeter, and completely free from any pests—other than deer which preferred the turnips! Cheers from a friend in Upper East Tennessee! (Subscribed)
I may just live in an area that doesn’t have the same insect pressure as southern states, but I quit using insecticides many years ago and just let nature take it’s course, survival of the fittest. I have lots of native flowers, shrubs and trees, so that may play a part in attracting the good bugs that kill the bad ones. I’m even able to keep a decent lawn without any fungicides or insecticides. This year I am skipping all herbicides as well. I may have to spot spray in the future but I think it’s good to give your soil a rest for a year once in a while.
My father used to do something similar to keep animals from eating all our veggies. He used to plant 2 extra rows all around the outside edge of the garden and said those were for the wild animals. They would come and nibble the outside rows and leave the middle of the garden alone. Dale is beautiful, Like to see more articles of him 🙂
Another excellent article! I never thought about intercropping trap plants. What a great idea. I’m definitely planting mustard greens this fall. My brassicas and root crops took a serious beating this spring. For keeping pests away, I swear by Lemon Drop French Marigold around all nightshade plants. Not only does it deter a lot of pests, it’s super easy to save the seeds from year to year. Or you can let it self-seed.
Love, love, love natural remedies!!! Thank you for this!💞 Dill and carrot flowers are great aphid attractant. I use soy sauce for earwigs: cut 4 holes in the side near top of a yogurt or sour cream container, add 1cup soy sauce( cheap stuff), top with 1/4 inch vegetable oil, put lid on and sink into the ground close to the holes. The lid keeps rain out. I’ve had millipedes and slugs crawl into this.
Thanks again for your excellent and timely tips on a very important topic for just about all home gardeners, certainly me. I too live in the RTP area and have the same pesky pests that literally destroy not only most of my modest veggie garden but also go after my flowering trees and even most roses in my yard. I have been using the usual cocktails of both chemicals and other Pyrethrin based pesticides for several years with mixed results. I will definitely try these this year. You deserve a lot more viewers than what I usually notice but please keep those priceless articles coming. I share yours amongst my family members who are adult gardeners as well.
Awesome information! I cannot wait to plant some trap crops in my garden. I have been fighting caterpillars with a neem oil solution and hand picking the worms off, which did work for the time being. I have been holding my breath waiting for the next attack of insects. Here in Florida they never seem to stop. Thanks so much for the article.
I learned about trap crops the hard way. Pickle worm decimated my zucchini this year. I got about 6 stunted zucchinis off of 7 huge plants. I was about to pull it all up but then read that if you remove it, the pickle worms will go to your cucumbers! I kept it, and except for a few wormy cukes, they were pretty much left alone. Next year, I will plant a strategic crop of zucchini and use netting over the ones I want to produce.
Thank you so much for sharing this information about the leaf footed bug. I have been dealing with this since 2010 when I had 🍅 at my daughters house. I had to vacuum the leaves for the bugs, pull off the leaves that had eggs that look like a white thread underneath the leaves and try to spray for the tiny nymphs with NEEM oil, and they run in groups together if you are after them! So I’m very well aware of them. When I moved a couple times, and they showed up at my new place, but as soon as I see them I catch them in a jar and dispose of them. The adults can be aggressive if you’re after them.
For me, you said the magic words of “cooperative extension”. I have received so much good advice from talking with people involved with cooperative extension research. Now I know your advice is legit. ✌😁 My father taught me to use a crop cover for cabbage and brassicas. It keeps the white moths from laying eggs. I use the material similar to Tyvek, but is made for this purpose. It is very light weight and does not damage young plants at all.
Great info. I have green onions around my garden here in SE Texas. Just cut the greens as needed or pull the whole onion and then replant the root. I also plant a couple in grow bags that contain the vegetable I am interested in. Didn’t realize sunflowers need to be so far away from the tomatoes. My garden is not that big. Will try the blue hubbard squash. My biggest problem is the squash vine borer. Guess the blue hubbard squash will help with that.
I am new to the same geographic area that you are in. I had been told that the pest pressure here is different but struggled to find what that meant. This article gave me that answer! Thank you for giving me the time frame for these pests. I had used sacrificial plants in my last location but the pest pressure was significantly less. I am excited about having a solution as I begin my gardening journey here in eastern NC.
