Arming Yourself Organically

While most of you are pouring over new seed catalogs and sketching this year’s vegetable garden plan, those of us in Zones 8, 9, and 10 are harvesting the last of the fall garden and preparing to plant the spring garden.

When we first started growing vegetables here in Florida, I was convinced that it wasn’t possible to grow organically in such an aggressive environment. Although we get a frost now and then, we never get a killing frost that helps control pests and diseases. Throw in the high humidity that creates the perfect moist breeding ground throughout the summer, and you have an environment that I thought could only be controlled with chemicals.

Boy, am I glad I was wrong!

Let me introduce you to the 5 things I arm myself with every growing season.

Bacillus thuringiensis

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a naturally occurring soil bacteria, a good bacteria. A very good bacteria! Spray Bt on plants that are being attacked by caterpillars. 

How do you know it’s being attacked by caterpillars? Have you ever heard of The Very Hungry Caterpillar? A caterpillar has an appetite that rivals a teenage boy’s! If you don’t see the caterpillar, you will see the damage it leaves behind.

The next time it nibbles on your leaves, the Bt will give the caterpillar a serious tummy ache that makes dysentery look like a simple stomach flu. It takes a day or two for the caterpillar to die, but a single application can end your caterpillar problem if caught early enough.

Also, Bt knows the difference between harmful pests and beneficial bugs, and because it’s naturally occurring, Bt won’t upset the ecological balance of your garden.

Bt is effective against cabbage loopers that attack cabbage and its relatives, hornworms that like tomatoes, squash vine borers and pickleworms that attack cucumbers and family, corn earworms, bean leafrollers, armyworms, and diamondback moth caterpillars.

Insecticidal Soap

Insecticidal soap is surprisingly effective against those annoying pests that swarm around your garden, sucking the life out of your plants like aphids, whiteflies and thrips.

How do you know you have these insects? The damage isn’t as obvious as with caterpillars. Your plants are alive but not flourishing in spite of excellent soil and water management. The leaves may be yellowed even though the pants receive plenty of nitrogen. The plants will be small, and if they produce, the fruit or vegetable is small, misshapen, or oddly colored. If you move the leaves and a swarm of tiny white insect fly up, you have white flies. If they’re brown with fringed wings, they’re thrips. If you see clumps of tiny pale green dots the size of pinheads clustered on leaves and stems, you have aphids.

Aphids, whiteflies, and thrips are tiny insects that live on the sap of your vegetable plants. You plants might not die from an infestation of these critters, but they will struggle every day of their lives.

I was really surprised at how effective insecticidal soap was against the whiteflies that attacked our container garden last year. We tried a synthesized pesticide specifically labeled for whiteflies when we had the problem once before, and it didn’t even make a dent in the population. I’ll stick to insecticidal soap from now on!

Insecticidal soap is strong stuff so use with caution! It can burn leaves so always test first and never use during hot weather!

Neem

Neem oil is one of the most interesting natural gardening products I’ve ever come across. It is distilled from parts of the Neem tree that grows in many parts of India and Africa. My favorite story about this tree tells of a swarm of locusts hitting an area, eating everything in sight. When the swarm moved on, the only plants still showing signs of life were the Neem trees! Talk about some serious natural pest control!

Although neem oil is effective against pests, I’ve found it works best to control fungus and diseases like powdery mildew on cucumbers, rust on beans, and black leaf spot on blackberries. However, neem oil is quite safe around beneficial insects like honey bees, ladybugs, and butterflies.

By the way, check out your local health food store, you’ll find neem oil in a variety of products like toothpaste and soap. Yeah, it’s that good.

Horticultural Oil

Horticultural oil is a mixture of plant-based oils that, when sprayed on the plant, smother and kill a variety of damaging pests. I keep a bottle on hand only because I was going to try it against the whiteflies if the insecticidal soap didn’t work. It is also the only natural product that is effective against spider mites!

Spider mites are another of those nasty critters that suck the life out of your plants but stop short of killing it so they can keep feeding off your precious plants. If your plants are looking weak and stunted, and you don’t see any evidence of whiteflies, thrips, or aphids, place a white piece of paper under a few leaves and shake the leaves. See all those little dots? Look closer. They’re moving. They’re spider mites. A good spraying with horticultural oil will take care of that mess!

As with insecticidal soap, watch spraying in hot weather, especially at midday when the sun is beating down. This is oil, after all. Do you really want to fry your plants?

Diatomaceous Earth

Last but not least, we have diatomaceous earth (DE). DE is the fossilized remains of hard-shelled algae crumbled into a fine powder. It might look like a pile of harmless all-purpose flour, but, boy, is this stuff useful and effective.

That innocuous fine powder absorbs the lipids from the waxy out layer of many insects’ exoskeletons. Without that protection, the insect dehydrates and dies.

DE is great in the garden to fight against slugs, aphids, thrips, and flea beetles. We also us it in the hen house and rabbit hutches to safely keep pests and parasites off and out of our animals. In the house, DE fights the fleas the dog loves to bring in and the cockroaches that thrive in Florida weather. Oh, I’m sorry. They’re Palmetto bugs (cockroaches).

If you use boric acid to fight pests inside your home, you’ll love the much safer diatomaceous earth! If you’re dog or cat accidently finds the DE you’ve spread in the attic or under the couch, the most that will happen is that you won’t have to worry about worms in your pet. Yep, it’s a de-wormer, too.

The only drawback is that it is a powder and can be a challenging to apply without breathing. Eating DE is fine, but breathing it is bad. Go figure.

Make sure you purchase food-grade diatomaceous earth only! A similar product is on the market for pool filters and is not for use in the garden or around you and your animals. Read your labels!

Over the years, I’ve found if one of these natural products doesn’t stop the disease, fungus, or pest killing my plants, nothing will. This past season we lost all of our cucurbits. Our squash, cucumbers, and zucchini looked like they got hit by everything and anything that loves a cucurbit. At some point, I just had to give up, pull the plants, and toss them in the trash. Never, ever put diseased plants in the composter. You’ll never get rid of the disease!

By the way, my gardening friends who use chemical pesticides lost all of their cucurbits, too.

Have you noticed that many items on my list control the same pests? Unfortunately, these products are not always effective, and I have to switch to another one from time to time. Sometimes, the pests just become resistant, but for the most part it’s because a new variety has moved into the area.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this list helps you prepare for a productive organic garden this year! As always, check with your local extension office for what pests are prevalent in your area this year. You’d be surprised at what those mater gardeners know!

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Betty

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