ORGANIC FARMING COURSE AGRO-ECONOMY
8 1 NATURAL
PESTICIDES – 8.20 - TOP GARDEN PESTS--WHAT WORKED + DIDN'T
Here is some great information from a survey
that Mother Earth News did to learn more about what works, and doesn't, when it
comes to limiting insect damage in organic vegetable gardens. They had 1300
gardeners from across the United States respond, so is fairly good. I've
included 7 of the top garden pests and info:
1) SLUGS-- took top honours as the most bothersome pest in home gardens, with 55 percent of respondents saying the slimy critters give them trouble year after year. Handpicking was highly rated as a control measure (87 percent success rate), followed by iron phosphate baits (86 percent) and diatomaceous earth (84 percent). Opinion was divided on eggshell barriers (crushed eggshells sprinkled around plants), with a 33 percent failure rate among gardeners who had tried that slug control method. An easy home remedy that received widespread support was beer traps (80 percent success rate).
2) SQUASH BUGS -- had sabotaged summer and winter squash for 51 percent of respondents, and even ducks couldn’t solve a serious squash bug problem. Most gardeners reported using handpicking as their primary defence, along with cleaning up infested plants at season’s end to interrupt the squash bug life cycle. The value of companion planting for squash bug management was a point of disagreement for respondents, with 21 percent saying it’s the best control method and 34 percent saying it doesn’t help.
Of the gardeners who had tried it, 79 percent
said spraying neem on egg clusters and juvenile squash bugs is helpful. About
74 percent of row cover users found them useful in managing squash bugs.
3) APHIDS -- were on the watch list of 50 percent of respondents, but the success rates of various control techniques were quite high. Active interventions, including pruning off the affected plant parts and applying insecticidal soap, were reported effective, but so were more passive methods, such as attracting beneficial insects by planting flowers and herbs. Several readers noted the ability of sweet alyssum and other flowers to attract hoverflies, which eat aphids. “We attract a lot of beneficials by planting carefree flowers in the vegetable garden, including calendula, borage, zinnias, cosmos and nasturtiums”
4) SQUASH VINE BORERS-- had caused problems for 47 percent of the survey respondents. The best reported control methods were crop rotation and growing resistant varieties ofCucurbita moschata, which includes butternut squash and a few varieties of pumpkin. TheC. moschata varieties are borer-resistant because they have solid stems. Interestingly, if you’re attempting to fend off squash vine borers, lanky, long-vined, open-pollinated varieties of summer squash (zucchini and yellow crookneck, for example) may fare better than hybrids, because OP varieties are more likely to develop supplemental roots where the vines touch the ground.
Many gardeners dump soil over these places, so
if squash vine borers attack a plant’s main stem, the plant can keep on growing
from its backup root system.
5) JAPANESE BEETLES-- Forty-six percent of respondents reported
working in the unwelcome company of Japanese beetles, with handpicking being
the most popular control method. Some gardeners grow trap crops of raspberries
or other fruits to keep Japanese beetles away from plants. Several commonly
used interventions — garlic-pepper spray, milky spore disease, pheromone traps
and row cover — had high failure rates.
6) TOMATO HORNWORMS-- were of concern to 42 percent of our survey respondents. But and handpicking were the preferred control methods, and several folks commented that tomato hornworms are among the easiest garden pests to handpick (probably because they’re large, easy to spot and produce a telltale, pebbly trail). Many gardeners reported seeing tomato hornworms often covered with rice-like cocoons of parasitic braconid wasps. “I had a lot of tomato hornworms this year, but the wasps took them out! Just like in the photos online and in bug books!” (Mid-Atlantic, more than 20 years of experience). Gardeners named zinnias and borage as good companion plants for reducing hornworm problems.
