A Simple Way for Controlling Pests And Diseases in the Garden.

[@benjamenchiids7418]

One of the only guys that educates me instead of selling me something

[@nancyfahey7518]

Least annoying guy in the plant/bugs/seeds world.

[@sistergoldenhair2231]

Yes agree.... who isnt tired of those trying to sell u their secret magic potion. 👍

[@Gardenfundamentals1]

Thanks for the comments. You can help by sending the video link to a friend and post on social media. :)

[@wmpx34]

Oh, and most home remedies are worthless. But last year we tried getting rid of aphids on our black-eyed peas by mixing some coffee grounds in water then spraying that all over the plants. Aphids vanished and the plants weren’t hurt at all. Just wanted to throw that out there in case it helps anyone else

[@jeil5676]

Ive fixed aphid issues with blasting water and removing a couple branches before, so they can be easy to control at least sometimes.

[@44240xtp]

Most is not all

[@HoosierDaddy_]

I haven't had any diseases or bug infestations since I started leaving nature alone, lol. There's always going to be "powdery mildew" on the bee balms, lol. I don't waste time caring. I also left the wasps alone and keep the garden very healthy. I think healthy plants survive bugs and disease much better. My focus for all of these healthy plants is focusing on making the soil good. I don't need to put any chemicals on the garden. Great soil, healthy plants, no problem!

[@MahALOHAwaii92]

Sodium bicarbonate works great to combat powdery mildew mix with neem oil and peppermint dr bronners 👍🏽

[@CounterCultureVegan]

People have gardens to feel close to nature. But only on their terms, it seems. I think people would be far more mentally stable and have more enriched lives if they gave up tring to control everything!

[@charmainechia7599]

How do you keep your soil healthy, if I may ask? Topping up with compost and mulch every 3 months?

[@HoosierDaddy_]

@@charmainechia7599 * in the 1st year I brought in topsoil and tilled compost into it in a nearly 50/50 ratio. I then covered it with leaves and natural things and let it sit that winter and break down. In the spring, I put a couple of inches of compost on the top, planted things mixing compost into the holes and put triple shredded hardwood mulch about 2 inches on top for the year. Now I just put a couple of inches of the shredded hardwood mulch on in spring and fall and sprinkle a little compost in each planting hole I add. I only sprinkle a bit of plantone organic fertilizer on the surface in March each year and the mulch breaking down keeps the soil healthy. I use no other fertilizers on anything and it all keeps itself healthy now.

[@LezBob]

@@CounterCultureVegan Agreed. The way people approach gardening says a lot about how they tackles life also.

[@wmpx34]

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but you’re generally right. In terms of sustainability, it would be better to determine which species and varieties are least affected, then just grow those. Even if there was some magic snake oil we could buy to eliminate all pests…I don’t think it makes sense to become wholly reliant on some product that may or may not always be available. Plus, as you always mention, there ain’t no way to kill only the bad bugs, really.

[@yochisiskindovich5886]

Your love and respect for nature is evident in this video. Excellent video

[@CounterCultureVegan]

My garden is purely an edible garden and is full of wildlife. My favourite aspect of the garden is all the insects, spiders, slaters, worms, birds, lizards and all the other critters I share my garden with. Oh and the fruit bats,, Brush Tail possums and Ringtail possums!!! :) I'm generally left with more than enough for the kitchen but the possums destroy most of my figs but I'm just happy they're there.

[@insertphrasehere15]

If you are going to spray with anything in the vege garden, I recommend Neem oil as a general purpose fungicide and pesticide. It kicks the butt of most forms of powdery mildew and blight, works well against aphids, is non toxic to humans and pets, and so long as you avoid spraying flowers directly it is harmless to pollinators too.

[@jeil5676]

Not sure that we can get that here in Canada. Its not recognized as a pesticide by the appropriate canadian agencies. Unless things have changed recently.

[@nicthill2206]

​@jeil5676 neem oil has many uses its not a pesticide per say but does work well as one so you don't buy it as a pesticide as such, just by neem oil, lots of online recipes for use for all sorts of things, works as a repellent, can mix to make a great pet repellent too, even great headlice treatment easier than any other treatment. Neem is even great for oral health. So many benefits. It really is a powerhouse natural product with lots of applications.

[@jeil5676]

@@nicthill2206 I dont think its available here.

