Organic Pest and Disease Control

Pest Control

Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a good choice for many soft-bodied common garden pests. The fine powder absorbs body liquids from the waxy outer layer of insect’s bodies, causing them to dehydrate. Use it sparingly and only when needed, as it also kills beneficial soft-bodied insects as well. Do not use the type of DE commonly used for swimming pool maintenance…get the garden variety available in a garden center or feed store. Also, use caution when applying DE and do not breathe in the fine dust. It is an excellent natural wormer for livestock/horses/pets as well.

Citrus Oil (Orange or Lemon Essential Oil) – use approximately 2 tablespoons orange or lemon essential oil to a gallon of water in a sprayer, adding several drops of liquid detergent to help the oils mix properly with the water and to help the mixture adhere to the plant leaves. Mixture can be made in a smaller quantity for hand-held spray bottles, scaling down measurement proportions of oil & water. This solution works well for aphids, mites, flea beetles, and other common garden pests.

Beneficial Insects – there are many insects that you actually want to see in your garden! We all know the benefits of ladybugs and how they meander around eating aphids, but also green lacewings, trichogramma wasps (great control for loopers, army worms, pecan casebearers, greenworms, tent caterpillars, webworms), praying mantis, wasps, and others. If you see insects or bugs in your garden and observe them for a period of time and see that they are not doing any harm, leave them alone! They may actually be helping lighten your load!

Disease Control

The best way to keep diseases under control is to practice good garden/greenhouse cleanliness and management practices, but from time-to-time a real wet weather spell can cause problems for anyone.

Baking Soda - a mixture of 2 T. baking soda to 1 gallon of water in a pump sprayer, sprayed on all leaf surfaces affected by mold, fungus, powdery mildew, etc., works well. For areas severely affected, pull or cut off the worst areas and spray the other leaves and surrounding leaves with the mixture. Make sure your clippers and gloves (hands) are cleaned off with disinfectant after coming in contact with diseased plant areas. You could transfer problems to healthy plants otherwise.

Weed Control

Pulling – that’s really the best solution. If you are very diligent about keeping an area weeded then after a time you should have a fairly weed-free area. Strong white vinegar (20%, purchased at garden centers) works well for larger areas but will not result in long-term weed control unless it is done repeatedly, which can get rather expensive.

or great weed control in garden walkways, under compost piles, etc., black woven weed preventer fabric is excellent. It comes on a roll and you cut what you need.

Organic Fertilization

Liquid Seaweed, Liquid Fish Emulsion, Horticultural Molasses – when I fertilize plants I use a combination of liquid seaweed and fish emulsion (and horticultural molasses if I happen to have it). A tablespoon or two of each mixed into a gallon of water works well for everything. For tender, new plants or transplanting seedlings use a more diluted mixture.

Compost – good compost is hard to beat for amending soil in garden bed areas, or even for mixing in with potting soil. There are so many natural nutrients in compost and in my estimation it is the absolute best thing anyone can use in garden beds.

Well-Rotted Livestock Manure – there are two very important aspects to remember if using livestock manure:

· know where the manure comes from and make sure the animals have not been fed commercial wormers, antibiotics, other animals (yes, dead animal products are sometimes fed to other animals), or any other products or chemicals that would not be appropriate to incorporate into a garden bed;

· well-rotted means the manure has been sitting out and “composting” itself for at least 3 months, longer in cooler weather. The manure will have been broken down by insects and will look like good garden soil itself. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DO YOU WANT TO PUT FRESH MANURE ON GARDEN BEDS!

Manure can be a very valuable and important part of an organic gardening program if collected and handled properly prior to using.