7) CUTWORMS-- were a concern for 41 percent of respondents, and effectiveness ratings for using rigid collars (made from plastic drinking cups or cardboard tissue rolls) to protect young seedlings from damage were amazingly high (93 percent effectiveness rating). A common practice to reduce cutworm damage is to cultivate the soil’s surface once or twice before planting and hope robins and other bug-eating birds will swoop in to gather the juicy cutworms. Big, sturdy seedlings are naturally resistant to cutworms, so many gardeners said they set out seedlings a bit late to avoid cutworm damage.
KOZI YA KILIMO HAI KILIMO-UCHUMI
Haya hapa ni baadhi ya taarifa kuu kutoka kwa
uchunguzi ambao Mother Earth News ilifanya ili kujifunza zaidi kuhusu kile
kinachofanya kazi na kisichofanya kazi, linapokuja suala la kupunguza uharibifu
wa wadudu katika bustani za mboga za kikaboni. Walikuwa na bustani 1300 kutoka
kote Merika walijibu, kwa hivyo ni nzuri sana. Nimejumuisha wadudu na habari 7
kati ya wakuu wa bustani:
1) SLUGS-- ilichukua tuzo ya juu kama wadudu wanaosumbua zaidi katika bustani za nyumbani, huku asilimia 55 ya waliohojiwa wakisema kuwa wadudu hao wenye ufinyu huwapa shida mwaka baada ya mwaka. Ukamataji mkono ulikadiriwa sana kama kipimo cha udhibiti (asilimia 87 ya kiwango cha mafanikio), ikifuatiwa na chambo cha fosfati ya chuma (asilimia 86) na ardhi ya diatomaceous (asilimia 84). Maoni yaligawanywa juu ya vizuizi vya ganda la yai (maganda ya mayai yaliyosagwa yaliyonyunyiziwa mimea), na asilimia 33 ya kiwango cha kushindwa kati ya wakulima wa bustani ambao walikuwa wamejaribu njia hiyo ya kudhibiti koa. Dawa rahisi ya nyumbani iliyopokea usaidizi mkubwa ilikuwa mitego ya bia (asilimia 80 ya kiwango cha mafanikio).
2) SQUASH BUGS -- iliharibu boga majira ya kiangazi na msimu wa baridi kwa asilimia 51 ya waliojibu, na hata bata hawakuweza kutatua tatizo kubwa la mdudu wa boga. Wakulima wengi wa bustani waliripoti kutumia kuokota kwa mikono kama ulinzi wao wa kimsingi, pamoja na kusafisha mimea iliyoshambuliwa mwishoni mwa msimu ili kukatiza mzunguko wa maisha ya mdudu wa boga. Thamani ya upandaji shirikishi kwa ajili ya kudhibiti wadudu wa boga ilikuwa jambo la kutokubaliana kwa waliohojiwa, huku asilimia 21 wakisema ndiyo njia bora ya kudhibiti na asilimia 34 wakisema haisaidii.
Kati ya wakulima wa bustani ambao walijaribu,
asilimia 79 walisema kunyunyizia mwarobaini kwenye vishada vya mayai na kunguni
wachanga wa boga kunasaidia. Takriban asilimia 74 ya watumiaji wa safu mlalo
waliwaona kuwa muhimu katika kudhibiti mende wa boga.
