(no subject)

[the_rck]

I've started spraying my herbs with soapy water. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be agreeing with the dill at all. It's also making the wild sorrel turn brown and wither. Maybe I was too enthusiastic with my first application....

I've also concluded that I'll have to prune the sage and the winter savory severely in order to make this work. Both are so tangled and bushy that there are leaves in the interior that aren't getting sprayed. I think the beetles may be living down near the bottoms of the plants.

The golden sage is probably dead. Most of the leaves have been eaten. I'm sad about that because it's managed to survive two winters. Maybe, if I get rid of the beetles, it'll manage to come back. We have a few months before the fall frosts hit.

I'm pretty sure at this point that what I've got is striped cucumber beetles and that the 'worms' I'm seeing are the larval stage. I'm not sure why the larva seem to be on the dill in a separate bed while the beetles are on the sage and winter savory in the next bed. Maybe I just can't see the larva over there and the beetles are going for the bigger leaves.

From what I've gathered about striped cucumber beetles, they'll eat anything and are very hard to eradicate. Of course, most of my information comes from websites written by people trying to sell pesticides. I'm hoping the soapy water will help. If not, I'll see if I can find neem oil and escalate.

So far I haven't seen any beetles in the new bed. It's several feet from the nearer of the two old beds (the front steps intervene), and the plants have been in less than a week. Nothing around the back of the house shows any signs of infestation, either. With luck, the pests will stay away. Or maybe I can get the beetles to eat the bindweed in the back yard....

I can dream, anyway.

Comments

[kyrielle]

http://www.gardenguides.com/pests/pestinfo/stripedcucumberbeetle.asp suggests a few things you can plant nearby to help; no idea how well that works.

[the_rck]

Thanks!

It looks like I may have to pull some plants out to get the larva if they're in the roots. I suppose that would let me plant the other stuff around the new plants. ::considers::

[alessar.livejournal.com]

What kind of soap are you using? Ivory dishwashing liquid used to be fantastic for this sort of thing but about 15 years ago they reformulated it and now it's a plant killer. Some kind of natural castille soap may work better.

[the_rck]

Lemon scented Ajax.

We'll probably try something else in a few days. Scott will have to pick it up on his way home from work later this week (tonight is given to the car which has a squeaky wheel that worries us).

[the_rck]

The sage isn't wilting, or wasn't the last I looked. The more delicate stuff, however, was, the dill, the wild sorrel, the pineapple sage, were all unhappy.

I think we'll be trying a different soap. We can use this for dishes.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

I've had soap solution bother the plants if there's too much soap in it.

You might pop by on Arborseeds to ask for advice -- there are some real plant gods and goddesses there, who might be able to help.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arborseeds/