Bugs eating my veg! Help!


Hi, I’ve got some beetle like bugs (similar to lady birds or shield bugs) eating my tomatoes and melons. Any idea what I can do about them please? Both ideas for now and ideas for next growing season so they don’t come back?

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It’s this sort of thing… if not exactly this particular one… there are variations…
voracious eater… found them the other day and looked 'em up…
Of course I can’t find the stuff relating to uk/France… but it’s all much of a muchness…
Ours are pale green with pink shield on back and pink and black and white speckles… very pretty

Punaise verte…don’t squash them, they stink.

You can try three things. First the most natural approach is to pick the buggers off and drop them in a bucket of water. Second is that they prefer fennel to tomatoes so could could plant a nice stand of them. And third is to spray your tomatoes with a garlic or nettle concoction.

We find that encouraging biodiversity generally means they never get too bad, so just a few hole here and there.

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If we get a decently cold winter this year (?!) it will help keep 'em under control… :+1:

Ah, les punaises vertes, petites bêtes voraces…
Spray with soapy water, like with aphids ? Then again, spraying your plants with water might be banned at the moment…

use the old washingup water… a bit of grease won’t hurt…

I too encourage biodiversity in my gardens and very reluctantly use natural-friendly chemicals and never bought from shops.
This year some of my brassicas were hit bad by fly beetle, I tried all the eco-friendly concoctions that I’ve used in the past the only spray mix that worked was nicotine all dead the next morning.
You could try spot treating with a mix of water and nicotine.

If I have to use anything to control bugs it’s Neem Oil, works on most of our problems, Colorado Beatle wasn’t around this year so I’m hoping previous years spraying might have done the trick. Thing is you can’t tell if it’s the spray or nature that’s done it, Green and Black Fly haven’t been around much this year either.

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That’s interesting. I have Neem oil in the shower room cupboard. It doesn’t work for fungal nails, I can tell you!!!

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Ah, but when did you last see greefly or blackfly on your feet ??? :rofl: :rofl:

actually, there is a blackfly infestation on the tender wisteria tips wafting over a neighbour’s fence. saw them as I trundled by. It’s the only blackfly I’ve spotted… this year is very strange.

You can say that again :smiley:

mixed it with water in a sprayer it is a great bug killer… works by suffocating wooly aphids too. I had a bad infestation on my over wintering lemon tree. also spread to a ficus. 2 sprays with the oil/water mix and pest free since February :grinning:

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Thanks Bettina - I have problems with my lemon tree too. I’ll give it a go!

I just did a quick ‘google’ as I am unfamiliar with Neem Oil. Google says it’s systemic, so it works through the vascular system of the plant. So if the plant is edible, you consume Neem oil albeit in tiny amounts, when you eat that plant. Not sure I’d like that. We had asparagus beetle earlier this year which we dealt with by picking off the beetles and plopping them into a jar containing vinegar & water. Mind you our asparagus plot is just 1m x 2m so easy enough to do . . . .

There are times when I have been exasperated by wild creatures consuming my plants but then I came across a little saying to the effect that if nothing is eating your plants then you don’t have a very ecologically diverse garden. I feel more relaxed now.

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Better if you mix it with soap, warm water mixes it together nicely.

Will soap not make the oil in-effective?
Just shaking vigorously of oil and water should make a nice emulsion to spray onto the plant and bugs…

Worked for me, my lemon tree as well as the ficus have been free of bugs all summer. It was just plain canola oil- neem oil works even better
I will re apply before it comes indoors for winter.

Been useful for fruiting trees as it is not poisonous.

I believe the soap enables it to become a fine mist when you spray it therefore better coverage it all the right places.
I have used it on and off for 3 years and it’s been very good. Black fly and green fly, a plague of caterpillars on two cherries that were having the foliage stripped from them. I use slightly warm water and give it a good shake.

You can brush your teeth with neem oil and put it on your skin and in your hair so I don’t suppose spraying it on something you will later wash and peel (maybe) and eat is a big worry.

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That’s it!