April 14, 2025 • 40 mins
Today, we’re diving into a topic that sneaks up on every gardener at some point—pests. Whether they’re crawling, flying, or trotting in on four legs, pests can quickly turn a thriving garden into a frustrated gardener’s nightmare.But here’s the good news: you don’t have to reach for synthetic pesticides to protect your plants.
Today on Just Grow Something we’re talking all about preparing your garden before the pests show up—using methods that keep your crops safe while still protecting pollinators and beneficial insects. We’ll cover physical barriers, companion planting, organic sprays, soil health, and even a few tips for keeping the bunnies and deer at bay.Let’s dig in!
References and Resources:
Save 20% on your new own-root rose plant at Heirloom Roses.com with code JUSTGROW https://heirloomroses.com
The influence of host and non‐host companion plants on the behaviour of pest insects in field crops
Pest management tools:
insect netting: https://amzn.to/3XXMxN3
hardware cloth: https://amzn.to/4idDfUo
gopher baskets: https://amzn.to/3YwFiM6
insecticidal soap: https://amzn.to/3Gl50wU
neem oil: https://amzn.to/4jczBeS
Spinosad: https://amzn.to/4cxt1Nh
First Saturday Lime: https://amzn.to/4j4iWtP
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello my gardening friends. Today we are diving into a topic
that sneaks up on just about every gardener at some point.
Pests. Whether they're crawling or
flying or trotting in on 4 legs,pests can very quickly turn a
thriving garden into a frustrated gardeners absolute
nightmare. But there is good news.
You do not have to reach for synthetic pesticides to protect
(00:21):
your plants today and just grow something.
We're talking all about preparing your garden before the
pests show up, using methods that keep keep your crops safe
while still protecting pollinators and beneficial
insects. We'll cover physical barriers,
companion planting, organic sprays, soil health, and even a
few tips for keeping the bunniesand the deer at Bay.
(00:42):
Let's dig in. Hey, I'm Karen, and what started
as a small backyard garden 20 years ago turned into a lifelong
passion for growing food. Now as a market farmer and
horticulturist, I want to help you do the same.
On this podcast, I am your friend in the garden teaching
evidence based techniques to help you grow your favorites and
build confidence in your own garden space.
(01:02):
So grab your garden journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to
just grow something. Before we dig into all the pests
that also want to destroy our gardens, I want to follow up to
the most recent composting episode I did with an e-mail
that I got from Kathy Carruthers.
(01:23):
That was very thought provoking and it's likely pertinent to a
lot of you who are listening today.
Kathy wrote. Hi Karen.
I was listening to your podcast on composting and thinking about
all the people who compost theirchicken litter.
I used to also but then I read an article and couldn't anymore.
Their do do is almost as bad as the pups and kitties or ours.
(01:45):
This article is more recent, butif you dig a trench a few feet
deep and dump it in there and build a bed on top of it, the
bed will perform really well fora few years.
Given the level of gross in in parentheses, parasitic worms
maybe don't grow root crops. And if you need help turning
your compost pile, the chickens will totally help you out with
that. They'll also weed the beds and
(02:05):
do a light rototil between seasons.
I know I kind of contradicted myself here, Kathy.
OK, So yeah, she was kind of allover the place.
But the gist of it was an article that she linked to that
was actually a published paper that was essentially a meta
analysis of other studies. So essentially it was a review
and it was titled How safe is chicken litter for land
(02:27):
application as an organic fertilizer?
And I will link to that in the show notes if you choose to go
peruse through it. Now, this article caused me to
do a deep dive into a ton of other stories and I will or not
stories studies, and I will spare you the rabbit hole that I
went down, but I wanted to touchon the highlights because I
(02:50):
think there were some very important points that were made.
The first thing to know is that we're not talking about home
composting of chicken manure in any of these studies.
All of these studies were done on commercial operations, mostly
broiler hens or not broiler birds.
So we're talking confinement. We're talking thousands and
(03:15):
thousands of birds all housed together in the same location.
Some of them were layer operations, but again, you know,
the conditions that these hens are being raised is not very
similar to what we do at home todefine chicken litter.
We're talking about the combination of bedding
materials, manure, droppings, feathers and any other organic
(03:37):
matter that is in those chicken coops or on those poultry farms,
right? The commercial use of this, what
they refer to as chicken litter,means that the litter is
incorporated into the soil before planting or it is used as
a top dressing during the growing season.
(03:58):
We generally are not looking at it being actually composted
before being used. It might be aged in terms of
it's been sitting in a giant pile outside, you know some of
these houses before being spread, but it's not necessarily
composted. There are specific requirements
(04:18):
in the Food Safety ModernizationAct for how long or how soon
after manure is applied to a field that an edible crop can be
harvested. OK, let me let me say that
again. The the the Food Safety
Modernization Act was put in place to help with some of these
(04:41):
issues that we have been seeing like E coli outbreaks and that
sort of thing. And there are some requirements
that were put in place for, you know, this is when or how you
can apply manure to a field where an edible crop is being
grown and how long you have to wait between that manure being
applied and being able to harvest that crop.
That's great, but there are no requirements for how long that
(05:04):
manure needs to be aged before it is applied, much less
composted, right? So it can be coming straight
from the barn and being put out into the field.
And then there's just a matter of time that they have to wait
before they can harvest an edible crop out of there.
And that depends on whether or not it's a root vegetable or an
above ground crop. So is it any wonder that we are
having E coli outbreaks? Yes, chicken litter and all
(05:26):
other types of these other typesof of animal manures.
Manures are very, very nutritious for our soil.
They are great for vegetable production.
It's also a really good way to kind of recycle a lot of the
stuff that is being used in one industry, one operation, meaning
whether that's eggs or that's actual chicken itself, and using
that by product and as a way to also improve another product.
(05:50):
That's fantastic. But the key safety concerns in
all of these studies of chicken litter are its contamination
with pathogens. So things like bacteria and
fungi, parasites, viruses. They were also looking at
antibiotics and antibiotic resistant genes.
There was also concern about growth hormones such as egg and
(06:13):
meat boosters and then heavy metals that are present in the
feed itself and pesticides. Most of these things are not
concerns in home flocks because our feed sources are different.
We generally are not giving our birds antibiotics on a regular
basis. They're not in heavy
confinement. So the load of parasites in the
(06:34):
litter is going to be way reduced over a commercial,
commercial flock. So do I think the concerns are
there at the same level they would be in a commercial entity?
No. But with all that being said, it
is still a concern for home gardeners using our own chicken
litter or that of our neighbors or whatever, whether it's been
(06:56):
composted or not. This is because chickens are
omnivores, which means they eat both meat and vegetables.
If you've ever seen a chicken chase a mouse, you know this to
be true. They are little tiny dinosaurs,
but they are omnivores just likeour cats and our dogs and even
pigs. So this means that they are
susceptible to a different type of load of parasites and other
(07:18):
icky things then strict omnivores or herbivores.
I'm sorry, like strict herbivores like cattle and and
rabbits and sheep are. So that means that if the litter
isn't handled correctly, IE it is composted properly, then
there is a chance that those icky things could end up in our
(07:39):
soil. Do I think it's a high chance,
No. Is it going to stop me from
using my chicken manure in my garden?
Also no. When we get a new planter box
direct planter, I typically fillthe bottom 6 inches of that
planter with litter from our coops.
And then the next foot or so of material consists of fallen
leaves and finished compost and soil amendments and a layer of
(08:01):
potting soil on the top. So this allows that chicken
litter all the way down the bottom to break down slowly
underneath composting in place. And that releases the nutrients
that make their way up through the soil and eventually to the
roots. And it's, it's a fabulous way to
use that litter and also feed the plants.
And I am going to continue to dothis.
But will I add my chicken litterto my compost pile going
(08:24):
forward? Maybe if I can't track the
temperature of that compost pile, making sure that it is
getting hot enough to kill off alot of those pathogens, I may
not add my chicken litter to that pile because I'm not sure
if it's getting hot enough to kill off any of the bad buggies
that I don't want in there. Conversely to this, I use a
(08:48):
pelletized chicken manure as a fertilizer here on the farm.
It's a combination of chicken manure or chicken litter from
layer houses that has been superheated and it's added or it has
alfalfa meal and kelp meal, I believe, added to it as well.
