Something’s been ravaging through my entire garden, mint and all. Last 2 pictures are the little white pest underside all the leaves, can you tell if that’s what’s causing all this damage? How do I stop it? Not pictured here but it also destroyed my Kale and Chard down to the stem. Already sprayed it with an all purpose pest spray earlier this week but not seeing any improvement. Thanks in advance!
by OnlyDarkRoast
9 Comments
Oh forgot to add location. Tallahassee, FL Zone 9a
Slugs, snails and earwigs likely.
You have low diversity, no flowers and natives really around to attract beneficial insects. You need to companion plant to offer and attract more predators.
Sunflowers, thyme, basil, dill, cilantro are all great herbs that can bring in beneficials or act as a trap crop.
Good Luck
Plant mesh and fiberglass hoops.
Basil? Maybe beatles
Might be slugs or something like that. Depending on what kind of property/land you’re on maybe you can bring in some Indian Runner ducks, they’re sometimes used to counter these little things that eat your veggies.
They do require a pond and quite a bit of space so, not sure how doable that would be for you but I know its a common solution and it can be fun.
Add more diversity, some bugs are munching but with more natural predators you will see less stress
Hungry hungry caterpillars from my experience. Do you have chickens???? Or know anyone with chickens? Get/borrow a couple and send them out to your garden before dawn and at dusk. They should clean up quite nicely for you
Plants look ok. Remember if nothing is eating your yard it isn’t part of the local ecosystem. And if you have no bad bugs you won’t get good ones. Spend more time with your plants, inspect under the leaves. Set a trap for slugs, a slate or bit of wood near your plants. Turn it over on a hot day, your culprits are likely sheltered under the stone or board. Slug pellets work too, minimal chemical damage. Check your plants for caterpillars. Expect to lose at least 10% of your crop on average to bugs.
Check around 11pm. That’s when Asiatic (not Japanese) beetles and earwigs are active.
I tried a pyrethrin spray (night only) and it seemed to help, along with hand picking into a dish of soap.
My basil was a special favorite for the Asiatics 🙁
I researched grub killers and nematodes but haven’t pulled the trigger on anything. The grub killer could affect fireflies 🙁