I woke up at 6 a.m. on a recent morning ready to conquer. Equipped with garden gloves, a spray bottle of organic Bt, a fly swatter, and a vengeful heart, I was determined not to lose my grapevine this year. Just yesterday I had identified the dark blue moths dancing amid my garden to be Grape Leaf Skeletonizers and had formulated my plan of attack.


I started my mission with the fly swatter. With a Clint Eastwood stance (and squint) and an old Western whistle escaping my serious demeanor, the showdown began. Any smarmy little bugger I saw battin' around out there faced a certain doom. Grape leaf skeletonizers are fairly slow creatures and swatting them right out of the air become my new favorite game. I also noticed many of the moths seemed to be dying; laying on the leaves and barely flinching when I came near. Perhaps they die immediately after laying eggs? If so, it serves them right.

Then came grapevine care. Thankfully my vine is still young and therefore easily managed. I overturned the leaves one at a time. Yes, every one of them. One thing I noticed is that the newest growth never had any eggs. But dozens upon dozens of the mature leaves were covered in clusters of eggs. This is where the gloves come in - I methodically smushed every cluster I found. Grape leaf skeletonizer larvae can irritate the skin but their eggs generally do not. I wore the gloves to pick off any caterpillars I might have found but it came in handy with the smushing too.


Then every single leaf got a thorough coating of Bt. I diluted approximately one teaspoon of Bt concentrate into a 32 oz spray bottle and went to town on the front and back of each any every leaf. Bt, short for Bacillus thuringiensis, is a naturally occuring soil bacteria that attacks the stomachs of those leaf-eating menaces. Within a day or so of ingestion, caterpillars stop eating and die. Aah, sweet justice. The awesome thing about this product is that Bt doesn't affect other insects or beneficials. I like to think of it as a natural predator of caterpillars. The downside of Bt is that it only works on larvae, not the grown moths or their eggs. And I've never had it work once the larvae (caterpillars) were bigger than a grain of rice.

Reapplication of Bt should be done every 14 days or after it rains. My only concern is whether our high summer temps will inhibit effectiveness of the bacteria. I also have no idea if these moths attack other plants, although I've seen them on nearly every plant I have. I believe the moths feed on nectar rather than leaves, so perhaps my entire yard doesn't need a thorough coating of Bt, although the idea is rather tempting. I did spray my tomato plants to help in our efforts against the tomato hornworm. That, coupled with our friendly parasitic wasps, should do the trick nicely, although I'll keep an eye out (and a fly swatter ready) for any signs I can help.

Tara lives and learns with her family in Las Vegas, NV. You can read more of her at TheOrganicSister.

As plants start to leaf out, you'll notice garden pests appear in your garden too. Spring growth is especially tender, and it's easy for pests like these cutworms to completely destroy a plant before it even gets started. It's tempting to spray for pests, but of course pesticides linger around and kill off all the predators too, locking you into a cycle of increasing pesticide use. I've found it more effective to harvest cutworms by hand, using a flashlight at night. It looks eccentric. But in the end, I have a good meal for my chickens to enjoy.


Trust me. You're gonna love it.

Don't miss Leigh's extensive tips on organic pest control.

Insects, fungus, mites, aphids... there are many threats to your plants that you might have to deal with. Here is an overview of common options for organic control methods.

Prevention is key

• Crop rotation prevents many, many problems.


• Companion planting. Planting marigolds in with your squash, cucumbers and pumpkins can keep away certain pests. And in my experience, a row of dill seems to attract ladybugs.


• Diversity is better than monoculture, even within the same type of plant. For instance, plant three varieties of potato instead of just one, so that if you get a blight or fungus, one or two of your varieties will probably be resistant.

Getting rid of big, visible bugs

• Hand-picking sounds tedious, but for large insects on a few favorite plants, it works really well. I have a friend that pays his young sons 5 cents for each live squash bug they can harvest off the pumpkin plant. Sounds like a good investment to me, and a fun kind of family competition in the garden! Well-practiced hand picking can devastate the populations of caterpillars on broccoli or cabbage in just a few minutes. It works, and you'll feel awfully clever once you learn where the bugs like to hide on the plant.

Slugs, the bane of many a garden

• It sounds bizarre, but if you leave (well cleaned) tunafish can, filled halfway with beer, in the garden overnight you'll often find it filled with dead slugs in the morning. Gross, but effective.
  
• Crushed eggshells or hair (human, dog, or cat) can stop slugs in their tracks. Spread either in a band around plant bases.


• Find and kill slugs when hand-picking other pests: A spray bottle with one part ammonia to two parts tap water will do the job. It's organic, but you still might be careful spraying around the leaves of tender plants.

Aphids, mites, and other little suckers

• A mixture of dish soap and water, sprayed onto affected plants, will kill aphids. Make sure to water the plants really well an hour or two ahead of time, to minimize the chance that the plant will suck up the soapy water that could potentially damage roots. Pick a soap that is phosphorus-free if possible.

Miscellaneous pests

• Spraying neem oil mixes onto your plants can kill a variety of pests. You can learn more here.


• Hot pepper waxes are a mix of capsaicin (an extract of cayenne pepper) and a waxy substance (like paraffin). Proponents of hot pepper wax say it is effective against aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, cabbage loopers and beet armyworms. I've never used it, but I certainly would give it a try if my garden was inundated with these types of pests and I couldn't use another (free) method like soapy water or hand picking.

Fungi, blight, and other mysterious problems

• One year, when I planted four varieties of tomato, I had two of those varieties succumb to a mysterious fruit-rotting problem, while the other two plants got off scot-free. Like I mentioned above, biodiversity can be the key here. Within reason, it is a good idea to hedge your bets with a couple varieties of a given type of plant - some will likely be resistant to whatever strikes your garden. Besides, it is fun to have different shapes, colors, or sizes of whatever you grow.


• Water in the early morning. This cuts down on fungus, blights, slugs, and even sometimes caterpillars. All these things like damp nights - so if you have dry plants at night, you'll see fewer pests. Watering in the early morning also saves water, which is great.

Did I miss a favorite tip or trick you use in your own garden? Share it with readers in the comments!