Where can I find BT and/or pea innoculant?

Where can I find BT and/or pea innoculant?

I have had lots of problems with cabbage worms on broccoli and cabbages. I keep hearing that I should use Bacillus thuringiensis and just read about it on wiki...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis
Anybody us it? Who sells it?

How about the pea innoculant. I raised peas the past 2 years and got only a few small harvests. Been hearing about using this innoculant thing. Again, Anybody us it? Who sells it?
-thanks in advance

I have read that the herb Tansy is very good at keeping cabbage worms at bay aswell as cut worms. There is plenty on the internet about it if you search for "cabbage worms tansy". Hope this helps in some way

I personally have not used either, but you can find inoculant at Vesey's:

http://www.veseys.com/us/en/store/tools/indoorseed/gardeninoculant

I've used both, Squat, but it was many years ago.

A quick search of the 'net shows inoculant available on Amazon.com and through Harris Seeds and Morgan County Seeds. Morgan County has it for $3.50 for the powder, or $6 for a container that shakes onto the row.

Gurney's offers a shaker to treat a 150-ft. row for $12.50. (That's where I got mine about 20 years ago.)

For Bt look for brand names Dipel or Thuricide. Amazon carries it for $6.95 plus $5.95 shipping, but you can probably find it in the garden departments of your local stores at planting time. Make certain you get the one labeled for worms. Apparently there are two strains, and the other one is for flies and gnats.

I used the pea inoculant on my peas and they produced bumper crops that year. I wish I had remembered about it before I planted last spring's peas. The Dipel worked really well against cabbage worms. It takes about 4 days for them to die, but they stop eating immediately. It needs to be reapplied after rain.

Safer brand has "Caterpillar Killer" for Trees, Shrubs and Vegetables Concentrate that you mix with water and spray on your veggies. It is Bacillus Turingiensis, subs. kurstaki strain ABTS-351 solids, spores and insecticidal toxins. (I apologize for any misspellings here, the letters are so tiny on the instructions label of my bottle)

I found it at the County Co-op Store in their Gardening Area, insecticide dept. Unless you speak to a knowledgeable person, they may not know what BT is. I also found it a a couple of nurseries in my area. To be honest, I did not look at big box stores.

It states to treat every 3 - 14 days as needed and can be used up to the day of harvest. I found that it helped a lot. There is not much worse than getting ready to bite into some fresh broccoli and there is "something green wiggling in there".

The damage to the plants was so bad before I treated with BT, I had a couple that did not survive the infestation. Once I treated with BT, the cabbage worms went away and I was able to harvest some broccoli.

jumiclads wrote:I have read that the herb Tansy is very good at keeping cabbage worms at bay aswell as cut worms...

Be careful: Tansy is considered a noxious, invasive weed around here, and in many counties homeowners are fined by the county for letting Tansy go to seed in their fields and pastures.

Tansy ragwort can make livestock very lame, it irritates the soft tissue in their hooves, although I'm not sure that tansy and the tansy ragwort that lamed my horse are the same thing. I moved from Michigan to Washington state and hadn't heard of that problem until my horse suddenly got very sore-footed and the vet informed me that the pretty weeds in the pasture were the cause of the problem. I had no idea!

I have done a little research on Tansy and found this for anyone who would like a read:

Common tansy is Tanacetum vulgare. Don't confuse common tansy with "tansy ragwort" (Senecio jacobea), a different plant altogether.

Tansy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tansy

Tansy Ragwort http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senecio_jacobaea

i had tansy growing by the back door started off quite small and got extremely huge. I like its foliage it is quite fern like and pretty but the flowers look like a daisy with the petals pulled off. I pulled it all up the year before last and have been having to pull up any new pieces that sprout, its rather persistent. It is supposed to keeps ants and other insects out of your house when planted by entryways though.

I got Bt at Ace Hardware. I can't remember the brand but it was in powdered form. IMO a liquid you can spray on would be better because many of my cabbage worms were on the underside of leaves. I know Bt comes in liquid form but I could not find any.

I found pea & bean inoculant at several stores that sell Burpee seeds. Home Depot, Lowes, etc. It was right on the seed rack in a little packet near the beans/peas.

jumiclads wrote:I have done a little research on Tansy and found this for anyone who would like a read:

Common tansy is Tanacetum vulgare. Don't confuse common tansy with "tansy ragwort" (Senecio jacobea), a different plant altogether.

Tansy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tansy

Tansy Ragwort http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senecio_jacobaea

Thank you, Mick, I should have done a google search

I heard that the pea/bean innoculant is only 'good' for one year so only buy what you plan on using that year. I soak all my pea/bean seeds for a few hours in a cup of warm water before planting and then drain the seeds, sprinkle a bit of the innoculant on the seeds, toss and plant..

BT got me puzzled for a while, and even our local nursery told me the didn't have it, while they actually did. It's called Thuricide. Every gardening store has it.