[@pumpkineater_69557]

@@jeil5676Neem oil is available here in Ontario and has been for at least 5 years when I started gardening. Here’s a question for you, why post something you didn’t have knowledge of clearly, and you only thought it wasn’t available? Serious question, not trying to be rude.

[@Nocare89]

I with you, but I think the conversation changes a bit when we get into growing our food. Aphids completely killed some of the radish bushes I wanted to go to seed. The two big ones that survived I had to prune sections quite often, which limited growth. If they eat up a main stem section it just won't grow any more. When collecting seeds I discarded at least 50% which had some bug drill in and eat the developing seeds. I had an end yield of 1000+ seeds so it was still good. Much of the radish bulbs had a worm of some kind crawl all over and inside, and then they would just rot. Slugs will crawl into the ground and ball up around seedlings to party out of sunlight. I lost a lot to that. I only got to eat like 10% of my radishes. Most of my cucumbers were eaten to the stem so I didn't get any of those. I just had a couple stunted ones that never grew up. My main point is that its a big hit to a veggie garden to experimentally figure out which plants won't get bothered too much. More things for me to learn and I'm still not going to be getting into chemical warfare against bugs. It's just a frustration with a small garden when a bug kills a thing and you simply have no more of that thing haha. I do know now I can probably have flowering radish to capture some aphid populations and then just snip them away. I do wonder if I would be creating a trap or just boosting the overall population xD Aphids are probably the least worrying thing as you can just brush them off early enough.

[@musictech85]

Read "Landrace Gardening" by Joseph Lofthouse

[@Nocare89]

@@musictech85 Looks like an interesting one. I will

[@Gonecrazy666]

I too have kept veggies in my growing beds long after they’re good to eat just to harvest seeds but that’s when the aphids come in and eat the heck out of them, polluting the entire garden. Solution: if I want seeds from said plant I grow some of them in an area away from my garden just for seed, that way aphids are out of my main garden and not attacking my eating veggies

[@gwynnmiller428]

Spraying soapy water gets rid of aphids, I believe. Beer in lids traps slugs. Ducks cause less destruction to plants than chickens and they ❤slugs. My problem last year was blister beetles :( Trying to kill the grubs with Diatomaceous earth and when I hoe, I squish em dead. Borage seemed to protect my tomatoe plants from the horn worm last year, and I've planted 4 o'clocks every year since I heard that its poison to the Japanese beetle and I've not had any problems with them since. I use lots of wood chips, 4 inches deep in walkways, compost, sprinkle collected coffee grounds on corn and other high nitrogen feeders, burn the garden every fall and try to cover with humanely raised cows' manure or leaves or wood chips, whatever I can get my hands on to cover it cause I can work the ground earlier and having several inches of wood chips in walkways, when it rains several inches in a day, I can still get in my garden ❤

[@sbffsbrarbrr]

So basically there isn't much we can do about anything except to look for resistant varieties and be vigilant in looking for issues before they become a problem if possible. And from year to year it's something different. As an example, two years ago I had an issue with squash bugs. I tried to be diligent, looking at the underside of leaves for the eggs and cutting of the sections with the eggs or pulling off the whole leaf if I was impatient. Last year I didn't come across any squash bugs but had a huge problem with powdery mildew on the zucchini plants. We'll see what I have to deal with this year 😆

[@kimipbnikhuma8000]

What a soothing voice and thorough info. Thank you so much for the education.

[@gsmscrazycanuck9814]

Too bad it's not the best information.

[@PatC.]

TIPS-- I have luck keeping Iris borer out of my irises by spraying and drenching with BT. BT will also prevent leaf miner. Also if you spray it on kale and collards, it prevents holes from the cabbage worms that come from the white butterflies. Amazon has it. Also a dilute spray of soapy water kills aphids and squash bugs quickly within a minute or two. If you are worried that soapy water might hurt your plant's tender leaves, after you spray it on, wait 5 minutes then hose it off with plain water and do it when the sun is getting ready to set, not when the sun is baking down hot on the plants. In recent years, my azalea bushes got massive spider mite infestations... what worked very well was a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a gallon of water in a sprayer with a small squirt of dish liquid just to help make it stick. And most bugs like to hide underneath leaves so focus there the most, then hit the tops too.

