Tom Carey: Pests of spring

The bugs are back from their winter hiatus and have their sights sets on our gardens. As the days warm up and lengthen, procreating pests kick reproductive hungers into overdrive just as our crops present their most luscious opportunities. Sure was nice not finding random damage to our hard earned harvests for the last several months, but with spring’s tender growth flourishing, it is time to ramp up pest control procedures.

The first step in any organic pest control regime is to ‘know thy enemy.’ Spiders, snakes, ladybugs, wasps, bees, birds, peacocks, and the neighbor’s dog are not pests pertinent to this discussion. We are looking for the marauders that are in direct competition to our hungry bellies. I actually enjoy the natural parade of garden visitors, welcoming those that do not plan to compete with me on the food chain.

The larval stage of most butterflies and moths, commonly called caterpillars or worms, appear wherever the mother lays her eggs. The random fate of wind, territory, and food sources leaves any of our crops open to aerial attack. Balancing the time and cost of crop protection to the simplicity of merely purchasing food will help determine the degree of efforts submitted. How much effort can you spend handpicking hundreds of caterpillars from the undersides of broccoli leaves or playing ‘Seek and Destroy’ knowing there is one large hornworm defoliating an entire tomato plant? Thuricide is an organic spray made with naturally occurring soil bacteria (any kid who has ever eaten dirt ingested some). When sprayed on crops, the caterpillar eats some, get sick, and dies in days.

Tiny suckers, like aphids, thrips, and mites can be dissolved with an insecticidal soap spray. For the most part, I disdain homemade pest concoctions, but a simple soap spray is too easy to ignore. Dr. Bronner’s organic soap, mixed at a rate of one tablespoon of soap to a quart of water, sprayed directly on pests, is too simple to dismiss. Direct sunlight reduces the efficiency of many pest controls, so I apply most of my sprays in the evening.

Tougher enemies may require a broad-spectrum insecticide. Products like neem, spinosad, and pyrethrum will kill most of the targeted pests, and then some. The quarter inch ‘mustard beetles’ that machine gun my Pac Choi and turnip greens have been endemic to my land for decades. Once they make their annual appearance, a few well timed blasts rotated between theses pesticides manages the problems down to a few well placed excuses. Just try not to spray the bees and butterflies (or the neighbor’s dog).

Tom Carey is the owner of Sundew Gardens, a you-pick gardening business in Oviedo. Visit the Sundew Gardens Facebook page and e-mail him at [email protected]