[punatic]

Does anyone know of effective organic means to keep grasshoppers away? Some jerk-bug has been munching on my already-sad-looking basil.

DDT is an organic molecule.   

[nateo]

DDT is an organic molecule.   

No organochlorides, please. I'm thinking more like lemongrass extract or something.

[erockrph]

Does anyone know of effective organic means to keep grasshoppers away? Some jerk-bug has been munching on my already-sad-looking basil.

At least they have good taste!

I believe a pyrethrin based spray would work well and be food-safe. Available everywhere.

Pyrethrins are indeed allowable in an OMRI-listed organic pesticide, but I personally try to keep away from them because they do pose some toxicity concerns that I'm trying to avoid. But everyone has to make that call for themselves, and it sure beats the non-organic options.

I use Neem oil on my fruits and veggies. It works OK, but not great. It also needs to be reapplied every 4 or 5 days (or after a rain), so YMMV. I haven't had much of an issue with grasshoppers, so I don't know how effective Neem is on them specifically, but it's pretty much an all-piurpose insect treatment so it should work just as well on them as things like bean beetles, Japanese beetles, etc.

[morticaixavier]

Does anyone know of effective organic means to keep grasshoppers away? Some jerk-bug has been munching on my already-sad-looking basil.

chickens

[pinnah]

Does anyone know of effective organic means to keep grasshoppers away? Some jerk-bug has been munching on my already-sad-looking basil.

chickens

 , my chickens are not crazy about basil, but love the lettuce.
But true, not many hoppers survive in my yard, except on the hops where they can get above the chickens.

Wow vert, that is one stunning iris color!  My garden is getting taken over by flowers actually.  I am bad about eliminating volunteers.

Had the first garden stir fry last night.  Totally pure home grown 2012 except for that one red bell pepper the wife made me add.  The bok choy was nice.  First scapes as well.

Maybe you could just plant some more basil and have enough for everyone?

[morticaixavier]

Does anyone know of effective organic means to keep grasshoppers away? Some jerk-bug has been munching on my already-sad-looking basil.

chickens

 , my chickens are not crazy about basil, but love the lettuce.
But true, not many hoppers survive in my yard, except on the hops where they can get above the chickens.

Wow vert, that is one stunning iris color!  My garden is getting taken over by flowers actually.  I am bad about eliminating volunteers.

Had the first garden stir fry last night.  Totally pure home grown 2012 except for that one red bell pepper the wife made me add.  The bok choy was nice.  First scapes as well.

Maybe you could just plant some more basil and have enough for everyone?

I like this answer the best.

I gotta get some pictures of my garden going.

Looks like we are going to have too many zuccini this year. the surprise is that we didn't plant any. talk about not eliminating volnuteers well. I feel like it's a shame to remove edible food plants from a food garden just because it wasn't what I expected.

we have four or five nice looking cantelopes swelling up and the potatoes are like three feet high.

The corn has exceeded 12 inches and the beans we planted around them just started to break ground this weekend so we put in the acorn squash seeds and crossed our fingers. looks like we've got a nice second round of artichokes on the way. and we have started snacking on green beans. and melons melons melons. well also squash and, with luck some cukes for pickles. Looks like 5 or 6 of the loofah seedlings are going to make it to so that should take care of our sponge needs for a while.

the last 25 tomatoes went in the ground yesterday and we just got a couple yards of compost delivered so we can top dress everything.

gardening in California is almost embarrassing the hardest part is stopping the plants you don't want from growing.

[redbeerman]

Our biggest probelm had been lack of rain, but not this week.

[tubercle]

Looks like we are going to have too many zuccini this year.

Pickles

[1vertical]

Looks like we are going to have too many zuccini this year.

  Pickles  Relish

There I fixed it for ya

[morticaixavier]

Looks like we are going to have too many zuccini this year.

Pickles

yes, also squash blossoms stuffed with cheese, and zucchini chocolate chip cookies. And my wife found a recipe for zucchini cheese bread as well. I wish we had chickens we could turn some of those zukes into eggs.

[nateo]

Have you thought about lacto-fermenting the zukes? 

My neighbor bought a bushel of cayenne peppers (he gets bored and like to go to the produce auction and buy bushels of things he doesn't really need), so last year I made naturally fermented hot sauce. It was pretty easy, thought a couple jars got a nasty mold infection. I still have more hot sauce than I can handle.

 

[bluesman]

Part of my garden.  Some hops growing in the foreground.  Not the best shot but shows some peppers, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers.

[punatic]

Very nice layout Ron.

[tubercle]

Looks like we are going to have too many zuccini this year.

  Pickles  Relish

There I fixed it for ya

I stand corrected

[bluesman]

Very nice layout Ron.

Thanks...I've learned over the years to give plenty of space for the plants to grow.  It will look like a jungle a month from now.