Clean Gardens

Experienced gardeners have learned that a clean garden is less prone to damage from pest & diseases than one where trash accumulates and every flat stone or board conceals a slug or cutworm.

If dead leaves are swept up and buried in a compost pile, if mulch contaminated with fungus spores is removed from the soil and if watering is controlled so that dirt does not splash onto the leaves, many serious troubles can be avoided. Properly Spaced Plants Assist Pest Control
If plants stand too close together in the row, or in flower beds, sun and air cannot get between the plants. Since sun and air often kill bacteria and fungi that cause trouble, close planting should be avoided. Thin out seedlings as soon as they are big enough to handle.
Another reason for allowing plenty of space between individual plants is that insect pests can hide there if too close. Foliage stems protect them from their natural enemies which could destroy them before they become troublesome. A good rule of "green" thumb, whether planting vegetables, flowers or shrubs, is that the individual plants should be far enough apart so their forms can be seen, even though their leaves may touch here and there. [Back to top]

Some insects are friendly
One way to combat destructive bugs is to use other bugs that are their natural enemies otherwise known as "Beneficial Bugs". Certain insects live off other insects instead of eating plant tissue. If they eat insects that harm garden plants, then these predators should be protected and encouraged to live where they will do the most good. Usually they work completely unseen by the gardener.

Although birds are helpful in keeping insect pests under control, the insect enemies of harmful insects are many, many times more valuable.

Here are some of man's insect friends which should be protected and even introduced artificially where ever possible. Avoid using chemical pest controls which will also destroy these beneficial insects.

Praying Mantis - This is a relative of the grasshoppers but unlike them, a highly useful insect. Although is assumes an attitude of prayer, it is a cold-blooded killer with such voracious appetite that it will eat a hundred or more aphids (plant lice) in a single day. If no other food is available, it will eat its mate or its own young, and when hungry enough will even attract small frogs and lizards. It regularly feeds on wasps and hornets. It's native homeland is north of the Ohio River and can be introduced by buying eggs by mail.

Lady Bugs (Beetles) - The orange and black spotted lady beetle is one of a small group of highly useful insects. These come from a bad family, however, which includes such destructive pests as the Colorado potato beetle and the Mexican bean beetle.

Both adults and larvae (young) lady beetle devour aphids (plant lice) in enourmous quantities.

Aphid Lions - Aphid Lions are the young of a fly with lacy wings also known as the Lace Wing Fly. The young are so eager to eat everything in sight that the adult females lay their eggs on the end of a stalk to put each egg out of reach of it's siblings. Otherwise, the first one hatched would eat the rest.

A young Aphid Lion starts to feed the moment it is hatched and eats day and night for two to three weeks, consuming many times in weight in aphids. It then spins a cocoon, turns into an adult and begins raising more ant lions. The young are grayish or yellowish insects, tapered at both ends, about 1/4" long and covered with stiff bristles. The head is armed with a vicious pair of jaws that look like a pair of pinchers formed out of sickles. These puncture their prey, which includes grasshoppers, red spiders, thrips, aphids, and mealy bugs. Their eggs are found on trunks of trees and branches of shrubs during the winter and on leaves during the summer. When a cluster of eggs, each elevated on a hair-like stem is found, these should not be destroyed.

Tavares Snail - A special insect control found in Florida is a snail from around the town of Tavares. This slips along trees lapping up scale insects.

Damsel Flies & Dragon Flies - These are the "stingers" or "darning needles" which are often feared by superstitious children. Long netted, gauzy wings, enourmous eyes and elongated bodies identify these useful insects.

They should never be killed but protected, since they feed on the wing and destroy many flying insects that escape the crawling predators.

Parasitic Wasp Insects - Some insects lay their eggs in the bodies of others. The one most likely to be seen in home gardens is a type of wasp that lays its eggs in the tomato horn worm - a soft green worm about three or four inches long and armed with horns on the head. The wasp itself is seldom seen, but when it has laid eggs in a horn worm, the worm will be covered with small oval white bodies attached to one end of the worm. These bodies are the wasp larvae (young) and will eventually destroy it, then in turn will develop into adult wasps to lay eggs in more horn worms. Never kill a horn worm that is covered with these white bodies. [Back to top]

Encourage Birds in Your Garden
Although Robins may steal cherries and other fruits, in general birds are highly useful destroyers of insects. It is doubtful if they are as valuable as some bird lovers claim and it is considered that predatory insects are far, far more useful. At the same time, they begin feeding long before most predators hatch so they kill many early insects that have overwintered. Since one adult killed in early spring may mean millions fewer insects later in summer, this early feeding habit justifies our doing everything possible to encourage birds.

