:Each spring we release several types of Mother Nature's little helpers here at the nursery. They fight your pest problems for you. Be sure that you know what the good bugs are before you blame them for your pest problems! Many times when you find a pest problem, if your patient Mother Nature will send in the beneficials to take care of the problem for you. We will have them available at Kimas about mid-March.

· Lady Bugs: These little orange bugs with black spots feed on soft-bodied insect pests. Aphids are their favorite meal. Their larvae are often confused with the pest that may be causing the problem. Be sure that you know what the larvae of the ladybug looks like before you spray! You can purchase several hundred lady bugs for a few dollars.

· Lacewings: One of the most beneficial insects. It is the larvae of the lacewings that do all the work. These larvae are called aphid lions or ant lions. You will find them available in the egg form. Their preferred appetite includes aphids, mealybugs, many worms, red spider mites, thrips, and scale.

· Big Eyed Bug: Another of the most beneficial insects. Sometimes mistaken for chinch bugs, they are bigger with a wider body and move more rapidly. They are light, yellowish green and about ¼ inch long. They will control aphids, whiteflies, caterpillars, thrips, red spider mites, leafhoppers, corn earworm, and many other plant pests.

· Giant Wheel Bug: You can recognize this beneficial insect by the large 'wheel' that is located on it's back. It is large, being one to one and one half inches long and gray in color. It controls moths, squash bugs, cucumber beetles, and webworms.

· You can learn about these and other insects by purchasing the best book on bugs written by two Texans. Malcolm Beck and Howard Garrett have written the Texas Bug Book, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. It is filled with great pictures and descriptions.

Soft-bodied worms find their way back to our landscapes this time of year. You can easily control them with an organic product called Bacillus thuringiensis. It is a naturally occurring bacterium that only affects chewing insect larvae. Look for it as Bt or Thuricide. It kills the worm on contact or when they eat the foliage that has been sprayed with Bt.

Red Spider Mites begin to be a problem with the return of the heat and humidity. They are very small mites that can be barely seen with the naked eye that leave spider webbing on the underside of leaves. The tops of the affected leaves will turn yellow with brown spots. You will find them often on the lower regions of your growing tomato plants. Liquid seaweed will control them! Be sure to spray the undersides of the leaves that are affected. Liquid seaweed is also a great foliar spray for your plants.

Garlic-Pepper Spray can be very effective as an insect repellant. See our "In the Garden" page for the instructions on how to make this homemade remedy.

You can control fireants with the Two-Step Method. The two steps are a broadcast treatment over a large area combined with individual mound control. You can use several things for the broadcast treatment.

STEP ONE: Use a product containing spinosad (spin-OH-sid) as a broadcast bait when you've got dry weather for a few days. Brand names are Come and Get It, and Fire Ant Control with Conserve. Spinosad is a natural product that is OMRI registered for us on Certified Organic farmland. It is a combination of two metabolites of a bacterium that when combined, make this product. It's very effective.

STEP TWO: Use a mound treatment that consists of compost tea, molasses, and orange oil. You can buy concentrates of this. Look for Garden-Ville's Auntie Fuego Soil Conditioner, or you can buy Garden-Ville's Garrett Juice and add the orange oil to it. You can also make your own by making compost tea and adding orange oil and molasses to your homemade tea. See our "In the Garden" page on how to make compost tea. To this tea, add 4-6 ounces of orange oil and 4 teaspoons of molasses, per gallon, to make your own mound control juice.

Ingredients: 2 bulbs garlic, 2 hot peppers, blender 1/2 full of water. Mix in blender. Strain solids and add to one gallon of water to make a concentrate. Use 1/4 cup of concentrate and two tablespoons of Horticultural Molasses per gallon of water for foliar applications that act as an effective insect repellent for your plants. Do not use on insect pollinated vegetable plants.

Mix 4 teaspoons (about 1 rounded tablespoon) of baking soda and 1 tablespoon of horticultural oil into one gallon of water. Spray lightly on foliage of plants afflicted with black spot, powdery mildew, brown patch and other fungal diseases. Avoid over-using or pouring on the soil. Potassium bicarbonate is a good substitute for baking soda. Citrus oil and molasses can be used instead of horticultural oil. Source: www.dirtdoctor.com

Ingredients:

• 1 Tb. Medina Soil Activator
• 2 Tbs. Fish Emulsion
• 1 TB Maxicrop Seaweed
• 1 TB G-V Blackstrap Molasses
• ·1 Gal. Water

Build up cold and heat resistance for all your plants with the regular use of John's special recipe for plants. Spray this marvelous mixture, which is well endowed with trace minerals, as often as once a week on the foliage of all your plants. Source: John Dromgoole of The Natural Gardener