Great info! Here in SE VA, I have battled squash bugs. This year I’m covering my squash with yards of tule and planting them in buckets so they are off the ground ( not sure if this will help but worth a try). Plus I’m planting sacrificial plants for the bugs to eat. I also use your “duct tape” method last year and it did helped but was hard to keep up with them. I have learned so much from your articles. Really appreciate your free advice and your antics with Dale! He’s awesome. Thanks!😀
I’ve been told that planting garlic in different places in your garden helps to keep pests away. Is this true? And, can it be planted close to tomato plants? Love your website, found it by chance & am glad that I did. I’m in Southeastern Virginia myself & am just starting out with gardening. There’s SO much to learn! Oh, the natural pesticide that you mention, what is that again? And, is it safe to use on plants like tomatoes, squash? I’m planting sweet potatoes as well & was wondering whether they climb like a vine as they’re in the morning glory family? Thank you!
That is great information. I planted mustard greens in my brassicas (for leaves, not knowing about the trap part) and I have to say it worked. I had almost 0 caterpillars this year. Also I believe that a big wild bird population helps too. We put up multiple bird houses, and birds are everywhere. I noticed that my tomato hornworms were almost not there last year. Dale went for the fridge first, before the scratched off his gentle leader. Smart dog. He’s so cute and funny!
I transplanted three black seed oil sunflower plants into my garden which sprouted beneath my bird feeder just to see if they’d grow… & they were beautiful until they started to die. I noticed they were over run with all three bugs mentioned in this article plus there were loads of Japanese beetles, & what looked like lady bugs with an off, sorta dull ‘orange-ish’ color. I thought it was the ‘infestation’ of these 5 different bugs that killed the sunflowers, now I know that’s not the case. Thank you! I had no idea they were basically trap crops that served me extremely well. It’s nice to know my bird seed doubles as a trap crop😃
My new chickens actually eat stink bugs (never seen that before). I’ve had them out for brief times, since they’re still too young to overnight outdoors in these weird temperatures. They ate four stink bugs (that I smelled, anyway) in three hours. I’m very happy and surprised to see them doing that. None of the chickens I’ve ever had did
Love your intro!! Thats just about correct tho! I only just learned about end death trap planting yesterday (explains why your vid came up in my feed), and I was blown away!! Imagine! A plant growing right next to our veggies that helps eliminate garden pests…for real. Not like pretty flower or gentle breeze scent..like BAM!
Last fall I planted southern giant curled mustard, tender green mustard, giant mustard, 7 top turnip greens and red Russian kale in the same bed with lacinato kale, broccoli and collards. The caterpillars never touched the various mustards, turnip greens and red Russian kale. They loved eating the broccoli and collard leaves. On lesser occasions, they ate lacinato kale leaves. The slugs ate on collard and broccoli leaves throughout winter.
I have shared this many times on Facebook and had no complaints. I used to live in Florida, almost 50 years ago. I stayed frustrated with the roach problem there. Someone told me to get some Boric Acid and put some in an open jar and leave it on its side. I use medicine bottles. One caution, you have to buy the good stuff not the dollar store stuff. Roaches love it and I have never had a roach again. Two years ago, I was overwhelmed with squash bugs and stink bugs squash bores, so I tried it. Within two weeks they were all gone. I am also in central North Carolina.
Hi, from Malaysia. I grow some kangkung (swamp cabbage) for own cooking around my house. I found out that if i plant some of it earlier, usually only that plant will get attack by insect, which eat its leaves. Leave that plant alone and the insects, most of the time,wont jump to other kangkung that were plant later
Funny, we accidentally did a trap crop during our spring (Sep), I planted cabbages into the front food forest thinking they would hide from the cabbage moth and the ones in the garden would get attacked. The opposite happened, they went after the ones in the front yard and left my raised bed ones mostly alone. I can only put it down to the fact the front yard is full of food (flowers) for the moths and so they stayed there. Which I m glad, they really are beautiful animal and to see them dancing around is a pretty display. Also pheromone traps are amazing. we use them to control but not kill off pests that can explode, like citrus leaf miner. I don’t want to wipe them out, just enough to allow them and my trees to thrive like the citrus butterfly.
