safe pest control?

[MNkristin]

so I've got a four lined plant bug problem, also azalea caterpillars (the little green worms that chow the leaves) I'm looking for safe ways to deal with them. I also raise monarchs (starting my 3rd year) and want to encourage other beneficial insects. so far I've gotten this advice from someone on Monarch Watch FB: "I make up a mixture of about 6 cups water to which I add tabasco sauce onions and garlic. Let it sit in the sun for a few days and then strain the liquid and put it in a spray bottle and spray the leafs bugs are eating. Spray under the leaves also. Then just keep refilling the container adding more yucky things. Flies will go to red sugar water. They just land on it and drown. I must kill thousands of flies a year that way. Yellowjackets also go for it."

My concern is that the strong essential oils might be too strong for other insects as well? My milk weed is somewhat on it's own in much of our yard, and currently not next to plants that have the four lineds and the azalea worms. I live in the city on a small lot- we don't do chickens, I know they can be great for pest control. I was looking at a commercial product that has: ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: Rosemary Oil, Sesame Oil, Peppermint Oil, Thyme Oil, Cinnamon Oil, and Garlic Extract working in synergy with the following. INERT INGREDIENTS: Beeswax, Calcium Carbonate, Carrageenan, Cellulose, Citric Acid, Glycerin, Kaolin, Lecithin, Mustard Powder, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Chloride, Soybean Oil, Wintergreen Oil, and Distilled Water. For the azalea I was considering Bacillus thuringiensis.

thanks in advance for your help

[sbannister]

I have had lots more bugs than usual this year due to the warmer winter, I think. I also have some kind of beetle on my young weeping willow and on my cleomes. I tried spraying with soapy water but then I discovered that I have some Viceroy cats (which I have never had before and want to keep, of course. They are really cool! ) So the best solution for me is to pick the beetles and their yucky larva off by hand and drop in soapy water. This will work for your pest caterpillars also and not harm the "good" bugs.

This may be hard to do if there are too many or they are not within reach but it beats the alternative. Good luck!

[blazing star]

Why do people want to kill insects? If they've indigenous, they have a role in the food chain and have their own natural predators to keep them in check.

If you plant a garden, with blooms at all times of the growing season, you'll encourage beneficial insects and you'll achieve balance. Try to kill insects and you open a void into which pest insects will arrive. As an example, a lot of beetles are predatory and will prey on pest insects. http://extension.usu.edu/files/publicat ... tles07.pdf

I use no pesticides and have no issue with any plant health, or an over abundance of any one type of insect. I do have only native plants, so maybe that has something to do with this. ?

[sbannister]

Well, to be honest, I hate to kill them, but there were too many. Willow is a native plant here and my tree is very young so i just tried to keep their population down. It worked because now there are very few of them and my tree is looking full and healthy. Plus I have the Viceroy cats as well. I hate to even kill the wasps that eat almost every caterpillar out there and those wasps were introduced to control caterpillars on crops but became invasive because they eat any caterpillar. But sometimes I do kill them as well. I don't like to do it though.

[Mona Miller]

There are invasive wasp. We have the European Hornet, they attack adult butterflies. We also have the European Paper Wasp. The European Paper Wasp is doing a great job of killing even our native wasp, plus all the caterpillars. I hate to watch them cut up the butterfly caterpillars and attack the small to medium butterflies.