53
Outdoor veggie and fruit gardeners, how do you protect your crops against disease and from becoming a buffet for pests and wildlife? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/gardening@lemmy.world
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm growing tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers for my first time not on a balcony, and I'm a tad concerned about caterpillars, squirrels, and other wildlife finding their way to my crops; that said, I would like to keep my space as earth friendly as possible, so chemical pesticides are out. I've read blog articles about trimming the lowest branches to prevent disease and planting trap crops such as nasturtiums and marigolds to lure pests away from the tomatoes. Do these techniques actually work? How do other gardeners handle this situation?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 8 points 6 months ago (1 child)

Basically it boils down to three main methods:

  1. Planting plnts in between that deter pests like leeches (also onion, garlic) and herbs etc.
  2. Using herbal infusions from plants like burn7ng nettle or those containing mustard oil.
  3. Attracting pest predators. This goes all the way from buying eggs of vertibrates (careful to not introduce invasive species) to just making your garden bird and bat friendly.
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •