I had fire ants in a meyer lemon tree pot. Nursery suggested 6 oz. Orange oil, 1 Tbsp molasses, 1 tsp dish soap, mixed in 1 gal water. Drenched the pot and ants never returned and no bad effect on the standard lemon tree. It's been over 5 years.
Central Texas here and I had a bad case of fire ants in a humongous half barrel... And one thing that really helped eliminate those fire ants ASAP was coal... from the barbecue! Once I'm done with and it got cool I put it into that half barrel and before I knew it Those fire ants were history they moved and packed up house quickly and then I Googled to see if those pieces of coal actually how to remove the ants and they not only helped remove the ants but they help remove other pests as well
I was thinking “another garden pest video 🙄” but I was surprised how you went into detail about a just a few... showing them and really discussing them rather than just saying “.. just spray some neem oil”. And also interesting examples like the isolated squash plant and the spot of the the recurring fire ants. Well done!
I have found growing tomatillos attracts cucumber beetles and the tomatillo plant seem to be immune to the cucumber beetles diseases. Last year I grew them within a foot of cucumbers and not a single cucumber beetle was found on the cucumbers. Also great for homemade salsa verde.
I'm about 2 hours or so South of you in Zone 9A. I tried a new zucchini variety this year called, Costata Romanesco, and it has been very resistant to the squash vine borers.
This is my first spring gardening. I started in July of 2022 . I am learning very quick about pests. Watching this video is just what I needed to understand that pests are just part of organic gardening. I don’t feel as panicked. Thank You for sharing.
@Michael Taylor I try really hard to catch and destroy early. I usually get a fair harvest. I try not to use any pesticides but some years I get frustrated and just want to get rid of them!
I garden in central Ohio. I had some trouble with the Vine borer last year. Just one, but that's all it takes. But my nemesis are squash bugs and cucumber beetles. The squash bugs were so thick on the summer squash it was like a plague. The cucumber beetles were very few but apparently carried wilt. Every cucumber plant died right within a week or two of flowering... Very sudden wilt. For the borers and squash bugs... I found planting my zucchini in July instead of May made all the difference. I got great fall crops but my summer crop was utterly destroyed by bugs.
I live in north Texas and last year I buried my dog and cat hair where I grew squash the year before. Then when I planted my new squash in a different bed the next year I put dog and cat hair around the base of my plants just before they bloomed and no borers!!! Doing it again this year.
I love the fact that you go into detail on the insects you show us. I don't like to just kill insects because some are good for the garden. I find bugs that I just can't. Identify or take pictures of. I had a lot of aphids on my milkweed for the butterflies. Left them alone and ladybugs came and helped clear the aphids. None of the other plants has any aphids.
@@4thHouseOnTheRight I know! I only see big channels in the northern states. I’ve alrdy watched several of his videos and let me tell you! I’m wayyy behind. My crops look nothing like his due too following advice from northern states. Ugh
Add bird nest boxes and insect hotels to your garden. Many type of wasps and birds like foraging on your insect pests. You're right about the decoy weeds. Last year I did observe that the white flies did not bother with the tomatoes and the the cucumbers because (unlike the year before) I did not pull their favorite weeds. But things can be weird: My Josta berries were suffering from some type of wurms, so I sprayed with BT. That worked OK, but the year after the black ants started farming black aphids on them and defending the berries against the wurms.. That ended when I transplanted the Josta berries to another location from the north side of the house to full sun during day.
This reminds me: a little while ago I was in the garden and watched a paper wasp chewing up a hunk of cabbage worm on one of my collards. By the time I got the camera, she was gone. Still great to see, though.
Orange oil works better if you use it a drench in a gallon bucket. Pour quickly as fast as you can into the center of the mound to reach the Queen at the bottom of the mound. Do not disturb the mound before putting. Dirt Dr has great info on this. Really enjoy your videos
I found a nice solution to squash vine borers last year. I use Bt to manage cabbage loopers, so when I mix that up I'll take a syringe (just get some insulin syringes from your local pharmacy) and inject some above where the borer larvae are (I go with six inches above the highest borer hole). For the first time ever I had a zucchini plant that lasted from may through September.
Thanks Scott. That weed you let grow as a trap crop looked like it might be wild amaranth. It a great trap crop for cucumber beetles. They like it better than cukes or in my area they do. Much Love
One thing that I've found that works really well with fire ants: I find a sugar ant mound, take a BIG shovel full and dump it on the fire ant mound. Next day, no more fire ants.