(09:09):
And it's all kind of pelletized and then it's being used as like
a fertilizer, as a natural fertilizer.
I will continue to use that too because I know it's being
heated. I know it's all being cooked.
So I think here's what the bottom line is.
Whether or not you compost your chicken litter is going to
depend on how confident you are in the health of your flock and
(09:30):
how you manage your compost pile.
If you're not comfortable with that, then bury the manure
somewhere and call it good. Otherwise, continue on as you
have been. Thank you to Kathy for sending
over some very insightful information for all of us and
giving us all some food for thought because, yeah, food
safety still needs to be our number one priority.
(09:52):
OK, so let's talk about preparing our garden for the
inevitable pests that very well may find us.
The first thing we can talk about is physical barriers.
This is always, always, always one of my first lines of
defense. It's one of the simplest and
most effective ways to prevent pest damage, and that is to
(10:13):
physically keep them out. And this works for both insects
and animals as well, so you can choose to use a number of
things. If you are in an area that stays
fairly cold in the early part ofthe spring, you might use the
lightest weight of row cover youcan find, like an Agri bond 15.
(10:37):
They are actually marketed as insect fabric.
It's just another type of a floating row fabric, just like
we use for our frost clothes. But it's very, very thin and
it's really good for keeping outflea beetles and cabbage worms
and vine borers and all these kinds of things.
They let in the water, they let in the light and they let out
the air or they let in the air, but they block insects.
(10:59):
The problem that they don't let out is what I was trying to say
is the heat. So I can't really use those for
very long in the spring. I can use it very, very early on
if I'm trying to get some stuff in super early and it needs to
be protected from some frost. But after a while, when it
starts to get real warm, it justtraps that heat under there.
So my preference is actual insect netting.
(11:22):
I talk about this all the time and all these things that we're
going to talk about today I willlink to in the show notes so you
can go and easily see what it isthat I'm looking for.
And if it's something that I use, I will link to the ones
that I specifically purchase. Insect netting is my favorite.
It is, you know, it's a mesh, sothe mesh needs to be small
(11:43):
enough to keep out whatever it is that your particular pests
are. So for me, I generally don't
have a problem with thrips. So I don't have to get the
Super, super fine woven stuff, which can be a little bit more
expensive. So if you don't need it, you
don't have to use it. All of these, The texture is
very much like tulle. And honestly, you can use tool.
If you happen to have a lot of fabric leftover from a wedding
(12:06):
or something, then yeah, by all means go ahead and use Tool.
As long as it's, you know, those, the little holes are
small enough to keep out what you're trying to keep out.
Just, and I do this immediately,like as soon as something gets
planted, it is getting that, that cover over top of it, not
just for the insect pest, but also for animals.
It also keeps out the deer and the bunnies and whatever else.
(12:27):
So long as it is, it is locked down tight enough to the soil.
So I use insect netting over just about everything.
You just have to remember if your crop needs pollination like
squash or cucumbers, you will need to uncover those plants.
And you can either do this by just completely uncovering it.
And OK, now it's fair game. You know which hopefully you
(12:49):
have some companion plants in there, which we'll talk about
here in a minute. Or you can just uncover the
plants during the day once thoseflowers start to appear and then
go back and cover it up at night.
You can even go so far as to uncover it during the day and
when you go out in the evening to cover it back up again.
Spraying them down, housing themdown, trying to knock off any of
those insect pests that you might not see or just doing a
(13:10):
visual inspection and taking offany of those insects and then
covering it back up again for the night time so that at least
you're keeping out the the nighttime invaders.
The other option is to keep it on there all the time, but then
you have to hand pollinate underneath the cover.
So just know that if you if yourcrop needs pollination, you may
only be able to protect them with the insect netting for, you
(13:31):
know, a certain amount of time. So other than covering each
individual bed, when we're talking about keeping animal
pests out, then fencing is goingto be your next best option.
Now, if you can manage to put a 3 or 4 foot fence around your
garden area, that's going to help with like rabbits and other
kind of lower crawling critters.But if you are trying to deter
(13:53):
deer, then your setup needs to be probably 7 to 8 foot tall.
And honestly, most of us don't want to mess with that.
So your other option here is to do a double layer of that three
to four foot fence, but space them about 3 to 5 feet apart.
So a perimeter fence. And then about 3 feet in, put a
second fence that's going to be a lower fence.
(14:16):
But also visually it tends to disrupted the deer.
They they can't jump all the wayacross that huge gap.
And so they're less likely to actually jump over it.
And then if we're talking about things like Volt holes and we're
even cut worms too, this works for, but you can actually put
collars around the base of youngseedlings to prevent the voles
(14:37):
and the cut worms from getting to them.
I tend to, when I really need to, I will use toilet paper
rolls, the empty toilet paper rolls and just cut them in half
and then put them around the base of the plants because
they're biodegradable. I don't have to worry about it.
I can just collect them throughout the season and you
know, just use them. Then there are people who have
used hardware cloth and made collars out of the hardware
(14:59):
cloth. But to me that means you have to
go back out there and you have to take it up and then you have
to store them. And I'm not, I'm not about that.
So I tend to just use paper towel or toilet paper rolls.
But if you have like burrowing animals, you can also use
underground barriers basically beneath raised beds.
So if you have a raised bed whenyou put it down and you know you
(15:21):
have Gophers, then you can use hardware cloth in the bottom of
the bed before you create it. But if you're gardening in
ground, they have things called Gopher baskets, and it's
essentially the same thing. It's that mesh hardware cloth,
but it's in the shape of a basket and you dig your hole and
you put the basket in there and then you fill it back in with
your potting soil or your, or your, your garden soil and the
(15:44):
plant that you're planting. And it protects those roots from
the Gophers eating from the bottom.
So I mean, they can probably be pretty pricey.
I think two of them goes for like 8 or 10 bucks, something
like that. So but it's a, you know, a
solution that you can reuse overand over again.
So that's a solution if Gophers are really a problem.
(16:05):
The other way to deter animal pests is one that I kind of
think is fun, but you have to really do this one ahead of
time. And this is motion sensing
sprinklers or even solar poweredlights that have movement
triggers. So any of those things that like
the suddenly the lights come on or suddenly the sprinklers come
(16:27):
on, these are things that are going to kind of scare away
those larger pests like raccoonsand deer.
In most instances. We have some pretty brave
raccoons around here. So it might not always work on
them, but it should definitely work on the rabbits.
And a lot of the time it works on the deer too.
So that's another way to physically barricade your garden
from the the four footed animal pests.
(16:49):
The next technique is companion planting.
All right, strategic planting can make your garden less
appealing to pests or even attract their natural enemies.
We're going to go into this in detail over the next couple of
weeks in terms of companion planting and interplanting, but
for now, we're just going to talk about some of the basics.
(17:10):
And the first thing is like using strong scented herbs.
So basil, Rosemary, thyme, theseare things that can deter some
pests like aphids and white flies.
So if you interplant them among your vegetables, it can actually
help to disrupt that insect detection.
Marigolds, we're going to talk about this in detail next week,
but marigolds do emit a chemicalfrom their roots that can
(17:31):
suppress nematodes in the soil, if that is a problem for you.
So if you have root, not nematodes in your tomatoes, for
example, then yes, planting marigolds is actually going to
help with that. Marigolds can also repel some
above ground pests. They can also attract some above
ground pests. So how you use marigolds in your
(17:53):
companion planting is going to depend on whether or not you're
using it as a deterrent or if you're using it as like a trap
crop or something to draw pests away.
Trap cropping is another smart strategy.
Here. You can plant a preferred host
near whatever it is that you're growing to help draw things
(18:14):
away. So for example, nasturtiums
really like or aphids really like nasturtiums.
So if you have an aphid problem in a particular crop, then you
can plant nasturtiums a little bit away from it and that is
going to draw the aphids away from your main crop.
So these are all different typesof like companion planting.
And again, we're going to go into that a little bit more next
(18:34):
week. Then we have intercropping or
interplanting. And this is a little bit more
than just companion planting. When you think traditionally in
terms of companion planting, I think the notion is, well, this
plant does something specific tohelp protect this specific
plant. Interplanting or intercropping
(18:56):
is a little bit different from that.
