Pesticide Freak-out

I have a friend with a pesticide allergy. If she eats conventionally grown apples (or any other fresh produce), she gets all red and swollen and itchy. At times it's so bad that she needs to seek medical attention.

"Buy organic fruit" I told her. Her eyes got really wide and she looked insulted. "Organic food is too expensive! Why would I pay $5.00 for 3 apples when I can get a whole bag for less?" she questioned. I just stared at her in amazement. "Well, how much does taking care of this reaction cost you?" She could easily buy organic produce if she'd just cut back on the beautification dollars. It's not just her, we're all like that. We don't consider what we put in our bodies to be as big a priority as make-up, hair products and clothes, because make-up makes us look pretty and all that crap.

The more I think about my friend the more I see the other not-so-obvious ways this pesky little pesticide allergy effects her. She's been trying to lose weight ever since I've known her, but I only see her eating bad food, yet she says she loves fresh fruit (she brags about loving it because I don't). I just realized that she can't eat fresh fruit or vegetables because of her allergy to pesticide and her unwillingness to by organic. I recommended that she try Trader Joe's and farmer's markets and Community Supported Agriculture shares for less expensive organic produce and I also turned her on to fruit and vegetable wash, which I've decided to start using myself after all this.

We have slowly been increasing the percentage of our food that we buy organic but by no means is all our produce organic. She's right - it is more expensive and hard to justify financially. But my friend's red swollen face has got me wondering more about how these pesticides effect me and my family. Even if these washes do successfully remove the obvious pesticide residue, what does the pesticide that permeates the membrane of the produce do to the food itself, and then our bodies after we eat it? I don't believe for one second that those chemicals remain on the outside skin (remember about permeable cell membranes and all that crap from basic science?) And I also don't believe that, even though I don't get all red and swollen from conventionally grown fruit, nothing's going on inside my body as a result of these pesticides.

I talked to my guy during my pesticide freak-out and his first response when I told him about my friend's big red swollen face was "well does she not wash her apples off before she eats them?" I don't know this for sure but, as a gardener who has battled pests myself, I'd bet that most of the pesticides used on large farms are water-proof. I say this because I know that my organic pest control concoctions need to be reapplied after it rains and that's a real pain - I'm sure that the chemical companies make sure that their stuff won't wash off so easily. That's probably why running your apple under the water from the sink probably isn't that helpful.

From now on, I'll be using the fruit and vegetable wash and I hope to graduate to exclusively buying organic someday. Of course, growing some of my own produce helps. I suggested this to my friend, too. "Gardening is so not me" she snarked.

Squash Vine Borer: That's A Wrap

The 4 squash plants started from seed that I direct sowed are so through!  They produced a mere two edible squash.  The worst part about it is that I cooked the two Golden Zucchini in a casserole from a recipe I found at Skippy's Vegetable Garden and although the casserole looked yummy, we decided we hate zucchini.  If I'd known that, I could have let the evil squash vine borer win a long time ago. 

What I noticed was that, even though I'd made many attempts to control the squash vine borer, they attacked the plants from ground-level up.  The stems became really rotten looking but still kept flowering and the ends looked pretty darn healthy.  But, because the stems were so infected, they were not able to efficiently send water to the flowers so I had to water constantly!  In fact, I wondered if I had watered them several times per day if they would have kept growing and producing.  But, at some point along the way I started not caring that much about the stupid gold zucchini. 

I will not be growing this again next year, not because of the squash vine borrer invasion (I would totally win the battle next year.  KNOW THAT!) but because we don't like to eat them.  But, if I were growing them again, here's what I'd do to prevent the invasion.

Start treating the plants with Sharp Shooter on a weekly basis as soon as they are a few inches tall.  I think I discovered these evil bugs way too late but I do believe the sharp shooter works because the actual bugs definitely did not like it.  It's a great organic pest control.

As much as I hate to do it, I'll be writing this crop down in the failure column.  Good luck zucchini growers! May the force be with you.

see more squash vine borer posts here

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Technorati Tags: squash vine borer,organic pest control,golden zucchini,organic vegetable gardening,growing challenge

A Close Look At Squash Vine Borer Eggs

After discovering a Squash Vine Borer worm on my Yellow Zucchini yesterday I needed to try to save my plant.

I didn't do anything fancy.  I simply cut off the damaged stems.  I had no idea that squash stems were hollow! 

Here's what I found while performing surgery on the Zucchini (above).  See the little red dots?  I think those are Squash Vine Borer eggs.  Worse, they are not just on the one plant, I found them on all four Zucchini plants.   My homemade natural remedy failed.  Bummer.  I wiped away all the red dots I found but I'm sure I missed some.

