bugs, insects and other lettuce eating nuisances

[nightlite]

Ok I know bugs are necessary in life. But not on my arugula. Or my mesclun.

Anyone try any good homemade pesticides for them?
I've googled a bunch but would love to hear from actual experiences.

I've read everything from dish soap + water + hot peppers + garlic + vinegar types of mixes to spray. But are they really effective?

[bgheuchert]

I live close to a Hutterite Colony and have become friends with one of the families on the colony. One of them is the head boss of the gardens, he said (and I have not tried this yet) that if you spray with sugar water it kills the bugs, he and his wife told me that most bugs do not have a pancreas and can not digest the sugar, basically kills them off with a diabetic coma! I have not tried this yet, so let me know how it works!

[gourmetsue]

oh I'm going to give that a try. The bugs are destroying my eggplants.

Some other critter is doing a number on my sprouts and lettuce. There is nothing but stalks left now.

[lecale]

.

[Lynn49]

I'm in the same boat! My begonias came up, but all the leaves are lacy now! I don't know if it can even support itself with the little green that's left! And something's been chomping on the leaves of my gladiolas that came up so beautifully...one's been bitten completely in half! Yet neither hubby nor I have seen anything on them.
He's sprayed once with some commercial killer, but I don't think it's had much affect....I wish I knew what to use that would kill the buggers!

[muggos0101]

What bugs are you having problems with? Last year my lettuces got horribly infested with aphids. I tried pesticides when they were young, commercial and homemade with soap, but it killed the new shoots as well as the bugs. I had to do a major chop/cleanup and didn't get to use any of my greens. I noticed they stayed away from my woody herbs like rosemary and thyme, and they also stayed off the tomatoes. Someone told me they don't like to/are unable to climb up tomato stems because of how 'hairy' they are. Interesting post about sugar water, I might try that on at least one plant this year. Is there a suggested ratio or should it just be a simple syrup?

[improperganda]

I'm glad I found this. I've had more plants that I can count be eaten by something. I've found slugs, aphids, a terrifying amount of potato bugs, and other random bugs all over my plants. I've put down coffee grounds, chili peper, egg shells but nothing is working! I really dont want to put down ANY chemicals but I'm going crazy trying to figure out what to do. If anyone has something that works please post!

[Lynn49]

I'm in the same boat, Ladies....hubby's going to put down more pesticides...it's such a waste of money to see them dying off like that! And like Muggos, our pepper, tomato, and all the herbs remain untouched, thank goodness.
But geez....even our radish leaves are being eaten...

[nightlite]

What bugs are you having problems with? Last year my lettuces got horribly infested with aphids. I tried pesticides when they were young, commercial and homemade with soap, but it killed the new shoots as well as the bugs. I had to do a major chop/cleanup and didn't get to use any of my greens.

I just had to do this with the arugula. Even the new seeds were growing in and were being mauled. It's strange b.c the bugs don't touch the spinach or the other lettuce. Just the mesclun and arugula. I have absolutely no idea why but I figure rather than waste time growing something that won't make it in my garden bed, I decided to re-seed with the stuff they aren't touching. And a giant a** row of beans!!!

[Tbites]

I'm in the same boat, Ladies....hubby's going to put down more pesticides...it's such a waste of money to see them dying off like that! And like Muggos, our pepper, tomato, and all the herbs remain untouched, thank goodness.
But geez....even our radish leaves are being eaten...

Flea beetles seem to lovvvve radish leaves, I don't like radishes but plant a couple amongst my tomatoes & eggplants as a sacrificial crop... I was a little late sowing them this year though so my eggplants still took a hit.