3) APHIDS -- walikuwa kwenye orodha ya walinzi ya asilimia 50 ya waliohojiwa, lakini viwango vya mafanikio vya mbinu mbalimbali za udhibiti vilikuwa vya juu kabisa. Hatua amilifu, ikiwa ni pamoja na kupogoa sehemu za mmea zilizoathiriwa na kutumia sabuni ya kuua wadudu, ziliripotiwa kuwa za ufanisi, lakini pia zilikuwa mbinu tulivu zaidi, kama vile kuvutia wadudu wenye manufaa kwa kupanda maua na mimea. Wasomaji kadhaa walibainisha uwezo wa alyssum tamu na maua mengine kuvutia hoverflies, ambayo hula aphids. "Tunavutia manufaa mengi kwa kupanda maua yasiyojali katika bustani ya mboga, ikiwa ni pamoja na calendula, borage, zinnias, cosmos na nasturtiums"
4) VIPAKA VYA SQUASH VINE-- vimesababisha matatizo kwa asilimia 47 ya waliohojiwa. Mbinu bora zaidi za udhibiti zilizoripotiwa zilikuwa mzunguko wa mazao na aina sugu za Cucurbita moschata, ambayo ni pamoja na maboga ya butternut na aina chache za malenge. TheC. aina za moschata hustahimili vipekecha kwa sababu zina mashina madhubuti. Inafurahisha, ikiwa unajaribu kujikinga na vipekecha boga, aina za boga zilizopandwa kwa muda mrefu, zilizochavushwa wazi (kwa mfano, zukini na njano crookneck) zinaweza kukua vizuri zaidi kuliko mseto, kwa sababu aina za OP zina uwezekano mkubwa wa kukua. mizizi ya ziada ambapo mizabibu hugusa ardhi.
Wakulima wengi wa bustani hutupa udongo juu ya
maeneo haya, kwa hivyo kama vipekecha shina vya boga hushambulia shina kuu la
mmea, mmea unaweza kuendelea kukua kutoka kwa mfumo wake wa mizizi.
5) MBABU WA JAPANE-- Asilimia 46 ya waliohojiwa
waliripoti kufanya kazi katika kampuni isiyokubalika ya mbawakawa wa Kijapani,
huku kuokota kwa mikono ikiwa njia maarufu zaidi ya kudhibiti. Baadhi ya
wakulima hupanda mazao ya mtego wa raspberries au matunda mengine ili kuwazuia
mbawakawa wa Kijapani mbali na mimea. Afua kadhaa zinazotumiwa - dawa ya
vitunguu-pilipili, ugonjwa wa spore ya milky, mitego ya pheromone na safu ya
safu - ilikuwa na viwango vya juu vya kutofaulu.
6) MINYOO YA NYANYA-- ilikuwa ya wasiwasi kwa asilimia 42 ya wahojiwa wetu wa utafiti. Lakini na kuokota kwa mikono ndizo njia zilizopendekezwa za kudhibiti, na watu kadhaa walitoa maoni kuwa minyoo ya nyanya ni miongoni mwa wadudu waharibifu wa bustani ambao ni rahisi kuokota (labda kwa sababu ni wakubwa, ni rahisi kuonekana na hutoa njia inayojulikana, yenye mawe). Wakulima wengi wa bustani waliripoti kuwa waliona minyoo ya nyanya mara nyingi wakiwa wamefunikwa na vifukofuko vya nyigu wenye vimelea vya braconid. "Nilikuwa na pembe nyingi za nyanya mwaka huu, lakini nyigu waliwatoa! Kama vile kwenye picha mtandaoni na katika vitabu vya hitilafu!” (Katikati ya Atlantiki, zaidi ya miaka 20 ya uzoefu). Wapanda bustani walizitaja zinnias na borage kama mimea rafiki kwa kupunguza matatizo ya minyoo.
7) CUTWORMS-- zilihangaikia asilimia 41 ya waliohojiwa, na ukadiriaji wa ufanisi wa kutumia kola ngumu (zilizotengenezwa kwa vikombe vya kunywea vya plastiki au karatasi za karatasi za kadibodi) kulinda miche michanga dhidi ya uharibifu ulikuwa wa juu sana (asilimia 93 ya kiwango cha ufanisi). Zoezi la kawaida la kupunguza uharibifu wa minyoo ni kulima uso wa udongo mara moja au mbili kabla ya kupanda na tunatumai robin na ndege wengine wanaokula wadudu wataingia kwa nguvu ili kukusanya minyoo yenye juisi. Miche mikubwa na yenye nguvu kwa kawaida hustahimili minyoo, kwa hivyo wakulima wengi wa bustani walisema walichelewesha miche ili kuepuka uharibifu wa minyoo.
