Cabbage aphids - small grey fluffy critters that love Tuscan Kale. During Winter and Spring, I used a soapy/oily spray: 1 teaspoon Molasses (sugar cane syrup) in a spray bottle full of soapy water. Being an organic spray, this needs to be reapplied at least once a week to keep the aphids down.
Aphids on roses - small brown/green bugs on new stems and under new leaves. These crawling bugs moved in as soon as the Spring weather warmed up. I used a few spoons of milk and vegetable oil in soapy water. First, I jet-blasted the aphids off with my garden hose. They didn't know what hit them. After that, spray the stems and underneath the new leaves. To be repeated weekly.
I also spotted a few ladybugs on the rose stems. Ladybugs are one of the best good-pretators to have and they love to eat aphids.
Green munching caterpillars - these guys will eat all of your leafy greens before you do, if you let them. Dipel powder is a natural bacteria that coates the leaf and repels and often kills caterpillars (I use the Yates product from Bunnings). It's very strong, so only 1/4 of a teaspoon is needed in a 1L spray bottle. I use the Eco brand spray bottle that has a rotating nozzle to get under the leaves. It's apparently safe to spray the leaves that you will be later eating. I never got rid of all my caterpillars, but often found small newly emerged ones which I then sprayed. I rarely found large caterpillars after I had started using Dipel.
No comments:
Post a Comment