Scott thanks so much for all the timely information! When you were talking about fire ants, my skin literally crawled-I’m a native Texan in north Texas and have had my fights with them my whole life. I’m going to try orange oil the next time they decide to pop up!!
I totally understand. My garden is being invaded by pill bugs, they killed my peppers and egg plants, it's a no no. I even found them in my cucumbers plants.. I am going to be on top with all I can do, for I need to start over with bell peppers and egg plants.
We have the same issue with squash vine borers in south central Kansas. We pulled 30+ borers out of one of our yellow summer squash plants last year. However, we've found that butternut squash has a stronger stem and is more resistant to vine borers. This year, we're going to try a variety of summer squash that is in the same cultivar as butternut - tromboncino. Hopefully we'll see good results without having to plant some crookneck as a trap crop.
Great video as usual. I’m in Katy Tx so I make sure to watch every video you post. We have the same climate and same weather pattern. I’ve learned so much from you over the last two years. Thank you.
Great video! I felt bad by then end watching you try to film this in the heat. Hopefully you got to go inside and cool down afterwards. Thanks for sharing. 🐌🪲🐛🐜🪰🐝🦋🐞
I'm trying more bug resistant plants next season and more heat resistant plants. I'm making a better plan of what, when, and where. Best laid plans.. 😆..wish me luck. Now go get yourself a big glass of something cold. Thanks!
Scott, I found this video very valuable especially from the perspective of balance, the reality that there will always be some bugs and when to treat the area for over-infestation. One other gem for me is learning about how to deal with fire ants without harming your garden. I have fire ants in my vermicompost. So the concern was how not to kill the worms while getting rid of the fire ants. Thank you so much.
Great tip with the orange oil for fire ants, we’ve been fighting a major ant invasion this year. Boiling hot water does wonders but it’s not so helpful when they build close to my plants.
I freaking hate the vine borers.it kills all of the plants. I'm going to be proactively treating with injections and sprays of BT. I'm doing primarily no treatments this year except on my squash. Also wanted to say I really like your channel, you tend to put real information out there and don't get wrapped up in some of the common.. uhh. I guess hype would be a decent word. You also focus on things that are important. Such as "pests are natural and will exist" and that you want balance between good and bad bugs. Thanks for it. I enjoy listening to you while I work, even on things I know about already.
Always fun to see what people call the isopods lol, here in Australia they are slaters, I drink a lot of vanilla coke, and I cut the middle section of a 1.25lt bottle out (recycle the rest) as a temp collar around the seedlings, seems to work maybe 80% of the time. Since the slaters are doing me a favour and make great food for our native skinks they can stay. I am also glad I do not have to deal with squash bugs here, they always seem to give people problems.
Thanks for the great video, I will be trying all of your ideas to control the pest. And thanks for sticking it out in the heat. I see that it was ruff at times...LOL...
My parents would locate the borer's hole, make a short slit length-wise in the tubular stem of the squash with a sterilized knife. Then, the borer inside would be extracted and dropped into rubbing alcohol. Then, a piece of Band-Aid adhesive cloth tape was applied over the slit.
The borer tried to lay its eggs on the underside of my pumpkin leaves - which was useful. I just cut the leaves off and put them in the garbage. I have noticed that my high wasp population helps to control the borer. I've seen the hornets attack the moth on the plant. They hover around the squash plants looking for prey. Anyone who has a large borer problem should consider practices to invite wasps to their garden to help get the moth before it lays hundreds of eggs.
Spinosad works great on leaf miners and caterpillars. I struggled before finding the garden insect spray with spinosad. That stuff keeps my plants looking beautiful! It works! Louisiana zone 9A
@@missietgardendelight6029 it’s natural but just in case I only spray very early in the morning and I avoid any flowers on my plants. When you are careful with natural pest control sprays you can avoid killing bees. I have never killed one that I know of but I’m so careful. The spray works so good on the bugs that we’re eating and making my garden ugly.
Cuc beetle pressure (striped and spotted) has been very high the last few seasons in zone 7b. We tried all of the usual recommendations without much success but found regular applications of Surround did the job. Doesn't bother the pollinators and we had ~700lbs of harvests from one planting area. For vine borers we tried wrapping the lower stems with both foil and gauze and found the gauze kept them out best. Fighting slugs now with iron phosphate and beer traps but they're having a field day so far this year on our uncovered cabbages.