We're talking about mixing plantfamilies together, and what this
can do is confuse the chemical and visual signals that insects
use to find their host plant, which makes it more difficult
for them to predate on your crop.
So typically speaking, when I plant my brassicas, I also plant
(19:19):
them with onions and lettuce andalyssum, plus I am putting
insect netting over the top. I am giving a physical barrier
to the cabbage moths and the cabbage butterfly that always,
always, always want to lay theireggs in my brassica crops.
And I am also sort of masking what is going on with that host
(19:44):
plant, the host plant being say my cabbage by planting onions
near them, which give off a veryparticular scent and it gives
off sulfur, right, which is going to confuse that signal.
But then also lettuce, which is different looking than the
cabbage. And then Elysium, which is also
another one that is different, but it's also flowering.
(20:04):
So it brings in some of the goodinsects.
So in this instance, we are masking and not repelling.
There is also. The Appropriate and
Inappropriate Landings Theory The appropriate inappropriate
landing theory says that pests follow a three-step process when
(20:26):
selecting a host plant, traveling to an area with the
host plant by following specificodors, using visual stimuli such
as appearance, color, and size to land on a plant surface, and
making a few short flights to neighboring leaves.
To be successful, the insect must make consecutive
appropriate landings on a host plant to stimulate egg laying.
(20:49):
Non host or inappropriate landings reset the egg laying
process. Researchers noted that flying
pests made several test landingson plants before deciding it was
a good place to lay their eggs. In fact, they needed a specific
number of appropriate landings on the foliage of their target
plant before the egg laying process was stimulated.
(21:12):
So when interplanting non host plants together with host
plants, in other words mixing the species up like I do with my
brassicas, the pests will end upmaking an occasional landing on
a non host plant and that throwsoff the likelihood they will be
stimulated to lay their eggs. Now, it should also be noted in
(21:33):
these studies that the researchers saw that when crops
were grown on bare soil, the insects laid their eggs 36% of
the time. Compare that to when those host
plants were surrounded by companion plants where the
insects laid eggs only 7% of thetime.
(21:55):
So not only does this show us that growing our plants in a
monoculture is again a bad idea,it also shows us that mulch here
once again, is our friend. See, I'm always talking about
mulch. Now, keep in mind, companion
planting isn't a silver bullet, and I think we need to be very
specific about what we plant together if we have a
(22:18):
particularly ruthless pest like squash vine boars or squash
bugs. So in the instance that we have
a very pervasive problem, I think we need to be mindful of
not just the life cycles of those pests and the timing for
the maturity of our host crop and their companions.
It's going to take some experimenting, but I still
(22:40):
maintain that companion plantingand intercropping are powerful
additions to a diverse garden ecosystem that can also help
deter pests. I have been very impressed with
how my new rose Bush from heirloom roses has continued to
fully leaf out after spending all winter in its pot outside in
our harsh Missouri weather. I think the reason it has done
(23:02):
so well is because it's not a grafted plant.
By choosing own root roses, you're making a smart choice for
the long term health and beauty of your garden.
While grafted roses may be the easy option, they come with
hidden risks. The grafting points can make
them more vulnerable to disease and winter damage, typically
(23:22):
shortening their lifespan to around 15 years.
Own root roses, though, have strong natural root systems that
make them more resilient and better equipped to handle
challenging conditions like our West Central Missouri winters.
Even in a container, many of these roses can thrive for 50
years or more, providing lastingbeauty to our landscapes.
(23:44):
At Heirloom Roses, they focus ongrowing healthy, true to variety
roses that are naturally strong and resilient.
By choosing own root roses, we're creating a garden that
will continue to thrive and bloom year after year, providing
lasting beauty. Get your own root roses by going
to heirloomroses.com and use code Just GROW at checkout to
(24:05):
save 20% on your new rosebush. heirloomroses.com with code Just
Grow. The link is in the show notes.
OK, the next thing we can use tobe prepared for garden pest is
organic sprays and soil amendments.
So there are a lot of organic approved treatments that can
help with pest problems, but thetiming and the technique matter
(24:25):
because we do not want to be doing more harm than good or we
don't want to be harming, you know, the beneficial insects
while we're trying to get rid ofthe ones that we don't want.
So the first one we can look at is insecticidal soaps and oils.
These are very effective againstsoft bodied insects like aphids
and spider mites and whiteflies.It is important to apply these
(24:46):
early in the morning or late in the day to avoid direct sun,
which can cause leaf burn, and also to reduce that exposure to
the pollinators. We also do not want to spray
insecticidal soaps on flowers where the bees might be
foraging, and if we can, we wantto direct the spray at the
insect pests themselves when possible instead of blanketing
(25:06):
the entire plant. Unless the entire plant is
basically infested and then by all means go for it.
You can buy insecticidal soaps or you can make your own if you
mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of pure liquid soap.
And no, we are not talking aboutdish soap here.
Dish soap is not soap, it's actually a detergent.
(25:27):
We want a liquid soap like a castile soap, so 1 to 2
tablespoons per quart of water. Additionally, you can add a
tablespoon of vegetable oil to this and kind of helps make
things a little bit more sticky.Shake the bottle up to combine
the mixture and you can use thatjust on its own.
If you want a little boost to this, you can also add some
(25:48):
other like pest deterring ingredients.
So apple cider vinegar, ground red pepper, garlic powder.
I have used Rosemary oil and mint oil just to make this a
little bit more effective. Your second one would be neem
oil. This disrupts the life cycle of
a lot of different pests, but itcan also affect beneficials if
(26:09):
it's overused. So you want to apply neem oil
only when necessary and you wantto target your problem areas.
Make sure that you are followingthe directions on this.
The next one would be would be BT.
This is Bacillus thuringiensis. This is a naturally occurring
bacterium that is found in soilsand on plant leaves worldwide.
It produces proteins that are toxic to certain insect larvae,
(26:32):
which is how we use it as a biopesticide.
It targets Caterpillar pests like cabbage worms and tomato
hornworms. It is harmless to birds and bees
and mammals, but again, we want targeted application.
We don't want to use this broadly.
Another one is spinosad. This is another naturally
occurring soil dwelling bacterium.
(26:53):
It was collected on a Caribbean island somewhere in the early
1980s. It's the only place that it
naturally occurs. Spinosag controls all stages of
bagworms, beetles, mites, caterpillars, thrips, leaf
miners, coddling Moss, a whole bunch of different ones.
This is another one that is alsosafe for beneficials, but only
after it has had a chance to dry.
(27:14):
So this is one that you want to spray at dusk and allow it to
dry on the leaves overnight to avoid harming anything else.
It will kill a bee if it is sprayed directly on it.
So make sure that you are being very thoughtful about when you
spray these things. Generally speaking, between the
hours of 10 AM and 3:00 PM are our peak pollinator time.
So you want to be spraying thesethings before or after those
(27:37):
times. Another one is diatomaceous
earth. This can be useful around the
bases of plants for crawling pests.
Essentially a kind of cuts theirexoskeleton.
It is only effective when it is dry and it can also affect
beneficial insects. So make sure that you are using
it selectively and try not to doit during blooming periods.
(27:59):
And you also are going to have to reapply it after a rainfall.
Another one that I have used in a similar manner is First
Saturday Lyme. It is also drying to insects.
It is, if I remember correctly, it is not water soluble.
So you don't have to reapply it every single time it rains.
And it tends to be a little bit safer than DE in terms of like
(28:21):
breathing because there aren't any sharp edges to it.
But again, you know, you just kind of have to be selective
about the way that you use thesethings.
And then finally, let's look at soil health amendments.
Healthy plants are naturally just more resistant to pests.
So in addition to all of these other things that we're talking
(28:42):
about, we should be trying to maintain balanced nutrients in
our soil that can help to reduceinsect attraction, right?
We should be adding compost. We should be mulching again with
the mulch. All of these things are going to
improve the ability of our plants to resist the insects,
but also to be more resilient. If they do have insects come in
(29:03):
and predate on them, they're going to bounce back faster the
healthier they are. So we should always, always be
focusing on our soil health, buteven more so in terms of being
prepared for garden pests or to keep garden pests away.
