When organic gardening, what is the most inexpensive way to keep grubb worms from getting at your potatoes?
Image by Lafayette College
Nikkie Rojo, whose husband Juan Rojo is a professor of foreign languages, works on their area at Lafayette’s organic garden near Metzgar Fields on Sullivan Trail in Forks Township.
Question by Busy Bee: When organic gardening, what is the most inexpensive way to keep grubb worms from getting at your potatoes?
What do you think? Answer below!
3 Responses to When organic gardening, what is the most inexpensive way to keep grubb worms from getting at your potatoes?
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There is a product called milky spore that will kill grubs, and as they decompose they will release new spores into the soil. Here is a site with more information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_spore
mamapig_57
January 12, 2012 at 12:16 am
I have never looked into a product for this issue. Every time I hilled my potatoes I would find what I could for things feeding on the taters and throw them to the chickens. Now my chickens stand next to me in the garden while I hill potatoes! The one other thing I try to do is a crop rotation of epic proportions. I try to keep potatoes and other root crops rotating to the point where a root crop never ends up near a place it had been planted in the past three years. Its a tough rotation, but it helps. Good luck!
crftychk13
January 12, 2012 at 12:30 am
I have had really good results with beneficial nematodes. these need to be applied to the soil spring and fall when it is cool and damp. these microscopic critters will in turn eat all the grubs in the areas where they are applied (they also control fleas, termites, some kinds of ants and numerous other pests).
Milky spore is great but it takes 3 to 5 years before you see results
The other thing you can do is dig up the area where you will plant the taters and pick out as many grubs as you can find for several days. This will help a great deal.
Oh and if you see mole runs in your garden you may want to leave them be as they are eating the grubs in your garden (and not your plants as moles are carnivores and do not eat much in the way of plant material)
One of the great things nematodes and milky spore will do in the end is get rid of almost all your Japanese beetles (which likely make up the majority of the grubs eating your potatoes).
If you fish, grubs make great bait.
Ohiorganic
January 12, 2012 at 12:36 am