Scott, as I say I love your channel. You reach me so much. My raised beds from last year are great this year. I do have one bed where I had cal wonder bell peppers along with okra. When we turned over the bed a week ago we have the most wrigglers. Of course I put them back but always told when wrigglers present good soil. It’s either that or go fishing with them. Thank you
I’m actually so allergic to fire ant bites that I have an Epi-pen. I have used the orange oil/Dawn/water solution successfully to kill fire ants, but it can damage young plants in the garden - sometimes it appears to burn them. So in veg beds I’ve resorted to heavy applications of pressurized water from the hose - it tends to make the mound move out of the bed where I can then either pour boiling water on it or use the orange oil solution. Right now my garlic bed has a large fire ant mound in it, but it doesn’t impact the bulbs so I just leave it alone. Spinosad is also affective.
That sounds right. Where I dump my coffee grounds there are no ants. My sister next door has all the ants I chase away. She uses DE and keeps them under control til the next rain.
This was an informative video, thank you! I am going to try the orange oil. I saw a lady bug this morning on one of my pepper plants and I was cheered as I had seen aphids on a couple of them yesterday (I blasted them off with a spray of water). Nature at work.
I put our bird feeders and try and attract the small song birds into my garden. It seems to help keep my pest under control. I also have bird baths scattered around my veggie garden
I had a bird feeder and bird bath a few years ago. Didn't notice the difference. But it DID attract squirrels, who found my sown seeds real quick. I should try again since I love birds and the squirrels are no longer nesting nearby (their tree froze and died).
@@ScottHead we have no squirrels in our area. I have watched the little song sparrows pulling off caterpillars from our squash and tomatoes..good luck. I have learned alot this year.
You need to look into buying praying mantis eggs to hatch in your back yard there are native varieties that can be purchased and they would love those moths!
Great video! Thank you! I feel like all I do each year in the garden is battle some infestation or another, and there’s not a lot of good content out there that helps. I’m in Southern California in zone 10a and have a lot of the same pests as you, especially the cucumber beetles! I appreciate the advice!
I’ll tell you what works really well on ants, but you may have to sacrifice a plant if they mounded on top of it..... boiling water. Hit the mound 3-4 times in a row and that should take care of it. And it kills deep in their tunnels.
I have what I think is flea beatle damage to my eggplants. I haven' t done anything about it because I am getting a huge crop of eggplants anyway. I am a kind of lazy gardener.
I enjoyed that! Since I stopped spraying chemicals in my garden several years ago I noticed that a real balance does establish itself between he good guys and the bad guys! I use BT for caterpillars as it doesn’t hurt anything else, I wonder if that would protect your squash plants if sprayed on a weekly schedule. I sure hate those cucumber beetles, they emerge around June 10th here. I don’t spray for them but I am using treated seeds so the cukes can look after themselves for a while after they emerge. Klaus
Any suggestions for leafhoppers and tomato suck bugs on developing tomatoes? These have been bad in my Central TX garden. Great channel, just discovered you.😊
Thanks for all your great videos! I'm a new subscriber this spring. Scott, do you ever put product links or info in the video description? That would be so helpful!
Not necessarily as they are like tomatoes, self pollinating. But they do disturb the flower and help pollination along. Sort of like how people shake or vibrate their tomato flowers to release pollen. Its nice to have a big, heavy, clumsy bee shaking those bean blossoms. :-)
For fire ants, boiling water helps when it's a small mound. Also if your yard is inviting to lizards, they can keep bugs in check. I've seen one of my lizards having a ball eating ants.
I'm trying netting for cabbage moths this year...fingers crossed. Last year I used little decoys bc the moths are territorial...worked for awhile. I'm vegan so I don't kill but the bugs do get the best of me at times. 😂
Hey Scott, love your channel. Can you tell me how to plant a cucumber in a container. What goes into the soil as you are first potting it. I'm a first time gardener trying to figure things out. Thanks in advance.
Cucumbers and squash are close enough in requirements that this video will be useful: th-cam.com/video/4CgBmj89D8M/w-d-xo.html I'd train my cucumber up a trellis and only plant two plants in a 15-20 gallon pot. You will get plenty of cukes.
I'm allergic to pyrethrin, so I can't use it. I'm trying to use physical barriers as much as I can. I do use BT so I try to catch pests in larva stage.
I saw a video of someone using a handheld vacuum cleaner to get rid of bugs. Have you ever tried that? Maybe adjust the distance from the bug. The video I saw looked like it had a straw-like attachment to use.
