For me, growing organic started in the early 80’s when I actually had the chance to taste a regular chemically fertilized tomato and one that was organically fertilized and grown. That sold me, and I have been growing organic produce ever since.
The biggest problem I found with my gardening was maintaining natural pest control. Let’s face it: if someone is growing organic produce and they use a chemically-laced pesticide, it will kill the bugs, but it also kills any idea that the plants are grown organically.
Over the many years that I have been gardening, I have developed some other ways to get rid of bugs in natural ways.
My favorite pesticide of all time is called Safer Soap. It’s made with salty fatty acids, is totally biodegradable and controls just about any bug that might infest your garden.
Another one of my favorites are organically made Pyrethrins. This is a byproduct of chrysanthemum flowers that is a real killer of bugs. This not only works for your garden, but it also is a terrific fly spray for your barn or stall areas as well, and it will give good results wherever you use it.
For slug infestations I have always used diatomaceous earth. These are essentially the ground-up shells of diatoms or in layperson's terms, hard shelled algae. That’s easier to spell than diatomaceous, and there is no finer slug killer than hard shelled algae. You just sprinkle this stuff around the bottom of your plants, and you won’t have to worry about slugs. Plus, since these are all-natural, they eventually biodegrade and act as a fertilizer for your plants. You gotta like that!
What is great for greenhouses and orchards are sticky insect traps. In their most basic form, you can hang these up by your plants and they automatically attract garden pests. Some of the orchard varieties are infused with hormone scent to attract females before they lay eggs in the fruit. Either way, they are non-chemical and keep garden pest away from your plants. The only downside to these is that they will also attract beneficial insects as well.
I'm also including one you don’t want to use. In the 80’s it was all the rage to buy imported Asian ladybug beetles as a natural predator for killing aphids and other insect pests. Goodness knows, I ordered a box full of a thousand from a catalog back then, threw them onto my garden and my aphid-infested rose plants, and they sure wiped out the insect population. But they also have few natural enemies in North America, and they proliferated to such an extent that these cute little ladybugs are an absolute nuisance! They swarm in the fall and are virtually everywhere, and as much as I hate to admit it, I was a part of this scourge. Back then, it certainly seemed like the right thing to do, and I had to try them out.
But I urge you to not make the mistake I did. Because Action speaks louder than words, so stay with natural and organic pesticides, and you will have a bug-free garden without all the synthetic chemicals.
Source: BecauseAction.com
