smart weed: polygonum and yes, they like it...but they prefer basil
i have my tomatoes and cukes growing in boxes up on my deck this
year...better to control those buggers who'd eat 'em down to the ground. i
have a caraway growing in one of the tomato boxes..keeps away the infamous
horned tomato catepillar and i have a separate pot of basil on one of the
deck benches...each day i go outside, i find at least 5 japanese beetles
devouring the basil.
tons of polygonum grow right beneath the deck and there're beetles on them
daily..but not the numbers i pick off my basil (which i will NOT being using
this year because of the beetle feces, et al). i pick 'em off the plants
and throw 'em into a bowl of soapy water and DEATH BECOMES 'EM!!! (evil
laugh).
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In article <MOD$990712.28080@rec.gardens.ecosystems>,
l-haynes@students.uiuc.edu (lisa anne haynes) wrote:
> >Steve Rehrauer writes: > > >>karen howell wrote: >>> I have noticed japanese beetles buried in the dirt. Are >>> they leaving the soil to feast on the plants? > >>Are you sure they're Japanese beetles? I've had problems in my central >>Massachusetts gardens with a beetle of the same size and similar >>appearance, but it's more a coppery-brown color than the jade/copper >>of Japanese beetles. > >>I don't know what a long-term control solution is (there seem to be enough >>coming from surrounding yards that nematodes aren't a final solution). >>Short-term, I drench soil around ravaged plants with a liquid pyrethrins > >A friend told me these beetles prefer smart weed (no idea what it is >really called, it's that weed with the flower that looks like tiny tiny >pink grape clusters) so to let that keep growing around the basil. That >is the only place in my field i don't have any! :) >I'll try transplanting some weeds (how counter to my existence!) and let >y'all know if it works as an emergency control. > >lisa > >-- >l-haynes@uiuc.edu > >