On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:36:59 -0500, Charlie wrote:

The balance issue is true. This year our garden is seeing hardly any
baddies. I have had to pick a few cabbage loopers off the brussels
sprouts is all. The bush beans are clean, the zuchs are clean, the
cukes are clean. No flea beetles this year.....yet, and hopefully not!

Healthy soil grows healthy plants, which the baddies are leaving alone.

Agreed....tough it out and improve your soil. THings begin to happen.

Charlie

It's the hard part...the waiting it out. In commercial applications
it is harder because of the monitary association with good yields, but
for the homeowner the only drawback are the appearance of eaten
foliage and insect damage. When I first moved into this house nothing
was on the property sans the house. We had insects I never heard of,
let alone manage. Like, what the hell is a cicada killer? We had a
major infestation of them. Huge flying wasps that sting, but it only
hurts for an hour. They zoom by, lumbering their gigantic body,
buzzing while carrying a cicada to put into their hole for the larva
which hatch out next year.

I was not happy about it, but my husband cut them down over a two year
period using a tennis racket. They'd make a giant bong noise when
hit. Horrible.

But, if people would just tolerate some or a lot of damage the first
year, much less the second year, and the third year the amazing relief
with minimal insects. Tons of birds, lizards, snakes and they really
do manage it all.