Pests pests pests hate pests!

[Zedo]

So spring has well and truly come and brought the pests with it. I've never had so much drama with things destroying my plants. I hope it's just the fact I'm close to the river and back on to a big park. 

 

Whitefly..... so many 

and caterpillars eating stuff... I pulled one bright green one the size of my middle finger (I have big hands) off a begonia.

and I dunno what this is but suggestions and ideas would be great. 

 

My caapi has all new leaves and I'm so happy they look pretty... but there's these dark dots and little clear balls underneath the leaves.

anyone know what they are of how to treat them.

 

also... I want more lady bugs.., they are good for peat control supposedly. We have lots of flowers and there's a few bees and wasps but the pests are still rampanteating leaves. How do you attract ladybugs, or can you farm them?

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

For whitefly try foliar neem and for the grubs try dipel. Both available at the green shed, ~$60 for them both but that's a fair few applications. Both organic and won't harm soil life. 

 

If your using lots of bottle nutrients in your garden etc try to go back to compost top dressings and the likes for nutrients instead. Taking my patch to a "notill" environment has levelled everything for me

[Zedo]

I bought a worm farm a bit back so I just use that for fertiliser. I'll go get those two tomorrow and have a whirl. Thanks 

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Try some extra nitrogen top dresses too like manures etc, give those worm castings something to eat! Vermicast is amazing!! both those products should knock the majority of pests. The dipel will fox root attacking pests like gnats too, a soil drench won't harm anything 

[Zedo]

I use mushroom compost but I've never noticed it helping. I found a lady bug on my tomatoes so I put him on an affected plant thinking he'd eat the nasties. But rather the lady bug started eating the leaves  oh well. 

[bardo]

http://www.gardeninsects.com/ladybugs.asp

Some interesting info about lady bugs and biological pest control.

I have thought about breeding beneficial insects for a while now but am yet to properly study it, i can say that grasshoppers are being a real pain in the ass atm, chewing on my bean and beetroot seedlings, i felt a liitle depressed when i saw what they had done but gotta soldier on, its been really hot and dry here and i think that has a lot to do with it, seeking moisture. I may cover the veggie patches with shade cloth if it gets to bad, i try avoid using pesticides as much as possible, been looking at what plants get attacked more than others and trying to grow plants that seems to be left alone more, also been learning about companion planting not only as a form of pest control but for other benefits the technique offers : )

 

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

What are these guys? I have them in 1000s and nothing is working..

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

They seem to be effecting my trichs now getting lil black dots all over 

[Zedo]

I find the areas with more bees and wasps the less bugs... but in saying that some plants just get smashed no matter what. Even my basil is getting eaten and I though basil was a good anti crap bug plant. 

[bardo]

My dark opal basil hasn't been touched once or the zucchini and squashes its manly the beans and snow peas coping it. Bloody scale on cacti are annoying but I still haven't reverted to pesticides i just go out with a tooth brush every so often, by doing so they never seem to get outta hand but still its annoying, the scale on the citrus plants especially the lime tree gets them bad and is hard to manually remove all of them, i tried some borax and honey to lower the ant activity but they seem to just keep on going, i hear tabacco can attract beneficial wasps. When i get a new bed going i am going to try growing some cabbage because i love sauerkraut and cabbage is expensive from woollies, anyway im gonna plant a heap of geranium plants around and amongst them to lower pest problems associated with cabbage.

Hey dood those bugs effecting you cacti i have no idea what they are but if the black spots get to bad then keep them dry and sprinkle some sulphur on them and face toward the sun light usually works well to heal them.

In regards to beneficials here is an interesting site that i am yet to look further into, http://www.sgaonline.org.au/insect-hotels/

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Thanks bardo. The bugs have only arrived since my new fence went up. They hang on it in 1000's. I've smashed em with neem, pythrerum, Mortein and now I have neem cake covering my yard lol. The buggers are everywhere to the point if you walk past you'll eat 10 and get em in your hair and nose

[bardo]

Shit man it sounds like an endemic, i would like to offer advise but damned if i know what to do, maybe try dry some and smoke/snort them and perhaps you will obtain knowledge as what to do, if you think i am joking well i have eaten aphids lol you proberly don't want to know how far-reaching my insanity is but i have been getting through ok lol

[Zedo]

I made a chilli (stupidly hot orange habenaros) and garlic and soap concoction this arvo. Just don't have the funds for the expensive stuff atm. Hope it deters the pests and doesn't burn the plants lol

[bardo]

How did it go Zedo ? any positive results ?

[Zedo]

So I think I'll culled the white fly and things eating my beloved plants. But I've now run into another pest getting into my tomatoes. Every fruit has black spots which quickly go soft upon ripening. I think it's a grub or worm or something. 

[Sallubrious]

 

So I think I'll culled the white fly and things eating my beloved plants. But I've now run into another pest getting into my tomatoes. Every fruit has black spots which quickly go soft upon ripening. I think it's a grub or worm or something. 

 

Are they random spots all over the fruit or just at the end where the flower was ?

 

If they are all over the fruit it will most likely be fruit fly, if it's where the flower was it is blossom end rot.