ATL wrote:

My background if you're interested:
I am very much a beginner to gardening. 38-year-old married man. I
am a Square Foot Gardener (SFG) in Northeast Louisiana.

My question:
I planted, from seed, Brusell Sprouts. They came up and grew to about
3-4 feet tall. They were originally in a raised SFG, a 4'x4'x6" box
about 3' off the ground. That box rotted and the bottom fell out. I
transplanted three of the plants to another SFG box located directly
on the ground. Within a few weeks they were covered with green
catepillars. They were in large numbers and ate through the leaves
and the budding sprouts. I pulled the plants today and discarded them
away from the SFG. My question is not so much about identifying the
worms, but about using pesticides in general on vegetable gardens.
Since I intend to eat what little I grow I would prefer not to use
pesticides, but on the other hand, insects are eating everything in my
two SFG boxes. I have also noticed small black ants, similar to sugar
ants or, as my wife refers to them, **** ants. I see them on my
zuccini and cucumber plants. I don't know for a fact they are eating
the leaves, but the leaves have been eaten on both types of plants by
something.

So, do I let them have the garden or use pesticides? If so, what type
of pesticide should I use?

Thanks a bunch. I need all the info I can get.

Ty
Hi Ty. I'm new to the SFG method too. I have 5 large raised beds all
in the SFG method. I have 4 brussel sprout plants that so far have not
become infested with cabbage worms (green caterpillars). My broccoli is
not infested either. Anyway, my view on using pesticides is that I try
to use the least damaging control first. In many cases this is manual
removal of the pests. For slugs, I use copper tape along the tops of
the raised beds and crushed egg shells in the beds. If manually
removing the pests is not possible, I use a homemade soap solution (3-4
slivers homemade clear soap, 2-4 drops olive oil, water to fill squirt
bottle) and spray that on the infested plants. I would imagine regular
bar soap and plain vegetable oil would work too except I have neither.
In the event an infestation is particularly bad, I might consider
resorting to Bug-B-Gone. The problem with this is it will knock out
beneficial bugs. I have some but have only used it on one rose bush.
I don't really like the idea of using it on edible plants. However, I
can see the benefit of knocking out the pests early in the season to
give your plants a chance. I also used companion plantings to help
prevent bug infestations in the first place. Aster is an ideal
companion plant as it repels most insects. I used the information found
on "Our Organic Gardening Message Board"
http://b4.boards2go.com/boards/board...rgarden pests

That being said, there are other problems I have encountered. A
relative who grows tomatoes for a living took a look at my gardens. He
said to use Bravo, a fungicide on my tomatoes to protect against late
blight. Bravo can also be used on cucumbrs and potatoes. My prefered
fungicide is a chamomile tea solution but I may take his advice. Since
there is less space between the plants in a SFG, diseases can spread
quite easily so these are best dealt with as soon as they are noticed.

For larger pests, I use the scarecrow. It is a sprayer that attaches to
a hose and fires a short blast of water and when a critter sets of the
motion sensor. I started using this a few years ago for ponds and have
found it is equally effective in the garden.