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PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 5:37 pm 
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Something has been eating my herb garden. It was perfectly healthy a few days ago. Now the basil and parsley are gone and the sage is going. HELP! What can I spray on them that is safe to eat? The leaves that have not disappeared have large sections missing.


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 Post subject: Eating Herbs
PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 10:55 pm 
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Location: Dallas,TX
Let a mess of ladybugs loose first. Depending on how big your critters are, they might help. If you want to spray something right away, try Bioganic that you can get from a local from Lowe's. It is a blend of plant oils that together act as a nerve chemical blocker only found in insects. Harmless to mammals, fish, birds, etc. And it doesn't smell nasty, either and seems to be less harsh on beneficials. I don't recommend garlic pepper tea because it will get into the plants and mess up the herb's natural flavors. Hope this helps!


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2003 9:21 am 
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Location: Dallas,TX
It's likely snails or pillbugs (rollie pollies). Pillbugs don't like fresh cedar mulch very much, and I read here that spraying it with a soapy water mixture keeps them away for a long, long time. They are crustaceans, not insects, so insect stuff does not work in them.

There are many snail treatments around... cheapest is a shallow dish of beer placed out overnight.

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...Bill


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2003 1:40 pm 
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make yourself some garlic pepper tea. It works on just about all insect pests and it is safe for you, you'll just want to rinse your herbs before you eat them. It's really easy and there is no exact science to making it. You just get a bunch of garlic cloves and some hot pepper, I've used powdered red pepper from my spice cabinet, I've used the seeds from the dried peppers you get at the grocery store and I've used red pepper flakes like some people put on pizza. Boil a good sized pot of water, I usually do like 6-8 cups at a time, put your garlic cloves and your pepper in a bowl big enough to hold the amount of water you used and when the water gets to boiling pour it in the bowl with the garlic and pepper. Cover it and set it aside (if you have a place outdoors to put it I'd suggest putting it outside because it stinks) Let it sit for at least 24 hours but you can leave it as long as you like. Pour some of it into a spray bottle (I usually dilute it down to one part tea to three parts water in a 32 oz spray bottle). and you're ready to go. Spray it on as needed after you water so that it doesn't rinse right off. I haven't seen any of them here but in Ohio we would get overun with Japanese Beetles and a squirt of this stuff would kill them on the spot.

Be sure not to keep this tea in your house. It smells really bad and the smell concentrates as the tea gets older. If you keep it in the house you are sure to be able to smell it. I usually freeze whatever extra there is in a sealed container after filling the sprayer so that I don't have to deal with the smell.

-Beth


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2003 11:10 am 
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I'm a little late planting some of my fall veggies, but the broccoli likes really cold weather so it isn't a big deal. But the big chunks eaten out of the leaves are a big deal. Last night I put out several margarine tubs (sunk into the soil) with a few ounce of beer in each. Seems there was a snail party going on last night--in the spot where the most damage had been done I drowned 10 of them in one tub! Picked up a few more elsewhere. If you can bring yourself to share your beer with the garden, this is about as easy a way to control slugs and snails as you'll find. :P


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 Post subject: Snails
PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2003 1:42 pm 
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Aarrgh! You guys are so right! It probably was snails instead of an insect. Most of the time if anything is chewing on my plants it's something that doesn't stay long anyway; I have so little problem with snails that I forget about those guys! To contribute to all your other excellent potential cures, there's also DE or the commercial product Sluggo which is iron phosphate. It will kill those guys and then break down into fertilizer. Isn't it nice how we all balance out each other and figure out a good answer for everyone? :lol: :lol:


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2003 10:26 pm 
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Beer's a lot cheaper than the organic stuff--and what you don't use, you can drink! How sublime a remedy!


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 30, 2003 1:49 pm 
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I once got waaaay into the beer while doing this and then woke up in the garden, covered in snails...
:oops:

There's a movie there somewhere... :P

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 Post subject: Great Laugh!
PostPosted: Thu Oct 02, 2003 10:40 pm 
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Location: Dallas,TX
Billusa -
:lol: :lol: :lol: THAT WAS HILARIOUS! I ACTUALLY THREW BACK MY HEAD AND HELD MY STOMACH! Thanks for the belly laugh.
Kathe


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