Pests/Ctrl Aphids, white fly, etc.

[MaisieD]

I've about given up gardening! My butterfly garden is riddled every undesirable pestilence there is. There are spider mites, aphids, white fly, small moths, the soil has a variety of ants, some kind of small gray bugs, white scale, and powder mildew. There are probably some things I missed.

Since it's my butterfly garden I don't use chemicals. I use a mix of Dr. Woods castile tea tree oil and peppermint soap, alcohol, peroxide, and water. It works for a day or two.

My Roma tomatoes are barely hanging on. I ended up using Seven dust on them. I lost my squash and cucumbers.
Gardening in east central Florida has its challenges. Last year I didn't have all of this trouble, it wasn't perfect but I was able to keep everything alive.
I'm thinking it may be that our weather has been really dry or really rainy. Right now we are real dry with no rain.
I'm going to do some more research. I'm thinking I need to buy seeds that are indigenous to Florida.

I'm not giving up even though yesterday I wanted to yank every blasted plant I own and toss the whole mess.

 

[summerthyme]

Sprinkle DE on the soil to get rid of ants. Neem oil works on much of what you've mentioned, but probably isn't good for butterflies, and is downright deadly to plants in hot dry conditions. Some years are just rough!

Summerthyme

 

[spinner]

DH and I just sprayed 30 million beneficial nematodes over the whole garden. We used them many years ago and they helped, but we did not use as many as we did this time. I am already picking fewer asparagus beetles than I have in years past. I am hoping that I will be able to grow zucchini and yellow squash this year. The vine borers kill my plants every year. We used the triple threat nematodes from Arbico.

Triple Threat Beneficial Nematodes - Sf, Sc, Hb

BEST VALUE - Comprehensive Control for General Pest Infestations! The Triple-Threat Combo includes each of three beneficial nematode species: Heterorhabditis bacteriaphora , Steinernema carpocapsae and Steinernema feltiae . Use this combination to achieve the broadest coverage of a...

www.arbico-organics.com

 

[summerthyme]

Oh... whiteflies and aphids HATE soapy water. Just mix up some Ivory soap with water (a blender works really well), dilute it enough so it will go through a sprayer and spray. I've used it in the greenhouse successfully.

Summerthyme

 

[dioptase]

I can't imagine the horrors some of you have to live with. My biggest (non-mammalian and disease) problems are slugs/snails, aphids/ants, and powdery mildew. If I don't grow certain things, I don't have too much of a problem with the aphids, and Sluggo works well for the slugs/snails.