Homemade pest repellant? specifically for caterpillars

[farmhouserock5]

Hey everyone! i am a long-time reader, first-time poster and would appreciate any ideas,
but perferably without to many chemicals or otherwise expensive solutions. My Broccoli are the ones being mostly affected and i know it
is caterpillars because i've picked quite a few off, mostly very large. Any ideas? I was really looking forward to chicken broccoli casserole!!

 

[rebecca100]

and

 

[GOOGLE NIKOLA TESLA]

Hey everyone! i am a long-time reader, first-time poster and would appreciate any ideas,
but perferably without to many chemicals or otherwise expensive solutions. My Broccoli are the ones being mostly affected and i know it
is caterpillars because i've picked quite a few off, mostly very large. Any ideas? I was really looking forward to chicken broccoli casserole!!

WELL THIS YEAR I TRIED THINKING OUT OF THE BOX!! I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS! LOL!

I TOOK A SHOP VACUUM AND SUCKED ALL THE CATEPILLARS OFF my fruit trees! it worked so well, its just the same as spraying, just in reverse, but the practice is really organic, reversed from poisoning everything that you eat. i made the nozzle to a smaller diameter to increase the suction and wanted to add a little brush. most of the time, all i had to do was do a medium speed pass over the branches and they would fall right in, all the trees improved 10 fold after that! it was a scientific sucess!!! i was late on one tree which dropped its fruit, but the others have done very well.


now from what i figured, if you do it this way, you stop the bugs from getting genetically stronger to poison, and you wipe out a whole cycle in the insects life cycle, thus it should reduce the population of the bugs next year.


hope this helps!!! im gonna add a post now about this now that you reminded me lol.

 

[FarmerJamie]

and from NE Ohio!

Not sure without pictures what pest you are dealing with, but for cabbage worms (related to broccoli) you can try dusting with a little flour.

I'm a fan of Jerry Baker and his solutions like this one. Caterpillar Killer Tonic

 

[farmhouserock5]

Sorry, i can't post pictures yet, i'm to new! But it's honestly just a light green,
roundish caterpillar, longest ive seen, about an inch. no stripes, no nothin'

 

[FarmerJamie]

You'll be there soon being able to post pictures.

Like this one? cabbage worm

If so, I think the flour will deal with it. Just sprinkle the flour lightly over the plants.

 

[sunsaver]

Bt powder is a good organic control for cabbage worms , the green catapillars that are the moct common pest on brassica crops. Dawn soap and water (1 tbsp per gallon) will kill them. You can increase the concentration of soap if needed, just be sure to wash the plants off with clean water after the bugs are dead. Diatomaceous earth id another organic control, but its not as good as soap. Soap will kill all insects.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Duh, I forgot another one...CHICKENS.....

 

[Neko-chan]

Yup, sounds like a cabbage worm.

I just went out and, while the caterpillars were small and eggs were still on the leaves, smashed everything I could spot with my fingers. I did the same with the caterpillars showing up on my tomatoes, though those were quite large. I just knocked them off the plant and crushed them underfoot. I'm a right ol' caterpillar murderer.

A friend suggested I spray the plants with rye flour, so that they eat it with the vegetation and then bake in the sun.

DE (diatomaceous earth, but NOT the stuff for pools) might work as well.

You could pay kids to kill them.

 

[rebecca100]

You could pay kids to kill them.

Heehee that's what I did! Just DO NOT pay by the worm. . That racks up quickly. I ended up paying the kids $12 in 2 days for caterpillars and squash bugs!