Hey man, I’m in carteret county and this article just showed up in my feed right after spraying some neem oil and sea 90. Small world! Great info here, I’ve yet to have much of a pest issue in my garden minus a few small hatches of worms here and there, mostly cabbage worms but I’ll try some of these tips to help prevent a future problem.
Wow ! I’m impressed that you showed us your source of research from stuff you have to read . I always wondered about the sources from the two youtube website sources the popular North west propagation YouTuber and the Pennsylvania fig yiutuber don’t give their sources See my research is primarily from other YouTube article not University written studies and . I’m wondering where my YouTube gurus access their knowledge. Here in this article you lay it all out for dummys like me.
Seems like a really good trap crop for Japanese beetles would be hollyhock. One year I was stuck indoors due to health issues, but I could see from my bedroom window the hollyhocks I had planted earlier and it was a comfort to see them start blooming. But then the Japanese beetles came and I watched one day as they swarmed them to where they were completely covered. It would be easy given their growth habit to cut them at the stem base and put the whole mess in a trash bag. For some reason we don’t have Japanese beetle problems in this area currently (central NC, near Cary).
Thank you. I have never heard of this technique. Granted I live in Alberta Canada and we have a lower pest load. I use peppermint oil spray to repel aphids and delphinium worms. I remember my Dad physically removing potato beetles. Would you know a crop other than potatoes that attracts potato beetles? Thank you
I have several bluebird nesting boxes near my veg garden that have attracted a bluebird family and several house wren pairs. All day long the adults and their young families visit the garden looking for insects. They love caterpillars! The birds have 2 or 3 broods, so as the insect numbers grow so do the bird numbers.
Pyrethrins kill bugs by damaging their breathing. This works the same way for people. So be very very very careful. Pyrethrins are derived from daisys, used for fireproofing curtains and cloth in fabric stores. Useful indeed. Daisies in the garden are a good thing, not just pretty. Chives overwinter and comeup before garden is planted so you’ll see them in beautiful rows, purple flowers too. Chives freeze well to use all winter as “oniony” spice in soups and stews, chopped fine for rice. Yum. Chive border keeps bugs out of flower beds.
This is very good info. Thanks for putting it out!! Have a request for info assuming you havent specifically addressed this in the past. Do you have any suggestions for tree stakes??? I have a couple smaller trees I would like to stake to guide them to grow straight. Also have a larger tree I wouldnt mind correcting a lean from a storm. I looked on Amazon and saw lots of cheap sounding kits. Was hoping you have a suggestion for staking trees. Something that will not damage the trunks.
Cabbage and white moth – they are territorial for their eggs and so will move on if they think other white moths are already there. This is why they sell white moth decoys. In this line, I find white flowers interplanted also work. I usually transplant or spread a mix of seed in the cabbage bed like alyssum, white daisy, white clover. Another sacrificial like mustard is nasturtium, but I plant these away from the brassicas as a lure.
UK help – As I’m new to gardening, does anyone know what are the main pests in UK south east gardens? Is planting sunflowers relevant to the pests in the UK? Or is this more for the bugs there in America. Also what is the name of the sunflower I’d need, or would any species of sunflower do? I’m going to get an allotment soon and want to be prepared now on best practice. Thanks
Another awesome way to keep bug populations down, is to put out bird feeders. Yes, birds are known to snack on a tomato or 2, but they can eat their body weight in bugs everyday. I had problems with bugs in my garden. After putting out bird feeders, I noticed a significant decrease in crop loss even with the birds snacking here and there as well.
Oh by the way, tomatoes are not the only crop they’re interested in. If you have fruit trees, particularly pomegranate trees, I discovered them on my friends pomegranate tree and we literally had to take all the fruit off and discarded and trim the tree. They lay their eggs by making a tiny hole inside it rots the fruit so don’t leave fruit hanging on the tree. She could not get to the fruit as she had been sick before COVID, so they were in the pistachio tree orchard across the way and got into her pomegranates. I made sure to remind her to try to keep the fruit picked off the tree on a timely basis as these bugs will overwinter in fruit that is leftover.
With all the ongoing food shortages, I’m finding it practical to not mow my lawn this year and neither are my neighbors- or use Roundup on the weeds with all the wild garlic and onions and dandelions – food all around us, edible plants aplenty. I’ll bet at least some of those weeds would make a nice salad – accompanied by some nice pan roasted sunflower seeds . Plus, by not running a lawn mower, or using pesticides, I’m contributing less to the waste stream helping to preserve our precious planet. We’re also leaving a couple of vacant abandoned houses alone – so that we can forage from those yards as well.
