Tips On Organic Pest Control
Carrot Root Fly
This year my garden has an obvious infestation of Carrot Root fly - with the leaves turning yellow.
Unusually this year, I haven't sown spring onions in the carrot rows.
And I sowed earlier too.
Both thinning and weeding has disturbed the ground enough to attract the pest.
The biological control for Carrot Fly called "Grow Your Own" is available to UK gardeners on this link.
American gardeners can find similar
biological controls for familiar pests here.
And check the other biological controls listed there. Natural controls like these are better than chemicals.Organic Control of Slugs & Snails
The dry weather has kept the slugs and snails down here. But other gardeners have not faired so well.
Where there's a problem you should water the garden in the morning or early enough for it to dry out before nightfall.
Keep the soil finely chopped and remove organic debris. Slugs can be worse under netting or cloches where they are somewhat protected...
Put down a strategically located hiding place for slugs such as a brick or tile. You can then lift the lid and kill them.
When you go out in the late evening by torch light you may find many of the critters out and about. Sometimes it's just one or two creatures that are doing all the damage.
Experiment with Garlic:- 2 cloves squashed into 2L water, & boiled for 20 mins or so. Then made back to 2L & left to steep. Studies at Newcastle University found that larger amounts of Garlic actually killed slugs!
However, the homemade liquid doesn't stick to cabbage leaves... but the smell is pretty powerful.
Beer traps are very effective. I found the cheapest beer which was then Heinekin Premium worked very well - for slugs and snails. Forster's Amber Nectar definitely didn't reach as many of the parts that Heinekin reached.
You can make a cheaper and effective alcoholic solution from sugar and yeast in a sealed container.
Nemaslug is also worth trying if you have a very bad infestation. This has the advantage of killing the small ones and reducing the next generation.
Nemaslug is available to UK gardeners on this link.
American gardeners can find similar
biological controls for other familiar pests here.
There are many other biological controls listed here.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
More To Do:
Keep sowing crops to harvest in succession: Lettuce, Spring Onions, Beetroot, Runner Beans, French Beans, Endive... ... there are many choice varieties for extra flavour.
Grow even more seeds & plants - with the best value for American Gardeners.
Get more variety in your garden below:
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