Just planted pole beans and already I'm providing lunch for critters. A few of the leaves are chewed on the edges.
Is a garlic spray of some sort the best organic thing to do?
Thanks.
Something's eating the beans
It helps to know what is eating them. If it is birds, smelly repellant won't work. If it is bean beetle larva, I put on rubber gloves and squish them - catching them as eggs is best.
Could it possibly be snails or slugs? If so, you could put coarsely crumbled egg shells around the base of the plants or use Sluggo Plus.
DE or Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth, can be a very effective organic control for many insect pest, I've used different grades for different pest and I have found it to be effective on quite a few. It may also reduce your earthworms, it cuts their gut, but it does the same to slugs also. This stuff does not, to my knowledge have an established mammalian toxicity level, is used in dairy goat feed to eliminate strongyles, (a gut worm), to filter grease in commercial fryers, and in a slightly altered state clean pools. It's basically fossilized coral and has a high silica content. Inhalation is a do not, or predisposes the user to respiratory problems down the road. It is a subject to study, not jump in, it is organic, but so are the causes of mesothelioma. One of the powders I used was dolomitic lime, DE, and Sevin, then we got chickens, 3 hens that patrol our garden while we are there working there, or at least till the "maters" get ripe. LOL Ric
As long as you use the food grade DE and not the kind for your swimming pool, you should be okay.