How do you keep the bugs away?

[PeachBaby]

The veggie garden we just started is being infested with bugs and I want to use something safe. Any suggestions? I'm in a foreign country so I hope whatever I can use is easily found. Thanks for any help!

[Chicky2]

I squish. Every day.

And I've used Neem oil once (it makes the plants not taste good to bugs). But mostly I squish.

[christinar]

I squish too. I walk around usually 2x a day and check on things. Last year I had some wierd bird-poo-like bug (black with clear edges - really strange), and I just picked them off and they never came back.

I also have a few specific strategies - for cucumber beetles, I've had really good luck interplanting cucumbers/squash/pumpkins with red nasturtiums. For slugs, I use Sluggo, which are organic pellets. For aphids, I spray them off with water. The only chemical I use is Bt which is organic-ish, on my tomatoes for hornworms, because I will not get a single tomato if I don't. There are just too many to hand pick.

Good luck.

[sidandspencersmom]

I pick them off and dump them into a bucket of salt water that I carry with me. I just can't squish-- yuk! I found two huge hornworms and it grossed me out just to pull them off the tomato plants. Those things are awful!

I had those bird poo like worm things on my citrus-- picked them off and haven't seen any in almost a week.

I obsessively hunt for bugs at least 3 times a day. I pay my kids a nickel for each pest they find. They love going out in the early mornings when the slugs and snails are most visible.

[sunnysandiegan]

Aren't some insects beneficial to the plants and soil? Which ones are good? Which ones are destructive?

[Chicky2]

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan

Aren't some insects beneficial to the plants and soil? Which ones are good? Which ones are destructive?

When I find a bug I don't know about, I put it in a jar on my desk until I find it online. Then I decide it's fate.

lady bird beetles are great, as are green lacewings, and praying mantis. Not good-grasshoppers, caterpillars of any kind, cucumber beetles, potato beetles, etc.

[sunnysandiegan]

Thanks Chicky2!

[Chicky2]

OH, and spiders are good. I have some lovely ones taking up residence in my tomatoes!

[christinar]

Yeah, I carry around a little tub of water with a squirt of dish soap in it too for things I don't want to squish, like Japanese beetles. Those are very easy to handpick and drop in.

[mattemma04]

Milky spore and nematodes are supposed to be good.Do a beneficial insect search for companies that sell them. I pick the jap beetles. I try to get the 4 lined plant bug,but it is fast. I have taken to spraying for those with a mix of water,oil,and a bit of soap. I only use this on plants that we won't eat.

I have read that marigold will keep away bugs,so last year I tossed some seeds in the garden.My garden did pretty well.Just those darn 4 lined bugs are getting out of control.Here is my bug:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardand...fourlined.html

I should have worked harder to kill them off the first year.

I have a jug of water too for my jap beetles.I just shake them into the jug 2-3 times a day.

[Eekface]

Do you know if I need to worry about the soap hurting the plants or makin them unsafe to eat? I have some natural dish soap i was going to try for spit bugs but I wondered if it would make my parsley un edible.