Funny how you mention that sunnibel. Completely across the country, I've seen a total of 1 looper adult. Now, the only brassica I've got going right now is some kale and not the usual broccoli, cauli, et al that I normally grow through the fall and winter, but they've ALWAYS been here in droves even when all I grew was maters.. However, my IPM program has been attracting the good bugs. So, maybe a triumph on my part, finally. I'll still be spraying the BT regularly though. Hornworms can make quick work. And I hate searching for them.

There is no real easy method of control for red lily beetle, it is more of an effort to manage the population however best you can and it is very labor-intensive. I've never seen red lily beetles here in OK but some folks may have them if they arrived on mail order lilies or such. The beneficial insects (parasitic wasps) that seem to be having success in controlling red lily beetles are, as far as I know, not available commercially yet in the USA. I believe it is the University of Rhode Island that has been experimenting with some European species of parasistic wasps and they've been releasing them on their own (not selling them to gardeners) and studying their effect on the red lily beetle population in the areas where the wasps have been released. They seem to be having some success, but the availability of those species of parasitic wasps commercially likely is years away still. Have you tried Spinosad? Some folks use it to control the red lily beetles either when they are in the soil or as larvae, using it both as a soil drench and to spray the plants. Other than that, if I had them, I'd hand-pick them and destroy them daily and search for and destroy the eggs as well. I wear disposable medical gloves when hand-picking pests and generally carry a plastic bowl of soapy water with me, dropping the hand-picked pests into the bowl to drown. As far as removing eggs from the undersides of leaves, I like to use a lint roller---I roll it over the underside of the leaf when I find eggs of pest insects and the roller pulls the insects right off the leaves. Then I strip that section of the sticky tape off the link roller, roll it up to enclose the eggs inside, and drop the bundle of sticky tape into the kitchen trash can to ensure the eggs go out with the trash. I know it would get tiresome to hand pick, but these pests are such a problem that it takes that sort of intense dedication to keep them to a manageable level. There's always neem, which works somewhat well on them, and if you get desperate enough, you could use systemic or non-systemic synthetic pesticides. It depends on how much time and effort you want to put into fighting them and I suppose it depends on how many lilies you have. I don't know if you've seen the webpage I'm going to link below, but I think it is a very thorough source of info about what works for red lily beetles, with some folks explaining their success. I'd never heard of using used coffee grounds to repel red lily beetles before, but if it works, why not use it? I noticed some folks have had success with DE. I don't use DE much in my garden any more but I like it when I used it. Many of us do use used coffee ground in our gardens or our compost all the time, so why not try using it to repel or deter the lily beetles? It might help and couldn't hurt. Spinosad, by the way, is available in several formulations---as a spray, as a dust and in some pelleted baits like Slug-Go Plus and in a fire ant bait called Come And Get It. I expect the spray would work best for red lily beetles. Red Lily Beetle Info from B&D Lilies Good luck in your battle with the lily beetles. Dawn

crikey ... CABBAGE worms do not eat TREES.. else they would be called TREE worms ... if your nasturtiums are heavily infested.. GET RID OF THEM .. and be done with it.. its late OCT ... why go the bug kill route ... if per chance your zone is so warm.. they last all winter.. of something else foreign to me... then cut them back HARD ... and remove the vast majority ... NEVER treat anything.. in any manner.. chemical nor organic ... UNTIL you have a full and complete ID ... i suspect you are throwing around guesses.. and we might be reading such as gospel ... provide pics... or take examples to a good nursery.. and get the ID ... then lets talk about remedy .... bt.. if i am not mistaken.. kills nothing.... in the short term ... it can take a long time.. to take its course... but i WILL DEFER on that... its awful early to be thinking straight on a product that i dont use.. because .... i have no faith in it .... return it and get your money back ... IMHO ...... plagues come and go .. you may see none next year ... so dont go thinking you have to napalm the yard for NEXT YEAR ... can we work on that ID for you ... ken

SJane's - I looked at your photo of the damage to your plants and I was thinking it also could be ear wigs. I've had damage, that I couldn't find a culprit for and decided to go out with a flashlight at night, and that's what it ended up being, ear wigs. Which I knocked into a cup of soapy water for a few nights until I felt they were under control. At any rate, I never use a pesticide and I find that my garden has found it's own equilibrium, which just tickles me. Aphids show up and within a week, when I leave them alone, the Ladybugs show up and no more aphids. I actually end up trying to attract aphids to feed the ladybugs. lol Last year, I had a lot of Brassica crops and I hadn't grown them in awhile, so I was concerned I was going to get cabbage worms, and I did, but no sooner did the cabbage worms show up, then I suddenly started seeing wasps patrolling my vegetable beds and I stopped seeing cabbage worm damage. WHMaven - Thanks for your list - it's a good one. I'm growing sunflowers this year and I'm adding Scarlet Runner Bean for hummers. I never get hummers for some reason, but I keep adding plants to try to attract them. Last year, I noticed, a small little hummer buzzing around my pole string beans, which was a surprise to me. So, I asked about it here and found out they like Scarlet Runner Beans. I'm going to try to put out a feeder for them again. I've given up in the past. And I have honeysuckle early in the season and now I will have the SRBeans and a great place to grow a lot of them too. We don't get swallows where I am in suburban/urban area with small 1/4 acre lots, and when I opened a pumpkin for the yard last year, all I got was squirrels. [g] They certainly enjoyed that for about a week. They would crawl inside the pumpkin and poke their head out. It was entertaining. I'm also going to put a shallow saucer of water, but also a saucer of mud. Had a lot of dill and other herbs last year and will again this year. I love to let Parsley winter over and flower for beneficials and reseed the next year.