With reference to Colorado beetles, in my experience the best approach is to scout the plants for beetles every two or three days and squish them. Start early because the adults emerge first and they're not too bad, but they produce lots of young which do the worst damage. I don't use a pesticide because the beetles are cleverer than I am; potatoes and their predecessor species have been developing pesticides for, say, 500,000 years. The beetles have overcome these pesticides one by one in a sort of arms race. Where potatoes are grown in bulk, including parts of Michigan, Colorado beetles have overcome every pesticide tried on them; the more they are challenged, the more they develop resistance. It's not surprising that the beetles can overcome artificial pesticides developed these last 50 years. So I don't bother with pesticides and I squish 'em. For more species of insect pests, the most useful are the umpteen species of minute wasps, ranging from 1/10 inch to 1/50 inch long. You never see them but they do great work parasitizing pest insect eggs and larvae. The best way to encourage them is to grow the small-flower plants they like most. #1 is boneset, #2 is sweet alyssum, and somewhere in the top ten is Riddell's goldenrod. This is a slow solution. Similarly, doing ones best not to harm those black ground beetles is the slow-but-sure answer to slugs. Flee beetles on eggplant and brassicas, however, can only be stopped by using row covers on immature plants, which doesn't get rid of the beetles of course. So my advice is to think long term and hold off on the pesticides which, after all, kill as many beneficial insects as they do pests. Regards, Peter.

Nicotine is considered an organic pesticide but it is still one of the most toxic substances you can use in your garden. I would never consider using it with any sort of edibles. It can also spread tobacco mosaic virus, to which most, if not all, solanceaous plants are susceptible. As others have said, you must know what to treat in order to know how to treat. In many cases, prevention rather than treatment is the way to go - netting/harvest cloth, collaring for cutworms, baiting for slugs or snails. But you need to identify what the pest is first. One product I really like for crawling insects/larvae/cutworms of all manner is diatomaceous earth. It is pretty harmless to benefical insects but deadly to things like aphids, whiteflies, loopers, cutworms, hornworms. And fleas, roaches and bedbugs, if you have indoor pest issues :-) Completely organic and totally safe around kids or pets (food grade only and be sure to use mask when applying - small, sharp particles can be harmful if inhaled). It is what some call a "near perfect organic pesticide" :-)

Pinkcat, I know the feeling about using sevin. don't get me wrong, but if you have to use sevin, liquid is better. You must throw the DUST container out. It is really toxic to bees! our local extension and bee Keepers are always trying to educate people to avoid the DUST. Liquid is a little better... Anyway I had bought this product online called PYOLA from garden's alive which is organic(basically pyrethrin mixed in canola oil) which seems to work on the flea beetles. It says broad sprectrum, so I am hoping it will work on CUcumber beetles, bean beetles and all kinds of caterpillar and moths! So lets see how that goes. But for now the flea beetles have gone down. But we have to keep spraying after each rainfall. I don't mind that at all as long as it keeps the bugs under control. Also it says on the bottle that one can use it upto the day of harvest and on the whole 10 applications in the entire growing season. This is not bad compared to SEVIN or Malathion which have only 2-3 application in the entire growing season and you have to wait for a few days before you harvest your vegetables!

Find a bee keeper that will come out and remove that hive. Normally, and contrary to what many people seem to believe, bees will not sting you or the children. Bees are out and about for one reason, to collect pollen from plants and make honey. The only reason a bee might sting anyone is because they feel threatened and once a bee stings that bee dies, so there is no incentive for any bee to sting. I have worked out in the garden with tons of bees working the blossoms with no problem. The one time I was stung by a bee I was no where near any flower, the bee was traveling somewhere and flew into the shop door I had just opened and was knocked down onto my arm where the wee bugger stung me, and died. In my experience, most everyone that has been stung by a "bee" has actually been stung by a Yellow Jacket, a wasp that looks a bit like a bee to people that do not know the difference. kimmq is kimmsr