How do I keep beetles from eating my basil plant?
Question:I'm having an ongoing battle with these greenish colored beetles. They're eating, nesting and even mating on my basil.
They're really munching my plant away! I'm looking for a more natural way of getting rid of them considering how often I use it
Answers:
From your description, it sounds like you have Japanese Beetles on your Basil. Here is a pict for you to confirm that they are in fact Japanese Beetles : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/japanese_be...
Sevin is labeled for the control of Japanese Beetles on agricultural plants. Plant derived insecticides like rotenone-pyrethrin are also labeled for control on vegetable plants. I know you want a natural method, so consider sacrificing a couple of basil plants and use sevin or rotenone-pyrethrin to off kill as many Japanese Beetles as possible and keep the rest of your Basil plants insecticide free. You can hand pick the critters and put them in a milk jug with soapy water. You could also use netting or a floating row cover to keep them off the basil. Here is a link to a floating row cover: http://www.planetnatural.com/site/floati...
1.) put 1oz of dish soap in a hose end sprayer and drench them to the point of run off treat the undersides too.
2.) catch several ( 10-15 ) and crush them up mix them with a small amount of water and let rest for 2 days then strain them into a garden bucket fill and water.
these two ideas work for me very well and are all natural.
because i love my basil too.
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