Hi, I have had great success so far growing spinach, kale, radish, salads and Swiss chard in my raised garden beds. But recently I have found various sized holes in the leaves, which are obviously caused by something eating them. After some investigation I have found slugs, caterpillars and a big black beetle in the beds. Does anyone have any advice on how to control these pests? In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have evicted the beetle. It did look like a predator?
Safer's (non-toxic) Slug bait works, as does a dish of beer sunk into the soil. I also use egg shells around my plants. No matter what you use, there will always be some that don't touch the bait, or aren't effected or they slither over the egg shells any ways. You can't use any pesticides in Vancouver. I have a pair of garbage tongs that I use when I do my early evening sweep for slugs. When I lived in Port Moody, I would fill up a plastic bag from a loaf of bread with big slugs, every night. I'm in Pitt Meadows now....less slugs here. Caterpillars I would just pick off. If your bylaws allowed it, you could spray BTK. But then, that stuff effects the nervous system of any caterpillar (butterflies too) Oh ya...the Beetle is Good!
Thx for the tips. After some more investigation I determined that the caterpillars are Cabbage Loopers and the beetle was a ground beetle. I hope he comes back. I have read that Bacillus thuringiensis is effective against the caterpillars. Is that what you mean by BTK? I definitely want to stay away from chemical, Bacillus thuringiensis seems to be a naturally occurring bacteria.
BTK is Bacillus thuringiensis "Kurstaki". This will work on your cabbage worm There are a few Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies for different pests....for instance BTI is B.T. "Israelensis". This is for the control of Mosquito larvae.
