What happened to Seven/Sevin?

Sevin kills the "good" guys as well as the bad and makes it impossible for natural predators to get a foot hold to keep pests at bay.

It's up to each gardener to make choices about what they use and don't use in their gardens. Personally, I want a garden that's safe enough so that when my 9 year old Nephew picks a tomato he can pop it into his mouth without a worry.

I also want a sustainable, micro-environment that takes care of itself without expensive, petroleum produced chemicals. It's better for my health, my pocketbook and for all the critters that share space with me.

I'd never even think of putting something in my garden that would have even the remotest chance of killing natural predators or other beneficials or destroying the natural balance of nature. Working with nature instead of against nature is much easier, cheaper, and definitely more exciting.

In all my years of gardening, I've never lost an entire crop of anything to "pests". Sure, pests do some damage from time-to-time, but healthy plants can withstand it and unhealthy plants attract more pests and then, Woo Hoo, there comes the cavalry of the good guys to feast on the bad guys... It's almost a miracle, really, and I wouldn't disrupt that natural process for anything....

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Sorry, miss-posted

While 5% Sevin was the standard, now much of it is 10% Sevin in the stores.

I hardly ever use an insecticide on my crops, and when I do, I stay away from those (crops) that attract honeybees. That is one of the reasons I don't use it on squash etc. However, it works OK on potatoes, cabbage, beets and the like with very little danger to bees.

Sevin is very toxic to bees, but it is probably the absolute least toxic insecticide ever created as far as birds and mammals are concerned. Many of your "organic" pesticides like nicotine sulfate are more toxic.

At a community garden meeting a few years back, speaker was from U of WI Extension and specialist in organic certification. Topic that night was insect control. Wish that I could find the sheet which she handed out but one column was organic and the other non-organic. Each was assigned a number rating as to danger. Sevin was at the very bottom of the non-organic and much lower than most of the organic.

Martin

Since we did not buy the Sevin (since the clerk said it was no longer made) and we returned the product she called Eight (since we decided not to use the chemicals in the food garden) we then bought a bottle of the Safer Soap spray. Last year I could not find Safer Soap and the aphids have taken over the garden.

We have sprayed the Safer Soap only once so far and it did seem to kill some of the aphids. We had a lot of rain yesterday and will have more today but tomorrow we will take a look and see how things are.

Last summer we were not here much and aphids took over the whole garden. I have to get rid of them or we will loose the garden, again, like we did last summer. So I am hoping the soap spray will work. In one area we tried a garlic and soap mix. It did not seem to work as good as the purchased Safer Soap spray but we will look again once the rain stops.

Thank you everyone.

For your own decision-making: http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/ms...g%20&%20Sp.pdf

Not as simple as use or do not use......

geo

Again, I cant stress enough how effective Neem oil is, its used by organic farmers and growers and is extremely effective in controlling aphids and other pest insects while not being toxic to butterflys, bees etc. We use it as both a pesticide and fungicide and purchase the brand name Fertilome. We have a horrible aphid problem but the Neem oil completely makes them a non-issue for our veggies, ornamentals, grapes, fruit trees etc.

Neem oil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Go to walmart or feed store or a place that sells plants.Yes they have it.They have it from 5%--to 10%