I have not seen any, so I don't really have any tips. I supposed I'd go after them with organic insecticides like BT or spinosad or pyrethrin, whichever of those three is listed as killing beetles.
@@ScottHead I'm going to try it this year with my summer zucchini and my cucumbers. Still figuring out how to allow them to vine out or up while being covered.
Quick question Scott, how far north do those Vine Bore Moths travel. We are in New Brunswick, Canada. I asked a friend if he had problems last year with his pumpkins and he said he hadn't heard of them. Really enjoying all your video's, it was nice to see you and David get together this year.
I'm not really sure though I did find this page which says they are in most US states and some SE Canada. entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/leaf/squash_vine_borer.htm
I haven't really had success with squash in my garden because of those darn borers in zone 8b TX, so I just don't plant them anymore. Trying again this year, though! My biggest recurring pests are a combo of fire ants and aphids. So difficult to deal with them, but I use a neem/soap spray religiously through the summer. I'll have to try some orange oil next! I've heard it works for termites in your plants, too.
I had fire ants in a meyer lemon tree pot. Nursery suggested 6 oz. Orange oil, 1 Tbsp molasses, 1 tsp dish soap, mixed in 1 gal water. Drenched the pot and ants never returned and no bad effect on the standard lemon tree. It's been over 5 years.
So you drenched the soil not the tree correct?? Is it possible to apply this to the leaves and foliage? Thx
@@Southerngrl drenched the fire ant mound not the plant. Straight orange oil on plants could harm them.
@@leannestevens3840 thanks. I have seen another Gardner use orange oil for pest mgmt. great idea for ant control though.
Central Texas here and I had a bad case of fire ants in a humongous half barrel... And one thing that really helped eliminate those fire ants ASAP was coal... from the barbecue! Once I'm done with and it got cool I put it into that half barrel and before I knew it Those fire ants were history they moved and packed up house quickly and then I Googled to see if those pieces of coal actually how to remove the ants and they not only helped remove the ants but they help remove other pests as well
@@jessicapabon2105 thx I’ll try that have some ants moving into my flower bed!
I was thinking “another garden pest video 🙄” but I was surprised how you went into detail about a just a few... showing them and really discussing them rather than just saying “.. just spray some neem oil”. And also interesting examples like the isolated squash plant and the spot of the the recurring fire ants. Well done!
I have found growing tomatillos attracts cucumber beetles and the tomatillo plant seem to be immune to the cucumber beetles diseases. Last year I grew them within a foot of cucumbers and not a single cucumber beetle was found on the cucumbers. Also great for homemade salsa verde.
Try fermenting the tomatillos under a 2.5% brine, it’s a flavor you’ll never taste if you don’t make it yourself and it’s amazing.
A tip : you can watch movies at Flixzone. I've been using it for watching loads of movies during the lockdown.
@Decker Immanuel yea, I have been watching on flixzone for months myself =)
I had my fire ant experience in Halletsville TX. All I say us WOW! OUCH! OMG!
Blessings
Planting Sweet Basil seems to repel the hornworm.
I planted some within 3 feet of tomato plants and had no hornworms that year.
I'm about 2 hours or so South of you in Zone 9A. I tried a new zucchini variety this year called, Costata Romanesco, and it has been very resistant to the squash vine borers.
This is my first spring gardening. I started in July of 2022 . I am learning very quick about pests. Watching this video is just what I needed to understand that pests are just part of organic gardening. I don’t feel as panicked. Thank You for sharing.
I'm in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides garden hoses the "squash vine borer" is the bane of my existence!
@Michael Taylor I try really hard to catch and destroy early. I usually get a fair harvest. I try not to use any pesticides but some years I get frustrated and just want to get rid of them!
I garden in central Ohio. I had some trouble with the Vine borer last year. Just one, but that's all it takes. But my nemesis are squash bugs and cucumber beetles. The squash bugs were so thick on the summer squash it was like a plague. The cucumber beetles were very few but apparently carried wilt. Every cucumber plant died right within a week or two of flowering... Very sudden wilt. For the borers and squash bugs... I found planting my zucchini in July instead of May made all the difference. I got great fall crops but my summer crop was utterly destroyed by bugs.
Your stuff is so helpful. No one is doing it better. Thank you for sharing.
