Hello to all...
About a week ago I discovered a manual for ecological pest management in
the tropics in the U of MD graduate library that I had never seen
before... not living in the tropics I
did
not really think it would have to much to offer to me directly but its
very pragmatic approach made for interesting reading and so I checked it
out... the book describes how to make extracts from a wide
varity of plant parts (leaves, seeds, fruits...) that can be used as
insecticides or feeding inhibitors. I noticed that the family Annonacae
was featured and it occured to me that Assimina triloba = American pawpaw
was in this family... well, I happen to have a number of pawpaw trees and
so I collected some leaves and blended them up in my families Vitamix...
I strained the mix sprayed it on a few plants and then left the rest
with my family when I returned to the U this week... I asked my mom to do
a trial with a sprayed leaf and an unsprayed leaf in jars with cucumber
beetles... well I talked to my mom tonight and she said that the cucumber
beetles when right to work on the unsprayed leaf but avoided the sprayed
leaf all day and then started to nibble on its edges the next day... so
there appears to be some anti-feeding effect of the pawpaw spray... if
uncontained by the jar, it seems likely that the cucumber beetles would
have left the sprayed leaf alone all together...
I think more of us ought to try this type of side by side jar comparison
to test the efficacy of various herbal/hot pepper/garlic concoctions on
specific herbivorous insects...
Joel
> Hello to all...
> About a week ago I discovered a manual for ecological pest management in
> the tropics in the U of MD graduate library that I had never seen
> before...
Is the book obtainable, or can you give us some
other examples of plants that might be available
in non-tropical climates? I think I might try
fennel; a form of fennel now thought to be
extinct was used worldwide as a contraceptive
in Roman times. - JTT
Hello Joel,
Your e-mail was very good read. Can you provide us with the title
of the manual for ecological pest management? Author? ISBN
number?
Pat
I have read in companion planting books to plant fennel aside of vegetable
gardens, not amongst, guess the veggies don't like it too much. So I moved
my fennel away from them.
Hello to all... I left the book out at my folks place last weekend... so I
can not provide the bibliographical info until I return home again...
when I return I will certainly provide this info as well as the names of
some additional plant species recommended in the book.
On the subject of using herbs to deter pests... I have tried several
approaches this summer with mixed results... As my family grows large
blocks of oregano, thyme, spearmint, apple mint, hyssop, nepeta...
as bee forage plants (more than 100 square feet of
any particular species) I have the luxury of actually pruning off bushels
of herb foliage to use as a mulch material without even making much of a
dent in our herb plantings...
I also can very easily dig up hundreds of rooted sideshoots and plant them
as companion plants with vegetables...
Observations so far...
Thyme mulch was not an effective deterent to cucumber beetles or squash
bugs... the plants with this mulch actually appeared to have more damage
from the above mentioned pests than any other plants...
Planting an oregano or pennyroil plant in the middle of each cucurbit hill
did apppear to deter cucumber beetles... it did not eliminate them... but
the hills with oregano or pennyroil definitely appeared to have fewer and
a delayed arrival of cucumber beetles...
Joel
Did you know that in the Brazilian hinterlands fennel is still used this
way?
jeri
JTT wrote:
contraceptive in Roman times.>
Pennyroyal is one of those things you use for
early abortions if you know how. - JTT
I'm trying the other way. I was fitting some plants such as Basil and
fennel around the tomatoes and had forgotten that fennel's not
supposed to be a good companion. So I left them in place, we'll see
how it turns out.
Gil
Behalf Of Amy of Marvelous Gardens
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 1998 11:45 AM
To: OGL@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: Re: testing a novel botanical crop protection brew
I have read in companion planting books to plant fennel aside of
vegetable
gardens, not amongst, guess the veggies don't like it too much. So I
moved
my fennel away from them.
