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Organic Pesticide For Vegetables & Fruits

March 10th, 2010 Posted in Green Living & News, Organic & Chemical Pesticides

Fruits & vegetables are an important part of any person’s diet. But, people aren’t the only ones who enjoy fruits and veggies. For instance, over 35 species of insects like to feast on the pepper alone, YIKES.

Dealing with this problem isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but learning what pests attack the most commonly consumed fruits and vegetables will help give you a clearer understanding of how to protect your favorite foods.

Peppers
Like I said above, there are at least 35 pests of the pepper, which is a lot of competition for many people’s favorite vegetable. The insects that most commonly feast upon the pepper are corn borer, corn earworm, beet armyworm, fall armyworm, pepper maggot, green peach aphid, and the tobacco hornworm, just to name a few.

Some of these insects feed upon the pepper externally, eating the outer skin and the leaves that help provide the pepper with its necessary nutrients. Other species of insects bore into the pepper eating the inner workings of the vegetable, along with the outlying leaves and stems. Some insects focus on severing and digging into the stems of the pepper primarily.

One major way of preventing these pests from ruining your peppers is by keeping them planted with spaces between them. This will help to keep any pest problems isolated to one pepper plant. Frequent spraying of organic pesticides will also help to control the constant presence of these insects in your garden.

Tomatoes
Homegrown tomatoes taste much better than store bought, so why wouldn’t you want to grow them yourself? The tomato takes very little upkeep and can be grown almost anytime of the year. The only problem lies with the diseases and pests that threaten the very livelihood of your tomatoes. One of the main problems facing a tomato is the blossom end rot.

Your tomato appears to be completely normal, until you pick it up and find a large black spot on the blossom end of the tomato. This isn’t technically a disease, but is a symptom of a lack of calcium. This easiest way to prevent this from happening is by watering your tomatoes often, as you would any other garden fruit or vegetable. The two most deadly fungal diseases of the tomato are fusarium and verticillim wilt.

As a result of these diseases your tomatoes turn yellow and the leaves along the stem begin to wilt. Fungus and weeds can be hard to deal with, which is why practicing crop rotation and using organic weed killer can go a long way towards helping solve this problem.

Bananas
The banana is one of the most commonly consumed fruits on the planet. It is a key crop throughout the East and most of Africa. The banana has a variety of predators, but the most common of these pests would have to be the banana root weevil, the pseudostem borer, and the fruit scarring beetle. The banana root weevil feeds and tunnels through the banana as it is grows, damaging it and halting this growth.

This causes the banana to turn black and begin to quickly decay. The pseudostem borer kills the banana plant by digging deep inside it from 1 meter above ground level. The banana will continuously emit a colorless slime as a result of the borer’s presence.

The larvae of this pest often attacks the core of the banana plant as well. The fruit scarring beetle feeds on the surface of the banana and other fruits leaving wounds and scars along their outer skin, hence their name.

They only cause superficial wounds, so the banana isn’t usually killed by their presence. In the end, the best method to use for the protection of your banana from these pests is EcoSMART’s organic pesticide.

Apples
Apple scab ruins the outer appearance of your favorite kinds of apples. This fungus survives in dead leaves and quickly travels up the roots of an apple tree. It normally infects young leaves and apples, leaving large brown spots of dead tissue throughout the outer skin of your apple. These infected spots can spread to other apples and other apple trees quickly, if not properly treated.

Apple leaf-miners are just as bad as the apple scab. These insects can kill over 60% of the foliage of your apple trees, possibly killing your trees in the long run. Even if your trees are not killed, leaf function can become impaired, and your apples may fail to be the healthy size and color. The apple nematode is another harmful pest that attacks the livelihood of the apple.

They feed on the apple tree’s roots, which can result in damaged leaves, apples, and the death of the apple tree all together. The nematode can also damage the tree to the point where its growth will be stunted and its apple will no longer grow properly.

The best method to help prevent and eliminate these threats is through proper apple tree management. Using natural fertilizers, natural pesticides from EcoSMART, and constantly maintaining the health of your apple trees will help you ensure the continued prosperity of one of your favorite fruits.