I live in north Texas and last year I buried my dog and cat hair where I grew squash the year before. Then when I planted my new squash in a different bed the next year I put dog and cat hair around the base of my plants just before they bloomed and no borers!!! Doing it again this year.
What a great trick!
Interesting
I think this is valid. I've heard Vine Borers are attracted by scent of the squash plant. So anything that masks that scent, may be effective.
I love the fact that you go into detail on the insects you show us. I don't like to just kill insects because some are good for the garden. I find bugs that I just can't. Identify or take pictures of. I had a lot of aphids on my milkweed for the butterflies. Left them alone and ladybugs came and helped clear the aphids. None of the other plants has any aphids.
Try wrapping the stretchy green florist tape around the first few large stems that appear on your squash plants.
Finally found a gardener in my area!!
Yah there not too many! I was too happy to find Scott
@@4thHouseOnTheRight I know! I only see big channels in the northern states. I’ve alrdy watched several of his videos and let me tell you! I’m wayyy behind. My crops look nothing like his due too following advice from northern states. Ugh
Add bird nest boxes and insect hotels to your garden. Many type of wasps and birds like foraging on your insect pests. You're right about the decoy weeds. Last year I did observe that the white flies did not bother with the tomatoes and the the cucumbers because (unlike the year before) I did not pull their favorite weeds. But things can be weird: My Josta berries were suffering from some type of wurms, so I sprayed with BT. That worked OK, but the year after the black ants started farming black aphids on them and defending the berries against the wurms.. That ended when I transplanted the Josta berries to another location from the north side of the house to full sun during day.
This reminds me: a little while ago I was in the garden and watched a paper wasp chewing up a hunk of cabbage worm on one of my collards. By the time I got the camera, she was gone. Still great to see, though.
I love predatory bugs, had an assassin bug the other day that had speared a cucumber beetle.
Man that's pretty cool about the rollie pollies taking the heavy metals out.
Orange oil works better if you use it a drench in a gallon bucket. Pour quickly as fast as you can into the center of the mound to reach the Queen at the bottom of the mound. Do not disturb the mound before putting. Dirt Dr has great info on this.
Really enjoy your videos
I did empty half of the spray bottle as a drench so that it would soak down into the tunnel system. Seems that's better than spraying for sure.
I found a nice solution to squash vine borers last year. I use Bt to manage cabbage loopers, so when I mix that up I'll take a syringe (just get some insulin syringes from your local pharmacy) and inject some above where the borer larvae are (I go with six inches above the highest borer hole). For the first time ever I had a zucchini plant that lasted from may through September.
Last year I sprayed neem oil inside my stalks infected by vine borers. It helped but didn't save the squash. I am interested in what you did.
Thanks Scott. That weed you let grow as a trap crop looked like it might be wild amaranth. It a great trap crop for cucumber beetles. They like it better than cukes or in my area they do. Much Love
Yes, I believe that's what it was. They get pretty tall and do look like amaranth when in full glory.
One thing that I've found that works really well with fire ants: I find a sugar ant mound, take a BIG shovel full and dump it on the fire ant mound. Next day, no more fire ants.
Scott thanks so much for all the timely information! When you were talking about fire ants, my skin literally crawled-I’m a native Texan in north Texas and have had my fights with them my whole life. I’m going to try orange oil the next time they decide to pop up!!
I totally understand. My garden is being invaded by pill bugs, they killed my peppers and egg plants, it's a no no. I even found them in my cucumbers plants.. I am going to be on top with all I can do, for I need to start over with bell peppers and egg plants.
We have the same issue with squash vine borers in south central Kansas. We pulled 30+ borers out of one of our yellow summer squash plants last year. However, we've found that butternut squash has a stronger stem and is more resistant to vine borers. This year, we're going to try a variety of summer squash that is in the same cultivar as butternut - tromboncino. Hopefully we'll see good results without having to plant some crookneck as a trap crop.
Great video as usual. I’m in Katy Tx so I make sure to watch every video you post. We have the same climate and same weather pattern. I’ve learned so much from you over the last two years. Thank you.
Tomball myself. And it was definitely humid today. Cool breeze most evenings though.
Great video! I felt bad by then end watching you try to film this in the heat. Hopefully you got to go inside and cool down afterwards. Thanks for sharing. 🐌🪲🐛🐜🪰🐝🦋🐞
The heat is part of gardening here. We get used to it and just keep hydrated.
Now I know what the bad bugs look like. Thanks 👩🏽🌾🙏🏽💖
I’m really interested in seeing how the orange oil works for you. And thanks for the actual bug shots.