Biggest problem I face here in the southwest of the UK are slugs and snail so I swear by French Marigolds. Very cheap (tray of 12 cost me £3.50) and I place them around my other plants strategically and before going to bed, go out and gather up all the slugs and snails and “season them” with a little salt. Rarely find any of my other plants touched.
Wouldn’t different types of spring onions or garlic and onion chives do a similar job to onions for tomatoes, given they alliums and you don’t need to harvest them the same as larger onions.You could also be replanting spring or bunching type salad onions at various time intervals like the sunflowers and try cutting them back and chives too, so they reshoot. Think I’ll try
I’m looking for something to plant for the bunnies in my yard. I can pretty much fence around my garden crops, but I feel bad when I cut the bunnies off from their treats (I know, I know…) I don’t mind planting something for them a little closer to where I know their den is. Anyone have suggestions?
Also works really good plant habitat plsnts for predator species around boards of your garden in a more food forrest planting as it needs function like natural wild ecosystem. & some those species will take over your veggie garden. The predator species then have habitat they need to build up there numbers and will keep pest species at lower numbers
I can tell you, if you eat non-gmo organic fruit/vegetables, you are eating copper sulfate. It doesn’t just wash off. Its is also the primary component in root poison for clogged drain lines. Its one of the most toxic chemicals approved by government only as a last resort, yeah sure. There is the micronized sulfur you mix with water and spray, but too much cant hurt the plants worse than the bugs/fungus. I’ve also heard about small gardens you can feed the plants liquid salicylic acid(asprin) to systemically fight off bugs. Trifecta natural, is an emulsion of natural oils/extracts that come from other edible plants. I haven’t had any luck with it but many claim it works great.
2 years ago I was taking a shower and I felt a bump on the lower part of my butt, it was textured and wrinkled and had a circle in the middle and it had pus, disgusting, I did squeeze it all then I applied rubbing alcohol and hydrocortisone, then I was thinking where did I get that from and is not like I go running or hiking etc, and I had to think what did i do in the past few days and then it hit me, I was pruning a pumpkin plant and I was wearing shorts and I did not feel anything, then I looked on you tube for articles and it was a spider bite, I was worried that it could be the one that causes the flesh to die and rot but thankfully it healed a few days later.
Tomato horn worms… One day I’ll have the nerve to turn the tables on THEM. 🥄😒 🐛 Mockingbirds love to destroy tomatoes too, for the juice during hot dry spells. Having a detracting bird bath or two nearby really helps. Re mustard greens, that’s a great idea! But once you nibble a few spicy raw leaves you’ll want them all to yourself – they’re delicious 🙂
I wash all bottles with big mouth and the top, I collect inside stinkbugs, cabbage bugs, all kind of bugs, slugs, snails, carterpillars, if I cannot squeeze with my hands goes into bottle with leaves with eggs, keep looking under leaves for eggs and I keep my pest low.I keep checking my tomatoes leaves for white flies and pink fat bugs, with wet hand and squeeze all also, cut lower leaves and keep trunks airated, not two leaves touching
Oh my gosh, i trained 3 pit bulls on the gentle leader and walked them all together with no problem. I do not believe in a choke chain!! They do not work and most dogs don’t even care. I’m gonna try the squash for the Cucumber Beatles. Last year they killed all my white pumpkin plants and I’m in N.Y. and I’ve had no luck with cabbage or broccoli either because of the cabbage worms. I’ll have to try and grow them under tulle.
I do the same thing but I got this plant free from an elderly lady that I helped in a garden makes big leaves but the slugs and the bugs love it and then leave and they leave my berries and my other plants alone so I let I let them eat this one plant because it’s their favorite and their favorite plant that I let them eat it makes flowers in February but there’s nothing edible on it so it’s my sacrificial plant
You should grow indoors hydroponically…because the county sprays for mosquitoes in some counties and it causes Neurological problems and illness. You can go to your local county website and see,what.when and how they spray your neighborhood. On our counties site they said to wash your kids toys and animal dishes and toys. But my question was what about our swimming pool’s water? Or the kids sand box?😲