Harlequin Bugs |

The 2017 spring garden is, so far, one of the best gardens I have had in a long time. Thanks to a lack of any real winter, soil temps were high, air temps were moderate and rain that came at just the right times allowed lots of us too planted early (I have friends in Austin that put out tomatoes in February!!!). While a mild winter and almost perfect spring weather are great for your plants, it is also great for bugs. So while our gardens look great right now, your beautiful plantings will soon (or maybe already are) full of bugs.

Aphids and other bugs are already beginning to move into our gardens. Photo by Bruce Leander

To me, organic bug control is the most challenging task in the organic garden. While there are a few “decent” organic pesticides out there, they do not act quickly and they do kill as wide a range of bugs as I would like. Since I don’t have a “magic bullet” to kill all of my pests I have had to develop a “system” to help me keep the bugs at bay.

When I was in grad school I took several courses related to greenhouse production. In those courses I learned that, even though greenhouses are the perfect environment for pests to thrive in, greenhouse use very few chemicals to control them. Pesticides are expensive and customers don’t like them so greenhouses use a system called Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to keep their bugs at bay. Through the years, I have taken my cues from these greenhouse producers to develop my own Integrated Pest Management System for my organic garden.

The IPM system consists of Cultural control methods, Mechanical or Physical control methods and Chemical/Biological methods. This method is generally illustrated with the “IPM Triangle”. Cultural methods provide the “biggest bang for the buck” in your garden. Because of this they are the biggest part of the system and they are represented as the base of the triangle. Once your cultural methods are in place you can apply mechanical and physical methods to control your bugs. Finally, if you still have bugs after implementing the other methods, you should use chemical or biological methods to gain control over the pests.

Cultural Control Methods

Pull bugs off of plants and drop them into soapy water. Photo by Bruce Leander

The best way to control bugs is to not let them get in the garden in the first place. Below are list of things you can do to discourage or prevent pests from setting up home in your garden.

Grow Healthy plants in healthy soil
Grow crops recommended for area
Use Crop Rotation
Control weeds
Water in the morning
Plant many types of vegetables as opposed to a single type
Space plants properly
Clean up mulch and debris
Sanitize hand tools, stakes and cages in light bleach

Mechanical/Physical Control Methods

Get rid of aphids and scales from your plants with a strong blast of water. patty and I use the Mitey-Fine water blaster.

If bugs get in your garden you can use several of the methods below to keep them under control. Remember, as with most things, these methods are most effective when used before the bug problems get out of control.

Pick bugs off plants and drop in solution of soapy water
Remove eggs from undersides of leaves
Spray aphids and scales with water blasts
Mechanical barriers (row cover)
Traps (Yellow Sticky Pads, bucket of water with lighting attached)

Chemical/Physical Control Methods

Control soft bodied pests like cabbage worms with Spinosad

If all of your efforts have failed, you will need to spray. Be careful when spraying for pests. All pesticides, whether they are organic or not, will kill both good bugs and bad bugs.

Last resort. Using sparingly
BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) for caterpillars
Spinosad controls caterpillars, leaf miners, fire ants
Predators (lady beetles, praying mantis)
Homemade concoctions

I grow zinnias and other flowers in my garden to lure bugs away from my vegetables

I share my posts on The Simple Homestead Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by and check out all the amazing things these gardeners and homesteaders are doing!

Brassica plants love our fall weather. So do harlequin bugs. And unfortunately harlequin bugs love brassicas. These colorful bugs are attracted to the large, succulent leaves of various members of the brassica family, including broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards and mustard. A cousin to stink bugs, the adults are easy to spot because of their orange and black exoskeleton, and if you find one there are usually many more in the vicinity.

Adult Harlequin Bug in curly kale. All photos in the post by Bruce Leander

One of the best methods for controlling this pest is to perform a regular “search and destroy” operation to keep them in check; otherwise they will continue to proliferate in your garden. Monitor your plants for clusters of the distinctive, black and white barrel-shaped eggs which are usually laid in clusters of 10-12 on the plant stems or the underside of leaves. Each female egg has the potential to hatch and grow and lay another dozen eggs in only four to nine weeks, so if you can eliminate just one egg mass you will be way ahead in this game we call vegetable gardening.

This dime shows the relative size – the intricate eggs are tiny and easy to overlook

Harlequin Bugs have distinctive egg cases, usually 10-12 barrel shaped eggs laid side by side

Organic products, such as spinosad or insecticidal soap, only offer fair control and are most effective in the nymphal stages. Adults become more resistant and harder to control so find those eggs and destroy them! If any eggs should escape your eagle eye, hand pick the resulting pests and drop them into a bucket of soapy water. Row cover can be used to protect plants, just make sure there are no adults or eggs present before covering plants. Another control option is to plant a sacrificial trap crop of mustard or turnips to attract the bugs away from your desirable plants, then pick off the adults or spray the trap crop with insecticide rather than spraying all of the brassicas you plan to eat. Keep an eye out for this pest in both fall and early spring as they can easily decimate a plant if not kept under control.