Have a Healthy Garden with a Hint of Hazmat…
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A lot of my clients ask me what I use to take care of my garden – in particular, how I kill the various viruses, diseases and bad bugs that can so quickly plague a garden, sometimes seemingly overnight. While I try and be as organic as possible, I must admit I’m not always 100% successful with organic remedies, so when all else fails I whip out the heavy artillery and pray to the organic Gods for forgiveness. I do, however, try my very hardest to be as organic as possible and would welcome any remedies you may have to offer…
A healthy garden starts with healthy soil. If your soil is thriving, composted and healthy then your garden has much better chances of naturally fending off the plague, than if it’s soil is unhealthy, depleted of all nutrients (more about that in another post).
Since I’m a pretty avid composter, my garden has fairly healthy soil so my infestations are minimal. I do, however, get the occasional bout of Black Spot, Powdery Mildew or Thrips. I’ve found the following three products to be extremely effective:
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Thrips, Spider Mites and other microscopic creepy-crawlies:
I like to use Bonide’s All Seasons Spray Oil – this organic product has worked miracles on my poor plants afflicted with thrips and their eggs (if you can zoom in on the photo you’ll see my Akebia vine which was completely infested with them). Just 2 weeks after spraying this oil, and my vine’s new leaves were already emerging thrip-free.
You just hook this up to a hose, and spray away, following directions. No mixing, no lugging heavy pails of water around – it’s very easy and all very organic.
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Black Spot, Rust and Powdery Mildew:
Okay…here’s where it gets ugly – and I’m sure I’ll hear from some of you organic-only folks. I have yet to find a product that gets rid of the terrible Black Spot and Mildew that plagues our roses (thanks to our cool coastal evenings). I’ve tried several organic methods a few different times, but found them tedious to use (having to apply the mixture ALL THE TIME) and tedious to make (I don’t enjoy mixing a ton of different ingredients together, ALL THE TIME, either). Plus, the results weren’t all that effective.
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So…3 times a year I apply Bayer’s All-In-One Systemic rose care. I know it’s not organic, and I know it’s not good for the soil, but DANG it works great!! However, I never spray my plants with a toxic killer – for fear of killing the good bugs. I did this once, many years ago, to get rid of an annoying plague of aphids, and watched in horror as a ton of soldier beetles (good bugs which eat the aphids) dropped like flies to the ground, writhing until dead. It scarred me for life and I’ll never spray again. However, since this mixture isn’t sprayed on, but rather poured at the base of the plant, I figure I’m at least sparing all of the good bugs which are on the rose plants. Luckily, I don’t have that many rose bushes, so I only use this in small amounts. This is also incredible effective for Brugmansias – which get a ton of thrips in our area (USDA zone 8B). Not only will the Brugs be thrip-free but they’ll just KICK OUT the flowers all Summer long…..
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Snails and Slugs:
Several years ago while spreading around the cheap snail bait, my dog ate a few pellets. $500 later, a stomach pumping, and a dramatic night spent in the Vet’s ER taught me a valuable lesson – always use pet-friendly snail bait!!
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Another reason to use animal-safe bait is that the wild birds tend to eat this stuff up like it’s bird seed. If just 2 pellets can just about wipe out a dog, imagine what a few pellets would do to a little bird! Even though it’s more expensive – compared with losing a pet it’s the best bargain around. Now I use either Sluggo or Ortho’s Eco-Sense brand. It’s totally effective, and totally safe.
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I can personally vouch for this, too. As I was setting up this particular ‘photo shoot’, I accidentally tipped the box over and watched 2 pellets dump into my freshly made latte, sinking into the perfect foam. Hmmm…should I pitch my coffee? Or should I be a guinea pig? I love my coffee, so I drank it. And lived to write about it!
September 28th, 2009 saat: 10:33 pm
You NEVER fail to make me laugh…it is so good for the soul. As you know I am the queen of organics…organic food…organic household products…heck…I even have an organic robe! But…when it comes to my Brugmansia’s I break down…they are one of my favorite flowers and I just can’t bear to see them suffer. I also use the Bayer systemic product once a year and it works beautifully. I do feel a little guilty but I have just enjoyed an entire season of the most beautiful, pest free Brugmansia blooms ever! So…next spring I will covertly treat them again while hiding the empty product bottles in someone else’s recycling bin! My strictly organic neighbor would give me an earful!
September 28th, 2009 saat: 11:09 pm
Well, you’ve set the bar pretty darn high for anyone who wants to test a product in her garden! You won’t catch me drinking any compost tea. Brave you!
