Comments on: Organic Solutions for Pests, Disease, and Fertilizer

By: Emily

Emily — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:41:28 +0000

What I read about blight is that it will come back year to year, so the best solution is to rotate your crops and avoid planting the veggie with blight in that spot for several years.

By: liz

liz — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:50:30 +0000

Can you give any advice on what to do preventative for early blight next year. I have cleared old stuff out fairly well from last years problem and it came back BAD this year again on my tomatoes and peppers. Is there a soil treatment or winter planting i can do to help amend the area for next season. I wanted to plant lettuce, carrots, spinach, or broccoli for the fall crop and worried they won’t do well b/c of the blight problem.

By: Emily

Emily — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 04:39:18 +0000

If it’s the same problem as mine, it’s pill bugs, or what my kids call potato bugs (not to be confused with REAL potato bugs). You can google an organic solution, or I just sprinkle a little Sevin around the edges of the square. Once they get big enough it’s not a problem, but if the entire first leaves get eaten, you’re sunk. Just replant.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:23:01 +0000

Help,something is chewing my new green bean leaves half off. I see little flies and a few ants in my raised 3′x8′ container garden, but I can’t catch any bug doing it. Love to hear any ideas, it’s so sad to see your little beautiful plants being eaten. Thanks.

By: Babs Wood

Babs Wood — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 06:26:36 +0000

To Amy Sue: sounds like cutworm to me. I cut empty tiolet paper rolls in half and placed them around my plants, about 1/2 inch into the soil and that helped alot.

By: Amy Sue

Amy Sue — Wed, 25 May 2011 03:46:32 +0000

Any suggestions for warding off whatever critter is nipping my veggies off? I planted a bunch of veggies on Sunday and Monday two cucumbers and one tomato were nipped off through the stem. I don’t know if it’s rabbits or chipmunks but I’m not happy!

~Amy Sue

By: Sandy

Sandy — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:18:57 +0000

Dawn, I am a gardening novice as well and I have had small black ants appear in several places this year. After doing an Internet search for organic methods of control, I tried coffee grounds and black pepper. Both seem to have been effective in causing the ants to go away. It doesn’t kill them, but they have moved. They may reappear in new locations, but sprinkling pepper or coffee grounds is pretty easy, so I figured I would just continue trying that for now. (I have to admit I’m a little worried about seeing aphids in the near future…)

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:29:22 +0000

Jon–right now, I don’t have any answers but as the season goes on I hope to tackle pest problems.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:11:34 +0000

Hi Emily, any suggestions for giving our cucumbers a fighting chance against cucumber beetles? I’ve tried insecticidal soap with limited success. I’ve used Sevin as an extreme last resort in the past but really hate to apply those chemicals on our plants as well as the thought of it getting into the soil. Any insight would be much appreciated!

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:40:00 +0000

I’ll add it to my wish list!