So, I headed up to my new favorite store Green Home Experts (on Oak Park Ave. for you Chicagoland folks)where I found this natural insecticide, Sharp Shooter.  It's made with clove and peppermint oils.  I treated my entire kitchen garden today.  I'm hoping that the spray will get rid of the red eggs before they hatch. 

Stay tuned for regular updates on my war against the evil Squash Vine Borer. 

Technorati Tags: squash vine borer,organic pest control,natural insecticide,organic vegetable gardening,yellow zucchini,straight shooter bug killer

Looking For Evidence Of Squash Vine Borer Damage

Organic gardening sure can be stressful, and gross!

This year I'm trying to grow Yellow Zucchini for the Growing Challenge. Isn't the flower pretty? Well, don't get too excited.

The other day I spotted this ugly bug and was promptly informed that it's a Squash Vine Borer.

So I rushed out and hosed down my entire kitchen garden with this concoction that I made with cayenne pepper and proceeded to go into denial about the part where Gina in Ohio said it was probably too late and that this gross bug had likely already laid eggs that had hatched and were now inside the squash.

Then last night Carol at May Dreams Garden gave me a stern talking to over on Plurk about getting my butt out there to look for damage. So I compromised and snapped a few pictures so that I could investigate on my laptop, far away from the yuck.

Here are 2 of the plants (above) and they look pretty good, right? No obvious sign of damage.

Then there's this one. I noticed that it looks very dark (almost black) around the bottom.

Then there's that one stem over on the right that is brown and, well, dead looking. Take a closer look.

Holy Mackerel! That has got to be the most disgusting thing I've seen in a while.

The Squash Vine Borer eggs hatch and the baby worms (pictured on the left) bore into the stem of the plant where they grow into full size worms that literally suck the life out of the poor squash.

Apparently I can perform some sort of surgical operation on the plant to try to save it but I'm really inclined to just rip the entire thing out and throw it in the trash. I'm planning to sleep on this and decide what to do in the morning. I wish I knew if the dark blackish part meant that the entire thing is infested because that'd help me make the decision to compost it.

What should I do? Trash the plant or perform surgery on it? And please do not vote if you are only interested in picturing me out there puking and freaking out over the site of this disgustingness.

Technorati Tags: squash vine borer,organic gardening,vegetable gardening,organic pest control,growing challange

Assembling My Organic Arsenal

While it's still cool outside and the insects and fungi are not out of control yet, I thought it would be a good idea to start planning for them.

One of my 2007 gardening magazines featured the organic garden of Master Gardener Martha MacBurnie. The best part of the article was that Martha shared her 3 favorite natural plant remedies. Her main remedy is aspirin water, which I used sporadically last year. Martha describes her plants looking like they were "on steroids" from using the aspirin water. Well, this year I'm committed to at least try to use this on a regular schedule. If I can find all the other crap that goes into her concoctions I'll try those too. Martha says that the combination of these 3 remedies keeps her garden looking great.

Aspirin Water
Dissolve 325 mg aspirin in 1 teaspoon vinegar, then mix with 1 gallon water. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons yucca extract for better dispersion. Spray on plants regularly to boost their natural immune systems (treat entire garden every three weeks.)

Insecticide Brew
Dissolve 325 mg aspirin in 1 teaspoon vinegar. Combine it with 2 to 4 tablespoons neem oil, hot pepper wax, garlic and yucca extract plus 1 gallon water.

Fungicide Brew
To 1 gallon water, add 2 tablespoons baking soda and 2 tablespoons of one or more of the following: Eco E-Rase (blend of jojoba and jojoba seed oil), yucca extract and mild dish detergent. Hose off leaves first to dislodge spores, then spray with the fungicide brew (weekly, or after extended rainy periods). It's also effective against soft-bodied insects and white fly.

So this sounds awesome, right? But the trouble is that I can't find a place to buy yucca extract, neem oil, hot pepper wax and E-rase (jojoba oil) besides way over in California at Peaceful Valley.

I'll also be using my compost tea that has been collecting in the container below my Enviorcycle composter as soon as I can get up the nerve to pour it out. I'm afraid its gonna smell really bad and activate my gag reflex. I was reminded of compost tea over at Colleens About.com Organic Gardening. She's got tons of great information over there so check it out if you haven't already.

So, if you are the blue water type, why not try the aspirin water? It'll be fun - we can compare notes!