September 29th, 2009 saat: 7:27 am
This is a hilarious but informative post.
September 29th, 2009 saat: 7:47 am
Just found your blog through Blotanical – I hope we’ll see you around there a lot.
Thanks for the tip about the spray for red spider mite – they’re the bane of my existence, and like you I try not to use nuclear bombs on the plants – but often find myself giving in. I’ll have to see if I can get hold of it here. Probably not …
September 29th, 2009 saat: 8:05 am
Lovely to meet you & to read your posts from Italy (one of my very favorite places on this planet!!). Wish I could send you some ‘black market’ Bayer to help with your spider mites!!
September 29th, 2009 saat: 8:10 am
Haha! I’m either brave or dumb – probably a combination of both. To be honest, the snail bait added a nice little ‘zing’ to my latte – really perked me up!
September 29th, 2009 saat: 1:57 pm
I had to whip out the hard stuff this summer when my garden was infested with ear wigs! I could NOT get rid of the suckers with natural means and so I got down and ugly with the hard stuff. Killed them instantly and saved my garden.
September 29th, 2009 saat: 3:12 pm
Rebecca, I was using imidacloprid/ Bayer Advanced on the roses and Rhodies I maintain until this year, but when I sat down to really think deeply about it, I could not justify its use to myself anymore.
I go into my feelings on it more in this post (scroll down to A Note About Non-Organic Control:
http://www.northcoastgardening.com/2009/06/how-to-kill-thrips-organically/#more-1219 )
, but basically I researched and found that imidacloprid is very toxic to birds, and I have actually seen birds eating bugs off roses, so it isn’t a stretch to my imagination that the bugs could be full of toxin and dying, the bird comes and eats some bugs, and then the bird dies.
I also felt some concern about the fact that it’s toxic to soil microbes and earthworms, which are very helpful in supporting pest-free conditions in the garden.
I still use the Bayer on a few of the roses I maintain that absolutely cannot have any spots or mildew or else I get fired (and someone less organic comes in to replace me), but for my more relaxed clients, I’m using a combination of organic controls and have had decent success with Serenade, a biological fungus control. More about it here:
http://www.northcoastgardening.com/2009/07/organic-rose-flower-pest-control-spraying-pests/
Hope it’s cool that I’m dissenting a bit – this struck a chord with me because I have struggled with my use of Bayer this year and really had to confront my desire to use it, because it is so simple and long-lasting for us pros to use for clients.
I’m trying to avoid it where possible, but it is hard because the organic alternatives do need to be sprayed more often. It is tough!!
September 29th, 2009 saat: 3:47 pm
I’m absolutely, 100% okay with you ‘dissenting a bit’ You’re so knowledgeable and level-headed, I completely respect your opinion and if it struck a chord with you, I totally ‘get it’. As I mentioned, I don’t feel good about it either, but justify it a bit with the fact that I use it very, very sparingly. I appreciate your recommendation of Serenade and will certainly give it a try. I think all of us gardeners love the earth, birds, plants and bugs (most of them at least) and don’t want to hurt anything, yet grapple with how to get the upper hand when things get out of balance. I just had a beautiful rose bush go up in flames – well not flames, but thrips. The thrip infestation occurred so quickly there was nothing I could do but severely prune the bush to stubs and spray the organic spray on it. It’s a tough decision, I agree.
September 30th, 2009 saat: 3:24 am
Hi Rebecca, sometimes we are forced to make decisions between only evils, not good versus evil. You are doing the best you can and thanks about the slug recommendation. They are a terrible bane in certain lower areas of our slope and we stopped using any product when a couple of dead birds were found a few years ago. Whether I would drink that latte, I think not, but am glad you survived!
Frances
September 30th, 2009 saat: 12:12 pm
Rebecca, found ya through Blotanical, nice to read a slightly pithy blog. I truely understand your approach to pesticides. I will stand strong with O.G. techniques for veg but with ornamentals it is occasionally worth a short walk on the dark side. As Arnold said “I’ll be back”
Scott
September 30th, 2009 saat: 2:04 pm
Wow – thanks for the compliment! And yes, I view the term ‘slightly pithy’ as a compliment (snarky is a bit too harsh, but pithy has a gentle ring to it)….I’m with you – strictly organic for my veggies. I might drink a Sluggo-laced latte, but I wouldn’t want to eat a tomato pumped full of chemicals….
October 1st, 2009 saat: 8:34 am
Great post Rebecca. Very good tips for those of us looking to minimize the hazmat levels in our yards. And no, I wouldn’t have drank the latte either. Now if it was my beer they fell into….