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Andrea Bostrom 24-06-2003 02:20 PM

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


Mary McHugh 24-06-2003 03:20 PM

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




Pat Meadows 24-06-2003 03:44 PM

Eggplant Assistance?
 
On 24 Jun 2003 12:01:09 GMT, (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.


If lots of little holes, flea beetles, probably. They love
eggplant.

My recommendation: Dust with rotenone, then cover the
plants with floating row cover.

Floating row cover is wonderful stuff, and available (among
other places) at
http://www.gardensalive.com/item_dis...uctNumber=2001

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

Noydb 24-06-2003 11:20 PM

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.


Pat Kiewicz 25-06-2003 01:56 PM

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)


Frogleg 25-06-2003 04:20 PM

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.

Andrea Bostrom 26-06-2003 04:08 AM

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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