Pest Management

Here are some of the most common insects that love to eat our crops and what we can do to prevent that.* We stand by organic principles and so do not use conventional pesticides or herbicides in our garden. However, that does not mean we let the pests have free reign.

Colorado “Potato” Beetles

(If they don’t find potatoes, they’ll eat your tomatoes.)

Colorado Potato Beetle Eggs, Photo by Ann Ramsey

Colorado Potato Beetle Larva, Photo by Jeremy Sell

Colorado Potato Beetle, Photo sourced from Aces.edu

1. Handpick and feed to the chickens.
2. Consider making a mobile chicken unit that can fit over the garden beds when we retire the beds in the late fall, so the chickens can eat out all the pests that would otherwise overwinter in the soil (see here and here).
3. Spray with neem oil.**

Japanese Beetles

Japanese Beetle Egg, Photo from University of Arkansas

Japanese Beetle Grub, Photo from Ag.UMass.Edu

Japanese Beetle, Photo from BlueHorizonFarm.com

1. Use a pheromone trap, like Bag-a-Bug. Then, proceed to step 2.
2. Handpick and feed to ducks or chickens.
3. Paint your plants with a homemade beetle killer (a recipe concocted by Dami Adeliyi, a Small Business Incubator participant, from a combination of recipes he researched: 1. one liter water, 2. one Tbs. liquid soap, 3. one Tbs. puréed HOT peppers, 4. one tsp. of apple cider vinegar, and 5. one Tbs. of oil).
4. Use row covers.

Flea Beetles

They love to eat your cruciferous vegetables (mustard greens, Asian greens, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.), arugula, and eggplants especially. (The adult beetle could almost be considered cute, if they weren’t eating big, ugly holes in your crops, and they do love to jump, which somehow puts me in the mind of Mexican jumping beans.)

The big red circle shows flea beetle eggs. Little red circles show tiny larvae. The big larvae are obvious. Photo source.

Flea Beetle, Photo from FieldCropNews.com

1. Use homemade insecticidal soap.
2. Use garlic-pepper spray.
3. Grow susceptible plants under row covers.
4. Wait to plant cruciferous vegetables until the fall planting season.

Mexican Bean Beetles

Mexican Bean Beetle Eggs, Photo by Scott Kellogg

Mexican Bean Beetle Larva, Photo by Carol O’Meara

Mexican Bean Beetle, Photo source.

1. Handpick and feed to chickens.
2. Consider using a mobile chicken unit to clean the plot in the fall.
3. Spray with neem oil.**

Cabbageworms

They may look beautiful, but these guys will take your crucifers to the ground. If you don’t stay on top of them, you may literally get no harvest. Rather than deal with them, some gardeners choose to grow other crops instead and start with something less attractive to persistent pests, since crucifers tend to be very affordable in the grocery store.

Cabbage Butterfly Eggs, Photo from MyWildlifeFriendlyGarden.com

Cabbage Butterfly Larva, Photo from My Productive Backyard

White Cabbage Butterfly, Photo by Rick Ellis

1. Plant only for a fall crop.
2. Use row covers.
3. Handpick the worms.

Onion Root Maggot

(different species attack different root crops)

Onion Maggot Egg, Photo by Ken Gray

Onion Maggots, Photo by John Obermeyer

Root Maggot Fly, Photo by James Niland

1. Rotate crops.
2. Add beneficial nematodes to the soil.

Corn Earworm

Corn Earworm Egg, Photo from Cornell.edu

Corn Earworm, Photo by Ric Bessin, UK

Corn Earworm Moth, Photo by J. Obermeyer

1. Place a few drops of oil (canola, olive) on the tip of the ear where and when the silks emerge.
2. Add beneficial nematodes to the soil.

Cutworm

Cutworm Eggs, Photo by Karen Burch

Cutworm, Photo from Clemson University

Black Cutworm Moth, Photo by Adam Sisson

1. Place plastic or cardboard collars around young seedlings (think toilet paper tubes).
2. Grow seedlings in a greenhouse or other safe location until they are sturdy enough to plant in the garden.

Cucumber Beetle

Spotted cucumber beetles will eat a wide range of plants, lay their eggs on corn and other grasses, and their larvae feed on the root tissue of those host plants before transforming into an adult beetle looking for cucurbits. The striped cucumber beetles limit themselves to mostly cucurbits, lay their eggs near the base of those plants, and their larva feed on them as well.

Striped Cucumber Beetle Eggs, Image from OurVeggieGarden.com

Spotted and Striped Cucumber Beetles, Photo by Dr. Ricardo Bessin, UK

1. Handpick and feed to chickens.
2. Spray with neem oil.**
3. Clean up and burn plant residue (in the fire pit!).
4. Consider using a mobile chicken unit to clean plot in the fall.

Squash Bug

Squash Bug Eggs, Photo by Dave Stone

Squash Bug Nymphs, Photo from Ag.UMass.edu

Squash Bugs, Photo by Alys Milner

1. Handpick.
2. Clean up and burn plant residue (in the fire pit!).
3. Spray with neem oil.**

Squash Vine Borer

Squash Vine Borer Eggs, Photo by Bruce Leander

Squash Vine Borer Larva, Photo by Bruce Leander

Squash Vine Borer Moth, Photo by Bruce Leander

1. Grow resistant varieties.
2. Rotate crops.
3. Add beneficial nematodes to the soil.

Duct tape is an excellent choice for removing the eggs of many of these bugs without harming the plant or destroying its environment (source: Utah State University Extension article).

*Much of this information was gleaned and adapted from a Mother Earth News article. We do not agree with all the opinions expressed in this article. Even approved organic insecticides (Bt and spinosad) should be used with extreme caution, as they have been shown to leave toxic residues in pregnant mothers, their unborn children, and in breastmilk or have proven to be fatally toxic to other beneficial insects (e.g. honeybees).

**When using neem oil, care must be taken to avoid burning the plant’s leaves during the hottest time of the day.