Eggplant Assistance?
This year in my garden I have tomatoes, squash, a variety of
peppers, and eggplant. I am certainly no garden expert, but am wondering what I can do about my eggplant leaves being devoured? I love eggplant fresh from the garden but have had bad luck with it. Any ideas on what I can do to keep whatever pest is getting it away? I am in Zone 6. Thanks Andrea |
Eggplant Assistance?
Andrea Bostrom wrote:
This year in my garden I have tomatoes, squash, a variety of peppers, and eggplant. I am certainly no garden expert, but am wondering what I can do about my eggplant leaves being devoured? I love eggplant fresh from the garden but have had bad luck with it. Any ideas on what I can do to keep whatever pest is getting it away? I am in Zone 6. Thanks Andrea I'm also in zone 6 in the northeast. The two biggest pests I have with eggplant are flea beetles and potato beetle. The flea beetles are very small and look like black specks on the leaves. They leave a lacy pattern on the leaves as they eat them. Colorado potato beetles are large and just chow down on the leaves in their entirety. They leave eggs on the underside which are orange. So far, I've been able to keep the flea beetles at bay with Safer's insecticidal soap. I spray every couple of days. The potato beetles don't usually show up until later in the season but they're easy to pick off and squish. HTH. Mary |
Eggplant Assistance?
Pat Meadows wrote:
If large holes, possibly slugs. Slug bait (also available at http://www.gardensalive.com ) would be the answer to this. The only slug bait I could find locally, btw, is poisonous to wildlife and pets, so I won't use it. The 'EscarGo!' slug bait from Gardens Alive is not poisonous to wildlife and pets. (I have no association with this outfit other than that of a happy customer.) Pat Pat, I have had great success with fresh coffee grounds sprinkled liberally on the soil surface. Slugs can't handle caffeine. Apparently I got either a total kill-off or nearly so ... I have NO slug damage this year after having been over-run by the sneaky little buggers last year. Water first to wet the soil. Apply after the foliage has dried and brush excessive amounts off leaves. Let it sit on top of the ground for a couple of days and then water again. I have an absolutely lush garden ... and NO sign of slugs (although I spotted two of them under the strawberry canopy before I applied the coffee this year.) This is beginning to look like a once a year application. Slugs don't have much in the way of predators, so you are not making life hard on anything else while making it totally impossible for the slugs. Nothing else (most especially not the earthworms or pollinators) seems to mind the coffee. I keep beating this drum ... coffee grounds work (so do the ferrous phosphate poisons ... which have the advantage of contributing iron and phosporous to the soil as they degrade) and have a better "knock-down" than anything else I have ever used. Literally, one night my garden was crawling with slugs ... the next night there were none to be found. Bill -- I do not post my address to news groups. |
Eggplant Assistance?
Andrea Bostrom said:
This year in my garden I have tomatoes, squash, a variety of peppers, and eggplant. I am certainly no garden expert, but am wondering what I can do about my eggplant leaves being devoured? I love eggplant fresh from the garden but have had bad luck with it. Any ideas on what I can do to keep whatever pest is getting it away? I am in Zone 6. Flea beetles will find eggplants and prefer them to just about anything else. To repel flea beetles: Mulch the plants with coffeegrounds or tea-leaves. (Mix with shredded leaves if you have them.) Spray the plants with diluted coffee or tea (mix with seaweed, even better). Use beneficial nematodes throughout the garden (larval/pupal stage of flea beetle lives underground). My eggplants are looking pretty solid this year. The main problem so far was the weather (too cool) and some accidental leaf breakage before transplanting. Flea beetles damage insignificant; weather warming up. The eggplants will be happy. -- Pat in Plymouth MI Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced. (attributed to Don Marti) |
Eggplant Assistance?
On Tue, 24 Jun 2003 09:11:19 -0400, Mary McHugh
wrote: Andrea Bostrom wrote: This year in my garden I have tomatoes, squash, a variety of peppers, and eggplant. I am certainly no garden expert, but am wondering what I can do about my eggplant leaves being devoured? I love eggplant fresh from the garden but have had bad luck with it. Any ideas on what I can do to keep whatever pest is getting it away? I am in Zone 6. I'm also in zone 6 in the northeast. The two biggest pests I have with eggplant are flea beetles and potato beetle. The flea beetles are very small and look like black specks on the leaves. They leave a lacy pattern on the leaves as they eat them. Colorado potato beetles are large and just chow down on the leaves in their entirety. They leave eggs on the underside which are orange. So far, I've been able to keep the flea beetles at bay with Safer's insecticidal soap. I spray every couple of days. The potato beetles don't usually show up until later in the season but they're easy to pick off and squish. "Chow down" is right about Colorado Potato Beetles, and their fondness for eggplant. Also correct is the "pick off and squish" advice, as well as inspecting the undersides of leaves (also of tomatoes) for the orangish egg masses, which can be scraped off and squished. BT San Diego seems to discourage them a bit, too. |
Eggplant Assistance?
Thanks to all who responded --- I sure appreciate the advice.
Everything else in my garden seems to be left alone but the eggplant, which I love, is always targeted. Hopefully I'll have a nice crop this summer thanks to your help. Andrea |
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