Know your good AND bad insects PLUS their life-cycle (so you don't kill the good guys that look freaky), be on the lookout both day and night, and use multiple ways to get those bad buggers out of your garden.
.............
Inspecting/scouting for insects: use a hand-held magnifier. Look under leaves. Look both early in the day and at NIGHT when these critters are doing most of their damage. Do this a minimum of once a week. My personal experience: a fat, happy, organically grown tomato horn-worm can take out one HUGE tomato plant in one day. Sigh. At least I got the organic poop.
Row covers. Place right away. Remove permanently for pollination. Delay the cover's removal until "full" bloom to give your loved ones the greatest time to fight the inevitable sap-sucking critters. Let's not use these row covers for frost protection because they won't work.
Rotate crops. Confuse those buggers! They think they can have a feast on the same thing over and over again.
Cutworms. Use a collar of a plastic cup set 2" in the ground to prevent cutworms from chowing down on your plant stems.
Buying plants from big box stores. These plants are brought to you to look their BEST when you buy. However, we don't know if they have been exposed to pesticides, diseases, or insect infestation. Check your plants over, including under the leaves, before buying.
Over fertilization: invites aphids and white-fly.
Sick plant decay: remove it from the area of the plant. If it had the plague, let's not give it to another plant. Put it in the trash (not recycling) so it is burned at the stake and not minced up and given to another gardener.
Weeds: if our edibles are feeding on the same fertilizer weeds are, guess who will win?
Best all round plant that attracts beneficial insects for our area: Crepe Myrtle.
Mr. Roy Beckford did present us a list of good and bad creatures, but I was not quick enough to get them all.
Insect controls. Keep in mind these will also kill/deter the good guys:
- Organic: soaps, oils, garlic or hot sauce spray.
- Might be or might not be organic depending on who you talk to: spinosads, Bt.
