Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Unwanted Guests

Found some unwanted guests in my potted garden !


This cute little grasshoppers has been eating the leaves of the ladies fingers plant and lime plants. I have caught over 30 of them and there are still a few more lurking around.



This little one is enjoying the lime leaves!



Found many little beetles on the leaves of my bitter gourd plant. Could this be their larvae? Many of the leaves are eaten with a "spider web" look. How do I get rid of this beetle? I'm avoiding the chemical spray in my garden.


Couldn't recognize this insect. Whatever it is, I think it is up to no good, at least where the leaves are concerned !



8 comments:

  1. I am not an expert in pests, but I have seen similar creatures in my garden... We really lack birds to hunt and eat these.., or any other animal higher in the food chain. Kids would love to catch grasshoppers, at least that will help. Try ordinary mosquito spray and see what will happen....

    ~bangchik

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  2. Bangchik, I have tried the water based mosquito spray but it does not help much..frustating!

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  3. The grasshopper and the bugs are the naughty ones here. I hope the little birds that visit your garden will help you eat them away. You can try using organic neem spray or sulphur spray (ask the plant sellers). Mosquito sprays are more suitable for killing mosquitoes and better don't use it on your veges. I guess Bangchik is the best person for advice when it comes to vege growing.

    Alternative method:
    1. Catch the grasshoppers
    2. Remove all the infected/eaten leaves
    3. Remove the caterpillar or leave it alone to become a butterfly. We don't need to use/eat the leaves of the lime plant and it will grow back soon :)

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  4. Hi Autumn Belle,
    The grasshoppers are not much of a problem because I managed to catch most of them. I hardly find them now. My okra plant is full of the little bugs. I will have to pull out the whole plant as I have a few other baby okra plants and I do not want the new plant to be infected. Well, the lime leaves belongs to my kaffir lime plants, and I used the leaves for cooking! I will have to look for the spray that you mentioned. Thanks a bunch for your advice. Really appreciate it!

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  5. May I suggest trying the concoction that I made for trial? Blend garlic with chilli padi with water added. Filter the water to remove seeds. Use it to spray on your plant daily. Sometimes I spray twice daily. It helps to get rid of those dark flies from my basil. I am using it on my brinjal plant that is being attacked by mealy bugs. Occasionally I add a few teaspoons of home-made garbage enzyme to it.

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  6. Try making the garbage enzyme from leftover fruit peels and use them as organic pesticide. They work wonderfully in my garden. It's easy to make:
    1 part brown sugar/molasses
    3 parts fruit peels (pineapple, watermelon, oranges, whatever...but avoid vege cos they don't smell so good)
    6 parts water

    Just leave them to ferment for at least 3 mths. Most of the peel will degrade, whatever remains can be used as fertiliser.

    Add one cup of enzyme into a bucket of water and sprinkle or spray over plants. They smell great, keep bugs away and if more is used, acts as a growth hormone for green glowing garden!

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  7. Please don't kill the little spikey one #3 he is a Giant swallowtail butterfly. Very beautiful and not that many around. They like to eat the freshest greenest leaves on limes and lemons.

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