Glad we were able to see the culprits
God Bless You and Your Boy🥰🌺🌸🌻🌷🌾🍃🦋
We use Medina Orange Oil. In fact, we just now used it! It works every time for us.
I'm trying more bug resistant plants next season and more heat resistant plants. I'm making a better plan of what, when, and where. Best laid plans.. 😆..wish me luck. Now go get yourself a big glass of something cold. Thanks!
Appreciated the discussion on pyrethrins ... organic pest control ... 3 day cycle.
🙂🙃🙂😉
Scott, I found this video very valuable especially from the perspective of balance, the reality that there will always be some bugs and when to treat the area for over-infestation. One other gem for me is learning about how to deal with fire ants without harming your garden. I have fire ants in my vermicompost. So the concern was how not to kill the worms while getting rid of the fire ants. Thank you so much.
Thanks for the pill bug info!
Great tip with the orange oil for fire ants, we’ve been fighting a major ant invasion this year. Boiling hot water does wonders but it’s not so helpful when they build close to my plants.
Thank you Scott , this was very helpful .
The aphids are feisty, just saw bunch of them on my borage along with some cabbage looper.
SUCH AN AWESOME VIDEO!🌻
❤FROM DALLAS TEXAS
I did not know about orange oil! Thank you.
The bugs you call pill bugs, we call them wood lice in the UK. If you already have Neem oil, it will work in your leaf miners too...Just info :)
I freaking hate the vine borers.it kills all of the plants. I'm going to be proactively treating with injections and sprays of BT. I'm doing primarily no treatments this year except on my squash.
Also wanted to say I really like your channel, you tend to put real information out there and don't get wrapped up in some of the common.. uhh. I guess hype would be a decent word. You also focus on things that are important. Such as "pests are natural and will exist" and that you want balance between good and bad bugs.
Thanks for it. I enjoy listening to you while I work, even on things I know about already.
Always fun to see what people call the isopods lol, here in Australia they are slaters, I drink a lot of vanilla coke, and I cut the middle section of a 1.25lt bottle out (recycle the rest) as a temp collar around the seedlings, seems to work maybe 80% of the time. Since the slaters are doing me a favour and make great food for our native skinks they can stay.
I am also glad I do not have to deal with squash bugs here, they always seem to give people problems.
Thanks for the great video, I will be trying all of your ideas to control the pest. And thanks for sticking it out in the heat. I see that it was ruff at times...LOL...
Phoebe Sharona is such a pretty dog!! But she gets fierce looking when she's trying to protect you from the water hose.😆
My parents would locate the borer's hole, make a short slit length-wise in the tubular stem of the squash with a sterilized knife. Then, the borer inside would be extracted and dropped into rubbing alcohol. Then, a piece of Band-Aid adhesive cloth tape was applied over the slit.
The borer tried to lay its eggs on the underside of my pumpkin leaves - which was useful. I just cut the leaves off and put them in the garbage. I have noticed that my high wasp population helps to control the borer. I've seen the hornets attack the moth on the plant. They hover around the squash plants looking for prey. Anyone who has a large borer problem should consider practices to invite wasps to their garden to help get the moth before it lays hundreds of eggs.
Your titles for Phoebe kill me! 🤣🤣
Spinosad works great on leaf miners and caterpillars. I struggled before finding the garden insect spray with spinosad. That stuff keeps my plants looking beautiful! It works! Louisiana zone 9A
Does it kill bumblebees?
@@missietgardendelight6029 it’s natural but just in case I only spray very early in the morning and I avoid any flowers on my plants. When you are careful with natural pest control sprays you can avoid killing bees. I have never killed one that I know of but I’m so careful. The spray works so good on the bugs that we’re eating and making my garden ugly.
You answered a lot of questions thank you for sharing
Great work Sir. Thank you and keep it up.
very nice info on the bugs scott..thanks for the share.
Interesting. I have real problems with those tomatoe horn worms. Thanks for sharing
Cuc beetle pressure (striped and spotted) has been very high the last few seasons in zone 7b. We tried all of the usual recommendations without much success but found regular applications of Surround did the job. Doesn't bother the pollinators and we had ~700lbs of harvests from one planting area. For vine borers we tried wrapping the lower stems with both foil and gauze and found the gauze kept them out best. Fighting slugs now with iron phosphate and beer traps but they're having a field day so far this year on our uncovered cabbages.