[@xuyahfish]

My son went into Anaphylaxis last Fall after a bee sting. So we'll have to use an insecticide around the perimeter of our yard. He is undergoing allergy therapy, but we tend to have a lot of bees & wasps here. Unfortunately, we have a number of butterfly bushes & other bee-friendly plants bc we HAD wanted to support bee populations ...

[@xuyahfish]

He's allergic to bees, wasps & vespids

[@teebob21]

Get an EpiPen, don't just kill all the insects.

[@_JimmyBeGood]

He might out grow that.

[@backwoodscountryboy1600]

I purchased your book plant science for gardeners and I really like the way you've written it. Simple and easy to understand. Do you have a book on compost when I finish this book I'll be interested in that you're one of the few writers that can write a book that a novice can understand. Thanks for the video it was also easy to understand.

[@Gardenfundamentals1]

Thank you for the kind words. I definitely have one for Compost. Compost Science for Gardeners. www.gardenmyths.com/compost-science-for-gardeners/

[@deborahpacheco2799]

I've seen some really dumb posts saying put mosquito netting over plants to prevent insects in the garden. How do people think the bees and other pollinators can get to the blooms on the plants so they develop the pea pods etc?

[@rubelliterose]

I use insect netting in my vegetable garden! Many crops such as onions, brassicas and lettuce don't need pollinators. We have so many stink bugs, leaf footed bugs and vine borers that I am considering covering my zucchini and hand pollinating. This year, my pea plants were all eaten by something before they were more than a few inches tall, so I may try covering them while they are small and uncovering them when they produce flowers.

[@jeil5676]

@@rubelliterose I bought some parthenocarpic cucumber seeds this year that could be put under netting too.

[@shawnsg]

You can use it to give the plant a head start before it's under attack. Also, many insects have seasonal fluctuations. With good timing you can miss them. Some plants naturally self-pollinate as well. Many peas do.

[@theressomelovelyfilthdownh4329]

Saw flies will defoliate gooseberry bushes very quickly. In part because fruit bushes tend to be netted, or in fruit cages. We also don't tend to spend as much time checking on fruit bushes outside of pruning, or when they're in flower/fruit. So you may not even notice them until significant damage has already been done. You're also protecting them from any birds who would gladly make a meal of them.

[@jeil5676]

Last spring I was noticing my gooseberry being defoliated daily but upon inspection I couldn't find any insects on it. So I shallowly rooted around at the base of the plant with my fingers and found a single caterpillar type thing which must have been climbing up the plant to eat the leaves at night, and climbing back down into the duff during the day. If I hadnt found the culprit it would have eaten all the leaves within just a few more days. Dont know what insect it was but I would have probably thought it were a cutworm if I had found it elsewhere.

[@theressomelovelyfilthdownh4329]

@@jeil5676 Cut worms have no shame, they would be there during the day in numbers. But you did right to have a hunt about to see what's hanging around the base of the plant. For all their crazy thorns, gooseberries are the most likely fruit bush here to get hit by caterpillars, or cutworms.

[@LezBob]

I'm so surprised this year I had no pest or diseased plants. There was 3 or 4 caterpillars on my rose leaves but i flung them in the neighbor's yard and they did not come back. I even saw an orgy of Japanese beetles on some other plants but they did no damage and went away. No fert, no pest spray, no fungus spray. I did not even pick up any slugs. I did have a fat marmot come peek in my compost. I gave up on regular roses though. I planted 6 mini rose bushes lining my patio. They are very resistant and grow to look pretty much like regular tea roses.

[@shanshan988]

That iris borer looks so much like the squash vine borer... my recent nemesis!

[@guyvanooteghem8531]

For every infestation, there are animals that prey upon it. By combating the infestation, you inadvertently target these beneficial animals as well. The issue then arises from the fact that the lifecycle of the infestation is typically much shorter than that of its natural predators, allowing the infestation to resurge post-treatment, often with significantly reduced natural predators. I've explored all remedies to control aphids, yet once initiated, the battle against them becomes perpetual as it also eliminates or disperses their natural predators. A few years ago, I opted to cease combat efforts against pests and let nature take its course. After two years some kind of natural equilibrium was achieved in the garden. Nowadays I see many more insects of many more species in the garden. The only thing I still do is squish small groups of aphids with my fingers whenever I see them. While there are always some aphids present, they're no longer a threat to my organic vegetable garden.

