Combat Those Veggie Garden Insect Pests the Natural Way!

The beginning of June has arrived and your veggie garden is overflowing with new transplants and germinating seeds. What a great feeling it is to finally have most of the planting done and you can concentrate on watering, fertilizing and the myriad of other chores having a garden brings. All is right with the world, but wait a minute! Look at my cabbages – holes in the leaves and cute white butterflies flitting about without a care in the world – other than laying a million eggs on my brassicas! (the cabbage family). Welcome to vegetable gardening, nature and the curve balls it can throw at you. Thankfully we have some very environmentally friendly methods of dealing with these nasty insect pests.

First you must arm yourself with knowledge instead of chemicals. The days of bringing out the heavy chemical artillery are long gone and we are all the better for it. Chemicals not only kill the bad bugs but the beneficial insects as well. A sterilized garden is not a garden.

Knowledge is key to dealing with insect pests of any kind. Familiarize yourself with the enemy. Remember the saying – ‘Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer’. Hop on the computer and narrow down the vegetable pests that frequent Saskatoon and area. If you can capture some of the offenders, take a mug shot and run that by Google Lens or the myriad of other gardening apps for a positive identification. And in particular, learn to identify the good guys in their adult and larval form (especially ladybug larvae!)

Here are five particularly obnoxious vegetable pests to get you started –

Cutworms, Onion Root Maggots, White Cabbage Butterfly, Carrot Rust Fly and Wireworms. (See DIY June 2024 blog)

Be proactive, not reactive and be vigilant - Be vigilant by being very observant of the plants around you.  Check your vegetables routinely for insects and other problems. Please remember that one or two bug pests on a plant are not cause for alarm. First identify the bug – it could be one of the good guys! If so, leave the bug(s) on the plant but do check further under leaves and on the stems. Often beneficial bugs are found where the bad bugs are hanging out. If it is one or two bad bugs, pick them off the plant and get rid of them or save them in an insect trap for the kids to study later.

Pull those weeds!

Both in and around your garden. Weeds are usually the first plants to appear in spring so start weeding very early. Many insects and plant diseases need host plants to complete their life cycle. Host plants are more often than not, weeds or grasses that are near your garden. Insect pests use these weeds as a permanent residence in fall and winter after the growing season is over. You can also use mulches to keep down the weeds. When the season is over clean up your vegetable garden and surrounding area. Remove all dead or dying leaves, old vegetable roots, trellis and supports. You would be surprised where some insect pests spend their winters!

Use Row Cover or Floating Row Cover as soon as you transplant seedlings outdoors or direct seed your garden. When used very early in the season, row cover can ward off frosts and let in the sun, water and air while keeping out adult flying insect pests. It is particularly helpful when growing plants in the brassica or cabbage family. Root vegetables in general also benefit. You will still have to check them periodically for any pests that have overwintered in the soil under the cover. When installing the row cover, make sure you are very particular about pinning down or covering the edges so none of the bad guys can crawl under. The row cover can touch the plants but many gardeners find it beneficial to install hoops over the planting area after seeding or transplanting.  Cover the hoops with the row cover and secure the edges as described above.  You can leave this cover on all season.

There are three different weights of row cover – light, medium and heavy. The medium and heavy are meant for heavy frosts and only let in thirty to fifty percent of sunlight. For our vegetable gardens, the lighter weight is recommended. If taken care of properly, your row cover will last for several seasons. Remove and store in a dry place for the winter.

Practice Crop Rotation.

When practiced consistently, crop rotation is a very effective pest deterrent. If you have had a bad infestation lightly rake or shallow till your garden before winter to expose overwintering eggs and adult insect pests. Use tilling only if you have had a pest infestation problem. In general tilling destroys soil structure and should only be used as described above. Crop rotation is also beneficial to the soil, provides nutrients and helps to battle plant diseases as well.

A few additional tips!

Use companion planting to your advantage (see May 2024 DIY - FA Blog) For example, French Marigolds, rosemary, sage, garlic, chives, onions, dill and cilantro repel carrot rust flies.

Attract beneficial bugs, birds and bats to your garden by providing homes and readily available water.

Garbage plants that have shown insect or disease damage. Do not compost.

Delay planting until mid-June to avoid peak insect pest egg laying period. Some insects that only have one generation per year lay their eggs very early in the season.

Choose vegetable varieties that are pest resistant.