So sometimes the best pest control is simply based on how
we plant our gardens. So succession planting, this is
(29:26):
going to reduce the window of vulnerability.
I've talked about this before interms of battling like squash
bugs and vine borers and cucumber beetles in our
squashes. If one crop gets hit, the next
one may escape damage entirely depending on the life cycle of
the insect that you're battling.So if you can do succession
plantings in your area, if you have a window of time that's
(29:46):
long enough in your gardening, which I recognize a lot of us
don't. But if you do, you can plant an
early crop and a mid season cropand a late crop of of the same
crop and the hope there is that you know there that crop is only
going to be vulnerable during a specific window of time.
This does work depending on the past.
(30:07):
So something like a squash bug, this is not going to work for
because squash bugs over winter as adults, they come out and
immediately begin to reproduce and they will continue to
reproduce over and over again all the way through until you
have your first frost in the fall.
So in this way, succession planting is just a way to try to
keep up with the pest damage. In terms of something like the
(30:29):
squash vine borer, they do have a very specific window of
reproduction where they're flying around and laying their
eggs. And once that's done, that's
done and the rest of the season you are free of that pest.
So if the vine borer is your main problem, then maybe you
don't plant anything at all in that family early in the season
and you wait until the end of July to plant those susceptible
(30:53):
plants and thereby you have closed that window of
vulnerability and you have no problem getting a crop.
The other thing is again, that diverse planting, we already
talked about it in intercropping, mixing those crop
types, mixing the growth stages.This helps to prevent pest
populations from establishing because we're not growing in a
monoculture. We want everything growing
(31:16):
together. I know, I know for some of this,
this is really hard to get past.It took me a really long time to
sort of get beyond this idea where everything should be grown
in a nice neat row and this should only be this crop and
this should only be this crop over here in this bed and mixing
them together. It can be aesthetically pleasing
(31:37):
if it's if that's what you're going for in your garden.
If you really want your garden to look pretty, you can do
diverse plantings and mix these crop types in and amongst each
other and still make it beautiful.
It just isn't going to be linearand we don't want one crop all
by itself ever. OK, the other thing too is crop
(31:57):
rotation. So this absolutely will help
disrupt pest life cycles, especially for soil borne
insects and also soil borne diseases.
But I understand that it is verydifficult for a lot of home
gardeners to be able to actuallytruly accomplish crop rotation
because a lot of us are gardening in very small spaces.
(32:19):
So do you have to rotate your crops all the time?
No, I know that's an unpopular opinion, but especially coming
from the farming side of things where crop rotation is like beat
into your brain, yes, you absolutely have to rotate.
Again, if we're not growing things in a monoculture, there
is less likelihood that specificpests are going to build up in
the soil and specific diseases. OK, so if you are gardening in a
(32:42):
very small space and you not have have not seen any sign of
soil borne pests or diseases, then you likely don't have to
worry as much about crop rotation.
Should you grow the same thing over and over again in the same
bed year after year after year? No, but do you have to move it
every single year and, and and leave it you know where it's
three years before you plant something in the same crop
(33:03):
family in that spot? Not necessarily.
Only if you are seeing those soil borne insects and if you do
have a very small garden and you're gardening in a very small
space and a lot of these plants are already naturally sharing
the same soil space, then your option may end up being just not
growing that crop this year or for a couple of years to break
that life cycle. We did that with squash.
(33:26):
We were so overwhelmed with the squash pest that we took it was
either one year or two years offcompletely from growing
zucchinis and and summer squashes and winter squashes,
anything in that family just to break the cycle.
So that might be your only option if you need to disrupt a
pest life cycle. Otherwise, yes, practice crop
(33:47):
rotation as you can. And of course, we want to scout
early and often. So we want to be looking under
the leaves. We want to check the stems and
the soil and watch for early signs of trouble.
If we can catch a problem beforeit spreads, it is always easier
than playing catch up. So let's touch again on
protecting crops while still encouraging pollination.
(34:11):
If who are growing flowering crops that need pollination,
specifically squash or melons that are insect pollinated, not
wind pollinated, then we're going to need to strike a
balance a little bit in terms ofprotecting those crops while
also encouraging those pollinators to come in and do
their jobs. So those removable row covers,
again, pulling those back duringflowering or the other option
(34:36):
which is hand pollinating while they're still protected.
I guess it really just depends on how important that crop is to
you. If you are somebody who relies
on zucchini, you guys eat a lot of zucchini in your kitchen
fresh, you freeze a lot of it, you know, for the offseason and
this is something that you, you know, you really need to come
in, then you might be willing tohand pollinate if that's the
(34:57):
only way that you're going to get that crop.
The other thing is to just be vigilant in checking for those
pests. If you start and you as soon as
you plant, you're checking dailyor every other day, every
evening, whatever it is for those pests, then you are more
likely to keep them at Bay or atleast keep them in check so that
(35:18):
they're not taking over the plant.
And again, if you have very healthy soil and you have very
healthy plants, those plants aregoing to be able to stand up to
some of those pests. Now, something that I'm
considering trying this year as an experiment is using some mesh
netting with slightly larger holes.
So very similar to the insect netting that I am currently
(35:39):
using, but something that is a little bit larger, that is small
enough to block the squash bugs while also allowing the smaller
pollinators to still get in there.
So I'm not going to do this overmy whole crop because, you know,
it could be disastrous. But I'm going to take one small
section of my squashes and try this out and see if I can strike
(36:04):
a little bit more of an even balance here where I'm keeping
out the majority of the major pests.
So that would be the squash bug and the vine bore, but still
allowing those smaller pollinators access.
I do have cucumber beetles and they would likely be able to get
in through these holes that I'm thinking about, but they are
less of a problem in my squashesthan they are like in my actual
(36:25):
cucumbers. And believe it or not, cucumber
beetles can actually sometimes act as pollinators in squash
because they get right into the,into the flowers.
But I'm hopeful that some of thesmaller like, you know, the, the
surfed Wasps and all the other kinds of things that go in there
might be able to pollinate on mybehalf and I won't have to worry
about taking that netting off. So we'll see If I actually find
(36:45):
something that I think is suitable and give that a shot.
I will certainly report back andlet you know.
In the meantime, we still do want to encourage all of those
native pollinators. So we want to plant those bee
friendly flowers nearby. We don't want to spray anything,
even if it's organic, during ourpeak bee activity between 10:00
AM and 3:00 PM. Because of course, pollinators
(37:07):
are essential allies in the garden and so we want to protect
them as fiercely as we are our garden.
Being proactive with pest management and being prepared
ahead of time is all about observation and preparation and
just balance. So we should be using physical
barriers, planning out our plantings, supporting our soil
(37:29):
health, and also applying those organic controls thoughtfully so
that we can have a productive garden without reaching for
synthetic chemicals. Are there some instances where
it just may be necessary for youto spray something that you
otherwise wouldn't? Sure.
Absolutely. If you have gotten into a
situation where you have a crop that you are relying on and
(37:53):
nothing you're doing is working and you have to resort to
something that is synthetic, okay, you know what?
Give yourself the permission to do that.
Here's the thing about the prevalence of these synthetic
chemicals, it is the overuse of these synthetic chemicals.
So I will never take a hard lineand tell somebody you should
(38:15):
never do something in your own garden.
If you are trying to feed your family and you are doing that in
the best way that you possibly can and you have tried
everything else to be able to get rid of these garden pests
and you are at your wit's end and it's your last resort, then
fine. Use a chemical that is your last
resort. Use it responsibly.
Use it according to the label. Remember, the label is the law.
(38:38):
We want to make sure that we areusing it to where it is
effective and it is not going tocause issues with causing, you
know, resistant insects to develop.
This happens when you overuse orunder use.
So make sure that you're following the directions and
then try to find ways where you can improve it for the next
season. So your garden is a living
(39:00):
system. So what works one year may need
tweaking in the next. This is where Good Notes comes
into play. Staying curious, not being
afraid to experiment with things.
Don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work.
We are manipulating Mother Nature and that doesn't always
go in our favor. So if you have had success with
(39:21):
a particular pest management strategy, that goes for a
particular pest that maybe I don't talk about.
I know I talk about squash bugs and vine borers and cucumber
beetles a lot because those are the things that are the bane of
my existence in my garden. OK, Those are the things that I
am most worried about. Do I occasionally have apid
problems? Yes, but they are rare and I
generally can take care of them without a problem.