[@jfabiani]

Thank you. Looking forward to the weed episode.

[@marlenaa7860]

I love your videos. I’m binge watching them all! Lots of great content with no BS. Love it ! Please keep them coming . Thank you !!!

[@theressomelovelyfilthdownh4329]

People should double-check if they actually have scarlet lily beetle. Cardinal beetles look basically the same, but the abdomen is roughly the same width as the thorax. Whereas the scarlet lily beetle's abdomen will flare out at almost a right-angle to around twice as wide as the thorax. You also have a red-headed cardinal beetle, which is entirely that bright orangey red colour. Both of which are useful to have around the garden. Cardinal beetles are as good as ladybirds at dealing with aphids. I'm not sure if this is always the case, but they tend to show up in numbers to feast on the aphids. They cleared my broad beans of black fly within a week. A few showed up at the start, but by day three there must have been hundreds spread out over my 20 or so plants. Once they had totally wiped out the black fly, they vanished again. They will nibble at the foliage, but it's very minor. So check which beetle you have before you take any drastic action. It could just be some cardinal beetles passing through looking for your aphids.

[@adriansimionescu6868]

Thank you, very helpful information 🍷

[@joniboulware1436]

You are a great educator. I learn so much everytime I watch your videos.

[@redskeleton4049]

Of course the US doesn't have a ban on most poisons! We love keeping our doctors rich, and helpful medicine is tied up in red tape for years while people suffer! WE FARM DISEASE!

[@EliTHink754]

You are an excellent teacher....always appreciate your natural life

[@AnandRaghavan-z5e]

This year I have pill bugs gobbling up my Cole crop seedlings. Transplanted and lost within days most of my Broccoli, Kale, Lettuce. People say they only eat detritus, but no, they definitely chow down the tender stems of these plants. Don't plant these crops - well I like growing veggies and this bed is in a shady location where most other crops won't do well. Any suggestions are welcome.

[@lukeblackford1677]

It seems you’re more of an ornamental gardener. I have turned to ornamentals too. Im currently growing fruitless peppers, tomatoes and squash.

[@eastcoastwatch672]

Learning so much watching your videos, thank you so much 😊 I do have a question for you, how do I stop a greenish like fungus from growing on the bark of my flowering cherry tree?

[@seannolan6544]

Best gardening channel hands down ! Thanks for the real advice! Not “ broscience “

[@JamieW-o7b]

I take a wee tot of whisky every night before bed, and I can confirm that I have never had greenfly! UK

[@mariagillinson8527]

I have never used any pest control… only pest that drove me crazy is Japanese Beatles so I grew Chinese lantern apparently they love them so I grew them and they go to the Chinese lanterns and don’t bother anything else…

[@evemarkus]

For mildew, can I use the whey from my yogurt instead of the milk? Using the same ratio?

[@insertphrasehere15]

Probably. The issue is that it washes off in the rain so unless you are growing in a tunnel, you will have to re-apply it after every rain. Not worth it in my opinion. Neem oil kicks powdery mildew well and even works after the leaves are covered in it.

[@mariagillinson8527]

Have you tried Bokashi Tea to spray for bugs.

[@joanfrellburg4901]

If silkworms show up on my mulberrys should I do anything ?

[@Papawcanner]

Make scarves

[@laurajones2032]

Are bag worms good? 2:05 2:05 2:05

[@Lvaladez114]

What is your thoughts on many of these problems coming from the heavy metals being sprayed in our atmosphere and the manufactured climate change and control of the cimtrails. Radiation from cell towers a the different frequency patterns being broadcast all around us.

[@teebob21]

Oh, my sweet summer's child.

[@gwynnmiller428]

I agree. I know cilantro is helpful at removing lead from our system, so is activated charcoal and bentonite clay.

[@hokugayle]

Caterpillars are necessary for the birds to feed their young

[@deborahpacheco2799]

You said "Garden" which to me equals vegetables. You can't just "live with it" when it comes to fruit. and vegetable gardens.

[@jerryclark5725]

The lilly bettle has killed every tiger lilly in Southern New England.

[@johniacono3725]

Aren’t they toads?

[@steveunderhill5935]

Get rid of my mugo pines?!? Blasphemy