Scott, as I say I love your channel. You reach me so much. My raised beds from last year are great this year. I do have one bed where I had cal wonder bell peppers along with okra. When we turned over the bed a week ago we have the most wrigglers. Of course I put them back but always told when wrigglers present good soil. It’s either that or go fishing with them. Thank you
I needed this today! The fire ants in East Texas are hot in my raised beds! I’ve got some orange oil so I’m going to try that!!
I’m actually so allergic to fire ant bites that I have an Epi-pen. I have used the orange oil/Dawn/water solution successfully to kill fire ants, but it can damage young plants in the garden - sometimes it appears to burn them. So in veg beds I’ve resorted to heavy applications of pressurized water from the hose - it tends to make the mound move out of the bed where I can then either pour boiling water on it or use the orange oil solution. Right now my garlic bed has a large fire ant mound in it, but it doesn’t impact the bulbs so I just leave it alone. Spinosad is also affective.
I sprinkle coffee grounds in my garden beds where I find ants. I heard they do not like the scent. I haven’t seen any since.
That sounds right. Where I dump my coffee grounds there are no ants. My sister next door has all the ants I chase away. She uses DE and keeps them under control til the next rain.
This was an informative video, thank you! I am going to try the orange oil. I saw a lady bug this morning on one of my pepper plants and I was cheered as I had seen aphids on a couple of them yesterday (I blasted them off with a spray of water). Nature at work.
The thing we call a doodle bug lives down in a little hole and you stick a piece of pine straw in the hole and pull them out.
Great video! Very handy information and tips! Thank you!
I put our bird feeders and try and attract the small song birds into my garden. It seems to help keep my pest under control. I also have bird baths scattered around my veggie garden
I had a bird feeder and bird bath a few years ago. Didn't notice the difference. But it DID attract squirrels, who found my sown seeds real quick. I should try again since I love birds and the squirrels are no longer nesting nearby (their tree froze and died).
@@ScottHead we have no squirrels in our area. I have watched the little song sparrows pulling off caterpillars from our squash and tomatoes..good luck. I have learned alot this year.
You need to look into buying praying mantis eggs to hatch in your back yard there are native varieties that can be purchased and they would love those moths!
Your garden is looking so beautiful, wow! Thanks for another interesting video, I learn so much from your channel!
Great video! Thank you! I feel like all I do each year in the garden is battle some infestation or another, and there’s not a lot of good content out there that helps. I’m in Southern California in zone 10a and have a lot of the same pests as you, especially the cucumber beetles! I appreciate the advice!
gr8 wisdom! i appreciate this video &very much the information you shared... blessing'Z aLLover your garden!
I’ll tell you what works really well on ants, but you may have to sacrifice a plant if they mounded on top of it..... boiling water. Hit the mound 3-4 times in a row and that should take care of it. And it kills deep in their tunnels.
Try mixing 1/2 cup borax with 1/2 cup white sugar. Put it out and it will kill the ants.
Thanks for this video, very informative.
I heard peppermint solution helps with the beetles.
I have what I think is flea beatle damage to my eggplants. I haven' t done anything about it because I am getting a huge crop of eggplants anyway. I am a kind of lazy gardener.
Orange oil will keep the cats out of the yard too!
I enjoyed that! Since I stopped spraying chemicals in my garden several years ago I noticed that a real balance does establish itself between he good guys and the bad guys! I use BT for caterpillars as it doesn’t hurt anything else, I wonder if that would protect your squash plants if sprayed on a weekly schedule. I sure hate those cucumber beetles, they emerge around June 10th here. I don’t spray for them but I am using treated seeds so the cukes can look after themselves for a while after they emerge.
Klaus
vine borers get me every darn year in zone 7a, bucks co. pa
Any suggestions for leafhoppers and tomato suck bugs on developing tomatoes? These have been bad in my Central TX garden. Great channel, just discovered you.😊
Spiniosad, but not when there are bees around,
Thanks for all your great videos! I'm a new subscriber this spring.
Scott, do you ever put product links or info in the video description? That would be so helpful!
Rarely, I figure folks can just google them, but if its a specialized product I usually will.
Outstanding video, Sir‼️
Fantastic episode.
Use Homemade Azadirachta indica NEEM powder against Fungus . I make organic fertilizers and fungus protection at a time
Very very interesting thank you 👍
Thank you for this video, especially under those humid conditions. Do beans & peas need to be pollinated? Thank you.