(39:41):
So I would love to hear from you.
Drop me a message, tag me on social media and tell me what
pests it is that you have traditionally had to battle and
any success that you have had with battling that if you are in
the just for something gardeningfriends Facebook group, post it
in there so everybody else can learn because we want everybody
(40:01):
to learn. And if I get enough of these
responses and maybe I'll go ahead and make another episode
where I follow up with your solutions for pest management.
So until next time, my gardeningfriends, keep on cultivating
that dream garden, and we'll talk again soon.
Hello my gardening friends. Today we are diving into a topic
that sneaks up on just about every gardener at some point.
Pests. Whether they're crawling or
flying or trotting in on 4 legs,pests can very quickly turn a
thriving garden into a frustrated gardeners absolute
nightmare. But there is good news.
You do not have to reach for synthetic pesticides to protect
(00:21):
your plants today and just grow something.
We're talking all about preparing your garden before the
pests show up, using methods that keep keep your crops safe
while still protecting pollinators and beneficial
insects. We'll cover physical barriers,
companion planting, organic sprays, soil health, and even a
few tips for keeping the bunniesand the deer at Bay.
(00:42):
Let's dig in. Hey, I'm Karen, and what started
as a small backyard garden 20 years ago turned into a lifelong
passion for growing food. Now as a market farmer and
horticulturist, I want to help you do the same.
On this podcast, I am your friend in the garden teaching
evidence based techniques to help you grow your favorites and
build confidence in your own garden space.
(01:02):
So grab your garden journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to
just grow something. Before we dig into all the pests
that also want to destroy our gardens, I want to follow up to
the most recent composting episode I did with an e-mail
that I got from Kathy Carruthers.
(01:23):
That was very thought provoking and it's likely pertinent to a
lot of you who are listening today.
Kathy wrote. Hi Karen.
I was listening to your podcast on composting and thinking about
all the people who compost theirchicken litter.
I used to also but then I read an article and couldn't anymore.
Their do do is almost as bad as the pups and kitties or ours.
(01:45):
This article is more recent, butif you dig a trench a few feet
deep and dump it in there and build a bed on top of it, the
bed will perform really well fora few years.
Given the level of gross in in parentheses, parasitic worms
maybe don't grow root crops. And if you need help turning
your compost pile, the chickens will totally help you out with
that. They'll also weed the beds and
(02:05):
do a light rototil between seasons.
I know I kind of contradicted myself here, Kathy.
OK, So yeah, she was kind of allover the place.
But the gist of it was an article that she linked to that
was actually a published paper that was essentially a meta
analysis of other studies. So essentially it was a review
and it was titled How safe is chicken litter for land
(02:27):
application as an organic fertilizer?
And I will link to that in the show notes if you choose to go
peruse through it. Now, this article caused me to
do a deep dive into a ton of other stories and I will or not
stories studies, and I will spare you the rabbit hole that I
went down, but I wanted to touchon the highlights because I
(02:50):
think there were some very important points that were made.
The first thing to know is that we're not talking about home
composting of chicken manure in any of these studies.
All of these studies were done on commercial operations, mostly
broiler hens or not broiler birds.
So we're talking confinement. We're talking thousands and
(03:15):
thousands of birds all housed together in the same location.
Some of them were layer operations, but again, you know,
the conditions that these hens are being raised is not very
similar to what we do at home todefine chicken litter.
We're talking about the combination of bedding
materials, manure, droppings, feathers and any other organic
(03:37):
matter that is in those chicken coops or on those poultry farms,
right? The commercial use of this, what
they refer to as chicken litter,means that the litter is
incorporated into the soil before planting or it is used as
a top dressing during the growing season.
(03:58):
We generally are not looking at it being actually composted
before being used. It might be aged in terms of
it's been sitting in a giant pile outside, you know some of
these houses before being spread, but it's not necessarily
composted. There are specific requirements
(04:18):
in the Food Safety ModernizationAct for how long or how soon
after manure is applied to a field that an edible crop can be
harvested. OK, let me let me say that
again. The the the Food Safety
Modernization Act was put in place to help with some of these
(04:41):
issues that we have been seeing like E coli outbreaks and that
sort of thing. And there are some requirements
that were put in place for, you know, this is when or how you
can apply manure to a field where an edible crop is being
grown and how long you have to wait between that manure being
applied and being able to harvest that crop.
That's great, but there are no requirements for how long that
(05:04):
manure needs to be aged before it is applied, much less
composted, right? So it can be coming straight
from the barn and being put out into the field.
And then there's just a matter of time that they have to wait
before they can harvest an edible crop out of there.
And that depends on whether or not it's a root vegetable or an
above ground crop. So is it any wonder that we are
having E coli outbreaks? Yes, chicken litter and all
(05:26):
other types of these other typesof of animal manures.
Manures are very, very nutritious for our soil.
They are great for vegetable production.
It's also a really good way to kind of recycle a lot of the
stuff that is being used in one industry, one operation, meaning
whether that's eggs or that's actual chicken itself, and using
that by product and as a way to also improve another product.
(05:50):
That's fantastic. But the key safety concerns in
all of these studies of chicken litter are its contamination
with pathogens. So things like bacteria and
fungi, parasites, viruses. They were also looking at
antibiotics and antibiotic resistant genes.
There was also concern about growth hormones such as egg and
(06:13):
meat boosters and then heavy metals that are present in the
feed itself and pesticides. Most of these things are not
concerns in home flocks because our feed sources are different.
We generally are not giving our birds antibiotics on a regular
basis. They're not in heavy
confinement. So the load of parasites in the
(06:34):
litter is going to be way reduced over a commercial,
commercial flock. So do I think the concerns are
there at the same level they would be in a commercial entity?
No. But with all that being said, it
is still a concern for home gardeners using our own chicken
litter or that of our neighbors or whatever, whether it's been
(06:56):
composted or not. This is because chickens are
omnivores, which means they eat both meat and vegetables.
If you've ever seen a chicken chase a mouse, you know this to
be true. They are little tiny dinosaurs,
but they are omnivores just likeour cats and our dogs and even
pigs. So this means that they are
susceptible to a different type of load of parasites and other
(07:18):
icky things then strict omnivores or herbivores.
I'm sorry, like strict herbivores like cattle and and
rabbits and sheep are. So that means that if the litter
isn't handled correctly, IE it is composted properly, then
there is a chance that those icky things could end up in our
(07:39):
soil. Do I think it's a high chance,
No. Is it going to stop me from
using my chicken manure in my garden?
Also no. When we get a new planter box
direct planter, I typically fillthe bottom 6 inches of that
planter with litter from our coops.
And then the next foot or so of material consists of fallen
leaves and finished compost and soil amendments and a layer of
(08:01):
potting soil on the top. So this allows that chicken
litter all the way down the bottom to break down slowly
underneath composting in place. And that releases the nutrients
that make their way up through the soil and eventually to the
roots. And it's, it's a fabulous way to
use that litter and also feed the plants.
And I am going to continue to dothis.
But will I add my chicken litterto my compost pile going
(08:24):
forward? Maybe if I can't track the
temperature of that compost pile, making sure that it is
getting hot enough to kill off alot of those pathogens, I may
not add my chicken litter to that pile because I'm not sure
if it's getting hot enough to kill off any of the bad buggies
that I don't want in there. Conversely to this, I use a
(08:48):
pelletized chicken manure as a fertilizer here on the farm.
It's a combination of chicken manure or chicken litter from
layer houses that has been superheated and it's added or it has
alfalfa meal and kelp meal, I believe, added to it as well.
(09:09):
And it's all kind of pelletized and then it's being used as like
a fertilizer, as a natural fertilizer.
I will continue to use that too because I know it's being
heated. I know it's all being cooked.
So I think here's what the bottom line is.
Whether or not you compost your chicken litter is going to
depend on how confident you are in the health of your flock and
(09:30):
how you manage your compost pile.
If you're not comfortable with that, then bury the manure
somewhere and call it good. Otherwise, continue on as you
have been. Thank you to Kathy for sending
over some very insightful information for all of us and
giving us all some food for thought because, yeah, food
safety still needs to be our number one priority.