A pair of Wrens, for example, may scrape up several hundred aphids for a single feeding of their young. They also feed on canker worms - tiny caterpillars that are so destructive on shade trees at times. All birds should be encouraged by providing them with houses, safe watering places and by making things uncomfortable for stray cats that come around when they feed. [Back to top]

Disease Prone & Resistant Plants & Trees
Some plants are out-and-out trouble breeders. A good example are members of the cabbage family - kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts and collards. Whenever these are planted in the vegetable garden they seem to breed aphids.They will be infested about 95% of the time unless some spray or dust program is followed. Commercial growers are forced to resort to frequent applications of highly toxic sprays in order to produce clean crops for the market.

Plants in this group are equally attractive to the imported cabbage worm. The adult of this pest is a rather pretty white butterfly, about 1 1/2" across with three or four black spots on the wings. All summer long they can be seen flitting over plants of the cabbage family in jerky erratic flight. Every so often, the female butterfly lights for about a moment, deposits a sticky egg on the leaf and flies away. A single female may lay several hundred eggs. From these eggs hatch small green worms or caterpillars with enourmous appetites. Fortunately it only feeds on this one group of plants.

Nasturtiums - a favourite annual, are also breeders and aphids and could be eliminated to save work. Of course if your soil is poor, nasturtiums are a must because they are one of the few flowering plants able to grow well in poor soils, in fact if they are planted in rich soils, they just produce a lot of leaves and no blooms. Some plants may need to be removed if they attract a lot of insects as it often shows the plant is poorly adapted to that particular location.

Roses - are the best example of a plant that requires regular and frequent attention. Although the Hybrid Tea rose is the best-known and best-loved flower in North America, it cannot be neglected if it is to live and thrive.

It is subject to at least 3 serious diseases. Not all of them attack all roses in all areas, but except in unusually favorable locations, one or more will infest them and if left to fend for itself, will be dead in a year or two. Some types of roses will tolerate neglect and produce blooms and while not as lovely as the Hybrid Tea, are still beautiful. Among these, the Rugosa is outstanding.

Black Spot can be expected to infect about half the roses grown in North America at least part of the time. It is a disfiguring and weakening disease. Where it is common, the gardener should decide whether he/she is willing to do the necessary spraying or dusting (every five to seven days throughout the growing season) or whether time can be better spent on other flowers. Mildew is another fungus disease which is common, often in sections where black spot is rare. Rust is less common but often a drastic disease. [Back to top]

Methods of Fighting Weeds

Weeds have actually been around for ages...before gardeners and farmers. They've had a long time to learn to survive. So why fight weeds? Weeds compete for water, food and light and the competition is merciless. Some vigorous growing weeds are known to remove about a barrel of water a day from an area of about 1,000 sq ft of soil. Weeds also soak up all available plant food in the soil if allowed to grow unrestricted. Finally, the worst competition is for light. They can shade and crowd out desirable plants so they do not grow properly. We can replenish both water and food, but we cannot make a substitute for light.

The best & safest organic method to fight weeds is good old fashioned hoeing & mulching. Weeds are usually tougher than cultivated plants and more resistant to chemicals. Fortunately weeds are not too sturdy when they first sprout so anything that loosen their grip with the soil will kill them. Two tools which are the most useful in this regards are hoes & prong type tools. When using the English scuffle hoe (a flat steel blade attached to a long pole to sever weeds at the surface), most experienced gardeners walk backwards to avoid walking over the soil they have just loosened. The garden hoe, which is more commonly used, is more efficient but more laborious to use as it requires a chopping motion to the soil. A clawed type tool is another variation which is very effective in working the soil between closely-spaced plants, requiring a twisting motion of the tool.

Mulches are very effective to keep weeds down, by denying light to any weed seeds which keeps them from growing properly, while at the same time saving soil moisture. Mulches should be applied to the soil after the leaves of desired plants have cleared the soil. Any light, fluffy material can be used between plants for this purpose. Grass clippings make a good mulch but should be allowed to dry first otherwise they may mould. In rose beds, ground corncobs, buckwheat hulls and vermiculite are usually good mulch materials. Sifted compost, well-rotted manure, mushroom manure, chopped straw, seaweed, and cocoa hulls are also recommended. [Back to top]