Not necessarily as they are like tomatoes, self pollinating. But they do disturb the flower and help pollination along. Sort of like how people shake or vibrate their tomato flowers to release pollen. Its nice to have a big, heavy, clumsy bee shaking those bean blossoms. :-)
For fire ants, boiling water helps when it's a small mound. Also if your yard is inviting to lizards, they can keep bugs in check. I've seen one of my lizards having a ball eating ants.
I have a Yard full of lizards and skinks, but still have a ton of bugs. I don't know hat they are eating, but it's sure not bugs!
Charles lizards ONLY eat bugs. Your bug population is just too large for them all to eat, or they are picky about the kinds of bugs they eat.
@@juneramirez8580 of course it's the balance. No yard can be bug free.
I'm trying netting for cabbage moths this year...fingers crossed. Last year I used little decoys bc the moths are territorial...worked for awhile. I'm vegan so I don't kill but the bugs do get the best of me at times. 😂
Thanks for this video
I’m plagued by 3-lined potato beetle on my tomatillos and ground cherries. Their gross little slimy larvae are all over my leaves right now
Thank you .....I learned a lot !
Hey Scott, love your channel. Can you tell me how to plant a cucumber in a container. What goes into the soil as you are first potting it. I'm a first time gardener trying to figure things out. Thanks in advance.
Cucumbers and squash are close enough in requirements that this video will be useful:
th-cam.com/video/4CgBmj89D8M/w-d-xo.html
I'd train my cucumber up a trellis and only plant two plants in a 15-20 gallon pot. You will get plenty of cukes.
@@ScottHead thank you so much for your help. Planting tomorrow from plants I grew from seed. So excited to try this.
Were you the one that asked me the same question of Facebook? If so, I see you've seen this reply and I hope it helps. :-)
@@ScottHead yes I was. Thank you so much for your help.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom with the world! If you don't see the pest at work, how do you identify them?
The shapes of the holes often tells you what kinds of pests. You sort of learn it as you go.
Sprinkle your garden with self rising flour, the bugs eat it the suns out & pop
Do you ever have to deal with Japanese beetles? Man, last year, here in the midwest - unreal.
Only once and they seemed to come and go pretty quick.
Those bugs are crazy here in North Texas 🥵I am in a serious battle here since April
Let us know how that orange oil does. Great video! Love seeing Phoebe 😁
I'm allergic to pyrethrin, so I can't use it. I'm trying to use physical barriers as much as I can. I do use BT so I try to catch pests in larva stage.
I saw a video of someone using a handheld vacuum cleaner to get rid of bugs. Have you ever tried that? Maybe adjust the distance from the bug. The video I saw looked like it had a straw-like attachment to use.
Never tried it but I've seen folks do it.
Scott, What do you do with the bane of my existence, mexican miner beatles? They will decimate green beans in a short bit.
I have not seen any, so I don't really have any tips. I supposed I'd go after them with organic insecticides like BT or spinosad or pyrethrin, whichever of those three is listed as killing beetles.
Scott, do you have a video on spider mite prevention on your grapes and your plants? Thanks.
Yes there is a link to my spider mit video in this video.
th-cam.com/video/yq-1OQnl7Yk/w-d-xo.html
Have you ever tried growing in a container with fresh soil and use tulle to keep moths off the squash?
Not yet, that's an option though
@@ScottHead I'm going to try it this year with my summer zucchini and my cucumbers. Still figuring out how to allow them to vine out or up while being covered.
Thanks again
Quick question Scott, how far north do those Vine Bore Moths travel. We are in New Brunswick, Canada. I asked a friend if he had problems last year with his pumpkins and he said he hadn't heard of them. Really enjoying all your video's, it was nice to see you and David get together this year.
I'm not really sure though I did find this page which says they are in most US states and some SE Canada. entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/leaf/squash_vine_borer.htm
@@ScottHead Thanks Scott, I'm hoping not.
Love your videos thank you
I haven't really had success with squash in my garden because of those darn borers in zone 8b TX, so I just don't plant them anymore. Trying again this year, though! My biggest recurring pests are a combo of fire ants and aphids. So difficult to deal with them, but I use a neem/soap spray religiously through the summer. I'll have to try some orange oil next! I've heard it works for termites in your plants, too.
Hey I put cedar mulch on fire ants and they move their mound!
I am spraying boiled garlic and sparying cold coffee
That sounds interesting. I boiled up some ghost peppers last year and made a spray. That helped with moths.