(09:52):
OK, so let's talk about preparing our garden for the
inevitable pests that very well may find us.
The first thing we can talk about is physical barriers.
This is always, always, always one of my first lines of
defense. It's one of the simplest and
most effective ways to prevent pest damage, and that is to
(10:13):
physically keep them out. And this works for both insects
and animals as well, so you can choose to use a number of
things. If you are in an area that stays
fairly cold in the early part ofthe spring, you might use the
lightest weight of row cover youcan find, like an Agri bond 15.
(10:37):
They are actually marketed as insect fabric.
It's just another type of a floating row fabric, just like
we use for our frost clothes. But it's very, very thin and
it's really good for keeping outflea beetles and cabbage worms
and vine borers and all these kinds of things.
They let in the water, they let in the light and they let out
the air or they let in the air, but they block insects.
(10:59):
The problem that they don't let out is what I was trying to say
is the heat. So I can't really use those for
very long in the spring. I can use it very, very early on
if I'm trying to get some stuff in super early and it needs to
be protected from some frost. But after a while, when it
starts to get real warm, it justtraps that heat under there.
So my preference is actual insect netting.
(11:22):
I talk about this all the time and all these things that we're
going to talk about today I willlink to in the show notes so you
can go and easily see what it isthat I'm looking for.
And if it's something that I use, I will link to the ones
that I specifically purchase. Insect netting is my favorite.
It is, you know, it's a mesh, sothe mesh needs to be small
(11:43):
enough to keep out whatever it is that your particular pests
are. So for me, I generally don't
have a problem with thrips. So I don't have to get the
Super, super fine woven stuff, which can be a little bit more
expensive. So if you don't need it, you
don't have to use it. All of these, The texture is
very much like tulle. And honestly, you can use tool.
If you happen to have a lot of fabric leftover from a wedding
(12:06):
or something, then yeah, by all means go ahead and use Tool.
As long as it's, you know, those, the little holes are
small enough to keep out what you're trying to keep out.
Just, and I do this immediately,like as soon as something gets
planted, it is getting that, that cover over top of it, not
just for the insect pest, but also for animals.
It also keeps out the deer and the bunnies and whatever else.
(12:27):
So long as it is, it is locked down tight enough to the soil.
So I use insect netting over just about everything.
You just have to remember if your crop needs pollination like
squash or cucumbers, you will need to uncover those plants.
And you can either do this by just completely uncovering it.
And OK, now it's fair game. You know which hopefully you
(12:49):
have some companion plants in there, which we'll talk about
here in a minute. Or you can just uncover the
plants during the day once thoseflowers start to appear and then
go back and cover it up at night.
You can even go so far as to uncover it during the day and
when you go out in the evening to cover it back up again.
Spraying them down, housing themdown, trying to knock off any of
those insect pests that you might not see or just doing a
(13:10):
visual inspection and taking offany of those insects and then
covering it back up again for the night time so that at least
you're keeping out the the nighttime invaders.
The other option is to keep it on there all the time, but then
you have to hand pollinate underneath the cover.
So just know that if you if yourcrop needs pollination, you may
only be able to protect them with the insect netting for, you
(13:31):
know, a certain amount of time. So other than covering each
individual bed, when we're talking about keeping animal
pests out, then fencing is goingto be your next best option.
Now, if you can manage to put a 3 or 4 foot fence around your
garden area, that's going to help with like rabbits and other
kind of lower crawling critters.But if you are trying to deter
(13:53):
deer, then your setup needs to be probably 7 to 8 foot tall.
And honestly, most of us don't want to mess with that.
So your other option here is to do a double layer of that three
to four foot fence, but space them about 3 to 5 feet apart.
So a perimeter fence. And then about 3 feet in, put a
second fence that's going to be a lower fence.
(14:16):
But also visually it tends to disrupted the deer.
They they can't jump all the wayacross that huge gap.
And so they're less likely to actually jump over it.
And then if we're talking about things like Volt holes and we're
even cut worms too, this works for, but you can actually put
collars around the base of youngseedlings to prevent the voles
(14:37):
and the cut worms from getting to them.
I tend to, when I really need to, I will use toilet paper
rolls, the empty toilet paper rolls and just cut them in half
and then put them around the base of the plants because
they're biodegradable. I don't have to worry about it.
I can just collect them throughout the season and you
know, just use them. Then there are people who have
used hardware cloth and made collars out of the hardware
(14:59):
cloth. But to me that means you have to
go back out there and you have to take it up and then you have
to store them. And I'm not, I'm not about that.
So I tend to just use paper towel or toilet paper rolls.
But if you have like burrowing animals, you can also use
underground barriers basically beneath raised beds.
So if you have a raised bed whenyou put it down and you know you
(15:21):
have Gophers, then you can use hardware cloth in the bottom of
the bed before you create it. But if you're gardening in
ground, they have things called Gopher baskets, and it's
essentially the same thing. It's that mesh hardware cloth,
but it's in the shape of a basket and you dig your hole and
you put the basket in there and then you fill it back in with
your potting soil or your, or your, your garden soil and the
(15:44):
plant that you're planting. And it protects those roots from
the Gophers eating from the bottom.
So I mean, they can probably be pretty pricey.
I think two of them goes for like 8 or 10 bucks, something
like that. So but it's a, you know, a
solution that you can reuse overand over again.
So that's a solution if Gophers are really a problem.
(16:05):
The other way to deter animal pests is one that I kind of
think is fun, but you have to really do this one ahead of
time. And this is motion sensing
sprinklers or even solar poweredlights that have movement
triggers. So any of those things that like
the suddenly the lights come on or suddenly the sprinklers come
(16:27):
on, these are things that are going to kind of scare away
those larger pests like raccoonsand deer.
In most instances. We have some pretty brave
raccoons around here. So it might not always work on
them, but it should definitely work on the rabbits.
And a lot of the time it works on the deer too.
So that's another way to physically barricade your garden
from the the four footed animal pests.
(16:49):
The next technique is companion planting.
All right, strategic planting can make your garden less
appealing to pests or even attract their natural enemies.
We're going to go into this in detail over the next couple of
weeks in terms of companion planting and interplanting, but
for now, we're just going to talk about some of the basics.
(17:10):
And the first thing is like using strong scented herbs.
So basil, Rosemary, thyme, theseare things that can deter some
pests like aphids and white flies.
So if you interplant them among your vegetables, it can actually
help to disrupt that insect detection.
Marigolds, we're going to talk about this in detail next week,
but marigolds do emit a chemicalfrom their roots that can
(17:31):
suppress nematodes in the soil, if that is a problem for you.
So if you have root, not nematodes in your tomatoes, for
example, then yes, planting marigolds is actually going to
help with that. Marigolds can also repel some
above ground pests. They can also attract some above
ground pests. So how you use marigolds in your
(17:53):
companion planting is going to depend on whether or not you're
using it as a deterrent or if you're using it as like a trap
crop or something to draw pests away.
Trap cropping is another smart strategy.
Here. You can plant a preferred host
near whatever it is that you're growing to help draw things
(18:14):
away. So for example, nasturtiums
really like or aphids really like nasturtiums.
So if you have an aphid problem in a particular crop, then you
can plant nasturtiums a little bit away from it and that is
going to draw the aphids away from your main crop.
So these are all different typesof like companion planting.
And again, we're going to go into that a little bit more next
(18:34):
week. Then we have intercropping or
interplanting. And this is a little bit more
than just companion planting. When you think traditionally in
terms of companion planting, I think the notion is, well, this
plant does something specific tohelp protect this specific
plant. Interplanting or intercropping
(18:56):
is a little bit different from that.
We're talking about mixing plantfamilies together, and what this
can do is confuse the chemical and visual signals that insects
use to find their host plant, which makes it more difficult
for them to predate on your crop.
So typically speaking, when I plant my brassicas, I also plant
(19:19):
them with onions and lettuce andalyssum, plus I am putting
insect netting over the top. I am giving a physical barrier
to the cabbage moths and the cabbage butterfly that always,
always, always want to lay theireggs in my brassica crops.
And I am also sort of masking what is going on with that host
(19:44):
plant, the host plant being say my cabbage by planting onions
near them, which give off a veryparticular scent and it gives
off sulfur, right, which is going to confuse that signal.
