something eating basil, bell pepper and arugula

edsac64 7/10/2010, 9:55 pm

There is something eating the leaves of my basil, bell pepper and arugula plants. It starts as little holes in the middle of the leaves and then devours the entire leaf. My basil plants have been decimated. Rather than use a pesticide, I'd rather try something organic related. I thought I'd read somewhere that a mixture of mild liquid detergent and water, sprayed on the leaves might help because the soap irritates the bugs. Has anyone had experience with this? What has worked for others? My father had mentioned rotenone being effective and quite safe.

**camprn** 7/10/2010, 10:05 pm

I am having a similar problem and it is little brownish beetles eating the foliage. When I find 'em, I hand pick 'em and squish 'em. Evil or Very Mad

littlesapphire 7/11/2010, 4:57 pm

I surround my garden with pennies to keep slugs out, then spray the leaves with an organic insecticidal soap to take care of other stuff. Other than that, I just hope for the best.

silverbug 7/12/2010, 7:17 am

I've just been sitting on my hands regarding my pest problems. I just feel overwhelmed. I don't want to eat veggies with stuff sprayed on them, and I read about pepper spray...ok, doesn't that affect the flavor of the food growing? Soap? er. ok, but soap is kinda yucky too. Oooh, you know, something I could try, what about Dr. Bronner's castile soap? It's totally biodegradable, has peppermint oil in it...don't you think that would irritate potential pests? Although, again, will my food taste like peppermint??

littlesapphire 7/12/2010, 8:19 am

@silverbug, I don't spray the actual veggies when I used the insecticidal soap. I usually just spray the leaves, which is usually what's affected most by bugs in my garden. And besides that, I almost always scrub my produce with a really basic, biodegradable soap before eating it, especially stuff I buy at the store. And as far as I can tell, it doesn't affect the way the food tastes.

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something eating basil, bell pepper and arugula

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