Insecticides~what do you use and why?

[seedcorn]

It will be interesting to follow this thread. I use herbicides to kill unwanted weeds on property-none in garden. Would never use an insecticide on my garden. I do use TempoSC to kill ants around house.

 

[ninnymary]

I bought a bottle of neem oil last year when the hardware store was moving and it was 75% off. Still haven't used it. Something chews the leaves on my pole beans but it doesn't affect harvest so I don't spray. But there is something on my kale that drives me nuts. It is super tiny little white eggs I'm assuming of white flies? Would neem oil help with that?

Mary

 

[valley ranch]

Glyphosate will migrate to the water table~

 

[digitS']

I don't find information on Neem and insect eggs from the universities. (People trying to sell it might say anything .)

@ninnymary , my guess is that it does kill the eggs the same way the horticultural oils do.

The other organic bug-killers I mentioned are not effective against the eggs and that has been fairly obvious to me.

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

Steve, without looking at pictures, what do you think I have on my kale? What should I spray with?

Mary

 

[digitS']

If they are Whiteflies, I have no garden experience with them, Mary. We would sometimes have them in the greenhouse where I worked but had heavy-duty insecticides. I have never had them show up in my garden. I think we are too far north.

UCBerkley says: Use spray (horticultural) oils to control whiteflies minimizing adverse effects on natural enemies... This material requires frequent applications and thorough coverage.

Here is UNReno: When horticultural oils are sprayed onto the plant, the oil covers any exposed insects or eggs and suffocates them by clogging their breathing tubes. Neem is a naturally occurring botanical pesticide found in seeds from the neem tree.

Sounds about right.

Steve

 

[majorcatfish]

Glyphosate will migrate to the water table~

here at the house the static water level is between 12-14' at the well. of course our 2 main gardens are in close proximity if it, so i am always Leary of spraying or over fertilizing..

 

[AMKuska]

I tried the neem oil on my potatoes a few days ago. They were getting severely chewed up. It seemed to stop the problem pretty quickly, with no ill-effects to the plant.

 

[valley ranch]

It does seem to be good and not harmful.

 

[catjac1975]

I used BT on very young gypsy moths that were eating my blueberries. They are almost invisible when small. First blueberries forming in a couple years-it clearly worked.