But then also lettuce, which is different looking than the
cabbage. And then Elysium, which is also
another one that is different, but it's also flowering.
(20:04):
So it brings in some of the goodinsects.
So in this instance, we are masking and not repelling.
There is also. The Appropriate and
Inappropriate Landings Theory The appropriate inappropriate
landing theory says that pests follow a three-step process when
(20:26):
selecting a host plant, traveling to an area with the
host plant by following specificodors, using visual stimuli such
as appearance, color, and size to land on a plant surface, and
making a few short flights to neighboring leaves.
To be successful, the insect must make consecutive
appropriate landings on a host plant to stimulate egg laying.
(20:49):
Non host or inappropriate landings reset the egg laying
process. Researchers noted that flying
pests made several test landingson plants before deciding it was
a good place to lay their eggs. In fact, they needed a specific
number of appropriate landings on the foliage of their target
plant before the egg laying process was stimulated.
(21:12):
So when interplanting non host plants together with host
plants, in other words mixing the species up like I do with my
brassicas, the pests will end upmaking an occasional landing on
a non host plant and that throwsoff the likelihood they will be
stimulated to lay their eggs. Now, it should also be noted in
(21:33):
these studies that the researchers saw that when crops
were grown on bare soil, the insects laid their eggs 36% of
the time. Compare that to when those host
plants were surrounded by companion plants where the
insects laid eggs only 7% of thetime.
(21:55):
So not only does this show us that growing our plants in a
monoculture is again a bad idea,it also shows us that mulch here
once again, is our friend. See, I'm always talking about
mulch. Now, keep in mind, companion
planting isn't a silver bullet, and I think we need to be very
specific about what we plant together if we have a
(22:18):
particularly ruthless pest like squash vine boars or squash
bugs. So in the instance that we have
a very pervasive problem, I think we need to be mindful of
not just the life cycles of those pests and the timing for
the maturity of our host crop and their companions.
It's going to take some experimenting, but I still
(22:40):
maintain that companion plantingand intercropping are powerful
additions to a diverse garden ecosystem that can also help
deter pests. I have been very impressed with
how my new rose Bush from heirloom roses has continued to
fully leaf out after spending all winter in its pot outside in
our harsh Missouri weather. I think the reason it has done
(23:02):
so well is because it's not a grafted plant.
By choosing own root roses, you're making a smart choice for
the long term health and beauty of your garden.
While grafted roses may be the easy option, they come with
hidden risks. The grafting points can make
them more vulnerable to disease and winter damage, typically
(23:22):
shortening their lifespan to around 15 years.
Own root roses, though, have strong natural root systems that
make them more resilient and better equipped to handle
challenging conditions like our West Central Missouri winters.
Even in a container, many of these roses can thrive for 50
years or more, providing lastingbeauty to our landscapes.
(23:44):
At Heirloom Roses, they focus ongrowing healthy, true to variety
roses that are naturally strong and resilient.
By choosing own root roses, we're creating a garden that
will continue to thrive and bloom year after year, providing
lasting beauty. Get your own root roses by going
to heirloomroses.com and use code Just GROW at checkout to
(24:05):
save 20% on your new rosebush. heirloomroses.com with code Just
Grow. The link is in the show notes.
OK, the next thing we can use tobe prepared for garden pest is
organic sprays and soil amendments.
So there are a lot of organic approved treatments that can
help with pest problems, but thetiming and the technique matter
(24:25):
because we do not want to be doing more harm than good or we
don't want to be harming, you know, the beneficial insects
while we're trying to get rid ofthe ones that we don't want.
So the first one we can look at is insecticidal soaps and oils.
These are very effective againstsoft bodied insects like aphids
and spider mites and whiteflies.It is important to apply these
(24:46):
early in the morning or late in the day to avoid direct sun,
which can cause leaf burn, and also to reduce that exposure to
the pollinators. We also do not want to spray
insecticidal soaps on flowers where the bees might be
foraging, and if we can, we wantto direct the spray at the
insect pests themselves when possible instead of blanketing
(25:06):
the entire plant. Unless the entire plant is
basically infested and then by all means go for it.
You can buy insecticidal soaps or you can make your own if you
mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of pure liquid soap.
And no, we are not talking aboutdish soap here.
Dish soap is not soap, it's actually a detergent.
(25:27):
We want a liquid soap like a castile soap, so 1 to 2
tablespoons per quart of water. Additionally, you can add a
tablespoon of vegetable oil to this and kind of helps make
things a little bit more sticky.Shake the bottle up to combine
the mixture and you can use thatjust on its own.
If you want a little boost to this, you can also add some
(25:48):
other like pest deterring ingredients.
So apple cider vinegar, ground red pepper, garlic powder.
I have used Rosemary oil and mint oil just to make this a
little bit more effective. Your second one would be neem
oil. This disrupts the life cycle of
a lot of different pests, but itcan also affect beneficials if
(26:09):
it's overused. So you want to apply neem oil
only when necessary and you wantto target your problem areas.
Make sure that you are followingthe directions on this.
The next one would be would be BT.
This is Bacillus thuringiensis. This is a naturally occurring
bacterium that is found in soilsand on plant leaves worldwide.
It produces proteins that are toxic to certain insect larvae,
(26:32):
which is how we use it as a biopesticide.
It targets Caterpillar pests like cabbage worms and tomato
hornworms. It is harmless to birds and bees
and mammals, but again, we want targeted application.
We don't want to use this broadly.
Another one is spinosad. This is another naturally
occurring soil dwelling bacterium.
(26:53):
It was collected on a Caribbean island somewhere in the early
1980s. It's the only place that it
naturally occurs. Spinosag controls all stages of
bagworms, beetles, mites, caterpillars, thrips, leaf
miners, coddling Moss, a whole bunch of different ones.
This is another one that is alsosafe for beneficials, but only
after it has had a chance to dry.
(27:14):
So this is one that you want to spray at dusk and allow it to
dry on the leaves overnight to avoid harming anything else.
It will kill a bee if it is sprayed directly on it.
So make sure that you are being very thoughtful about when you
spray these things. Generally speaking, between the
hours of 10 AM and 3:00 PM are our peak pollinator time.
So you want to be spraying thesethings before or after those
(27:37):
times. Another one is diatomaceous
earth. This can be useful around the
bases of plants for crawling pests.
Essentially a kind of cuts theirexoskeleton.
It is only effective when it is dry and it can also affect
beneficial insects. So make sure that you are using
it selectively and try not to doit during blooming periods.
(27:59):
And you also are going to have to reapply it after a rainfall.
Another one that I have used in a similar manner is First
Saturday Lyme. It is also drying to insects.
It is, if I remember correctly, it is not water soluble.
So you don't have to reapply it every single time it rains.
And it tends to be a little bit safer than DE in terms of like
(28:21):
breathing because there aren't any sharp edges to it.
But again, you know, you just kind of have to be selective
about the way that you use thesethings.
And then finally, let's look at soil health amendments.
Healthy plants are naturally just more resistant to pests.
So in addition to all of these other things that we're talking
(28:42):
about, we should be trying to maintain balanced nutrients in
our soil that can help to reduceinsect attraction, right?
We should be adding compost. We should be mulching again with
the mulch. All of these things are going to
improve the ability of our plants to resist the insects,
but also to be more resilient. If they do have insects come in
(29:03):
and predate on them, they're going to bounce back faster the
healthier they are. So we should always, always be
focusing on our soil health, buteven more so in terms of being
prepared for garden pests or to keep garden pests away.
So sometimes the best pest control is simply based on how
we plant our gardens. So succession planting, this is
(29:26):
going to reduce the window of vulnerability.
I've talked about this before interms of battling like squash
bugs and vine borers and cucumber beetles in our
squashes. If one crop gets hit, the next
one may escape damage entirely depending on the life cycle of
the insect that you're battling.So if you can do succession
plantings in your area, if you have a window of time that's
(29:46):
long enough in your gardening, which I recognize a lot of us
don't. But if you do, you can plant an
early crop and a mid season cropand a late crop of of the same
crop and the hope there is that you know there that crop is only
going to be vulnerable during a specific window of time.
This does work depending on the past.
(30:07):
So something like a squash bug, this is not going to work for
because squash bugs over winter as adults, they come out and
immediately begin to reproduce and they will continue to
reproduce over and over again all the way through until you
have your first frost in the fall.
So in this way, succession planting is just a way to try to
keep up with the pest damage. In terms of something like the
(30:29):
squash vine borer, they do have a very specific window of
reproduction where they're flying around and laying their
eggs. And once that's done, that's
done and the rest of the season you are free of that pest.
So if the vine borer is your main problem, then maybe you
don't plant anything at all in that family early in the season
and you wait until the end of July to plant those susceptible
(30:53):
plants and thereby you have closed that window of
vulnerability and you have no problem getting a crop.
The other thing is again, that diverse planting, we already
talked about it in intercropping, mixing those crop
types, mixing the growth stages.This helps to prevent pest
populations from establishing because we're not growing in a
monoculture. We want everything growing
(31:16):
together. I know, I know for some of this,
this is really hard to get past.It took me a really long time to
sort of get beyond this idea where everything should be grown
in a nice neat row and this should only be this crop and
this should only be this crop over here in this bed and mixing
them together. It can be aesthetically pleasing
(31:37):
if it's if that's what you're going for in your garden.
If you really want your garden to look pretty, you can do
diverse plantings and mix these crop types in and amongst each
other and still make it beautiful.
It just isn't going to be linearand we don't want one crop all
by itself ever. OK, the other thing too is crop
(31:57):
rotation. So this absolutely will help
disrupt pest life cycles, especially for soil borne
insects and also soil borne diseases.
But I understand that it is verydifficult for a lot of home
gardeners to be able to actuallytruly accomplish crop rotation
because a lot of us are gardening in very small spaces.
(32:19):
So do you have to rotate your crops all the time?
No, I know that's an unpopular opinion, but especially coming
from the farming side of things where crop rotation is like beat
into your brain, yes, you absolutely have to rotate.
Again, if we're not growing things in a monoculture, there
is less likelihood that specificpests are going to build up in
the soil and specific diseases. OK, so if you are gardening in a
(32:42):
very small space and you not have have not seen any sign of
soil borne pests or diseases, then you likely don't have to
worry as much about crop rotation.
Should you grow the same thing over and over again in the same
bed year after year after year? No, but do you have to move it
every single year and, and and leave it you know where it's
three years before you plant something in the same crop
(33:03):
family in that spot? Not necessarily.
Only if you are seeing those soil borne insects and if you do
have a very small garden and you're gardening in a very small
space and a lot of these plants are already naturally sharing
the same soil space, then your option may end up being just not
growing that crop this year or for a couple of years to break
that life cycle. We did that with squash.
(33:26):
We were so overwhelmed with the squash pest that we took it was
either one year or two years offcompletely from growing
zucchinis and and summer squashes and winter squashes,
anything in that family just to break the cycle.
So that might be your only option if you need to disrupt a
pest life cycle. Otherwise, yes, practice crop
(33:47):
rotation as you can. And of course, we want to scout
early and often. So we want to be looking under
the leaves. We want to check the stems and
the soil and watch for early signs of trouble.
If we can catch a problem beforeit spreads, it is always easier
than playing catch up. So let's touch again on
protecting crops while still encouraging pollination.
(34:11):
If who are growing flowering crops that need pollination,
specifically squash or melons that are insect pollinated, not
wind pollinated, then we're going to need to strike a
balance a little bit in terms ofprotecting those crops while
also encouraging those pollinators to come in and do
their jobs. So those removable row covers,
again, pulling those back duringflowering or the other option
(34:36):
which is hand pollinating while they're still protected.
I guess it really just depends on how important that crop is to
you. If you are somebody who relies
on zucchini, you guys eat a lot of zucchini in your kitchen
fresh, you freeze a lot of it, you know, for the offseason and
this is something that you, you know, you really need to come
in, then you might be willing tohand pollinate if that's the
(34:57):
only way that you're going to get that crop.
The other thing is to just be vigilant in checking for those
pests. If you start and you as soon as
you plant, you're checking dailyor every other day, every
evening, whatever it is for those pests, then you are more
likely to keep them at Bay or atleast keep them in check so that
(35:18):
they're not taking over the plant.
And again, if you have very healthy soil and you have very
healthy plants, those plants aregoing to be able to stand up to
some of those pests. Now, something that I'm
considering trying this year as an experiment is using some mesh
netting with slightly larger holes.
So very similar to the insect netting that I am currently
(35:39):
using, but something that is a little bit larger, that is small
enough to block the squash bugs while also allowing the smaller
pollinators to still get in there.
So I'm not going to do this overmy whole crop because, you know,
it could be disastrous. But I'm going to take one small
section of my squashes and try this out and see if I can strike
(36:04):
a little bit more of an even balance here where I'm keeping
out the majority of the major pests.
So that would be the squash bug and the vine bore, but still
allowing those smaller pollinators access.
I do have cucumber beetles and they would likely be able to get
in through these holes that I'm thinking about, but they are
less of a problem in my squashesthan they are like in my actual
(36:25):
cucumbers. And believe it or not, cucumber
beetles can actually sometimes act as pollinators in squash
because they get right into the,into the flowers.
But I'm hopeful that some of thesmaller like, you know, the, the
surfed Wasps and all the other kinds of things that go in there
might be able to pollinate on mybehalf and I won't have to worry
about taking that netting off. So we'll see If I actually find
(36:45):
something that I think is suitable and give that a shot.
I will certainly report back andlet you know.
In the meantime, we still do want to encourage all of those
native pollinators. So we want to plant those bee
friendly flowers nearby. We don't want to spray anything,
even if it's organic, during ourpeak bee activity between 10:00
AM and 3:00 PM. Because of course, pollinators
(37:07):
are essential allies in the garden and so we want to protect
them as fiercely as we are our garden.
Being proactive with pest management and being prepared
ahead of time is all about observation and preparation and
just balance. So we should be using physical
barriers, planning out our plantings, supporting our soil
(37:29):
health, and also applying those organic controls thoughtfully so
that we can have a productive garden without reaching for
synthetic chemicals. Are there some instances where
it just may be necessary for youto spray something that you
otherwise wouldn't? Sure.
Absolutely. If you have gotten into a
situation where you have a crop that you are relying on and
(37:53):
nothing you're doing is working and you have to resort to
something that is synthetic, okay, you know what?
Give yourself the permission to do that.
Here's the thing about the prevalence of these synthetic
chemicals, it is the overuse of these synthetic chemicals.
So I will never take a hard lineand tell somebody you should
(38:15):
never do something in your own garden.
If you are trying to feed your family and you are doing that in
the best way that you possibly can and you have tried
everything else to be able to get rid of these garden pests
and you are at your wit's end and it's your last resort, then
fine. Use a chemical that is your last
resort. Use it responsibly.
Use it according to the label. Remember, the label is the law.
(38:38):
We want to make sure that we areusing it to where it is
effective and it is not going tocause issues with causing, you
know, resistant insects to develop.
This happens when you overuse orunder use.
So make sure that you're following the directions and
then try to find ways where you can improve it for the next
season. So your garden is a living
(39:00):
system. So what works one year may need
tweaking in the next. This is where Good Notes comes
into play. Staying curious, not being
afraid to experiment with things.
Don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work.
We are manipulating Mother Nature and that doesn't always
go in our favor. So if you have had success with
(39:21):
a particular pest management strategy, that goes for a
particular pest that maybe I don't talk about.
I know I talk about squash bugs and vine borers and cucumber
beetles a lot because those are the things that are the bane of
my existence in my garden. OK, Those are the things that I
am most worried about. Do I occasionally have apid
problems? Yes, but they are rare and I
generally can take care of them without a problem.
(39:41):
So I would love to hear from you.
Drop me a message, tag me on social media and tell me what
pests it is that you have traditionally had to battle and
any success that you have had with battling that if you are in
the just for something gardeningfriends Facebook group, post it
in there so everybody else can learn because we want everybody
(40:01):
to learn. And if I get enough of these
responses and maybe I'll go ahead and make another episode
where I follow up with your solutions for pest management.
So until next time, my gardeningfriends, keep on cultivating
that dream garden, and we'll talk again soon.
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