Poke Salat to control bugs?

10 years ago

I have some volunteer pumpkins along the edge of my woods that are growing great, almost ready.

They are at least 200' from my garden and bug free!

The pumpkins and summer squash in the garden are eat up with SVB's and squash bugs. I have to patrol daily and have preformed surgery several times.

I had poke salat growing around the volunteers. I chopped it down and used it for mulch around them.

Does anyone think that the poke could be helping? Or do you think it is the distance?

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Comments (16)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
i would suspect its your veggie monoculture in the garden.. that is an attractant..

rather than that horrible weed being a plus in the garden ...

ken

ps: what is a pumpkin 'ready' for the first week of july ???? .. crikey thats 4 months to Halloween ....
wertach zone 7-B SC
Original Author
10 years ago
I don't consider poke salat a horrible weed, I eat it every spring, it is delicious!

I wasn't planning on planting it in the garden! But, I have plenty growing in the woods to use as mulch if it would help with the bugs!

They are Pie pumpkins, not Halloween pumpkins! LOL
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This certainly isn't my fight - I don't even eat it, but a lot of people here in E. Tn. do eat poke. I do a fair amount of foraging, mostly to learn the wild plants and how to prepare them. Some I eat all the time, others I try just to taste. But I've been reading this exchange for a few days now, and I think some things should be emphasized. As long as I have a positive id, I don't mind eating plants that have toxic and edible components. In fact, I have a bowl of wild black cherries in the fridge that will become syrup later today after I separate out the toxic pits... not an easy task btw... However, when posting on a public message board, I always, ALWAYS lean to the side of caution. It's a simple maxim... what I am willing to do with my choices are a much different matter than what I suggest that others do with their own. In the case of the cherries... I'll be glad to tell you that the flesh of the fruit is edible, but I will heavily caution that, when working with them, I wouldn't even scratch the toxic pits. In fact, I wouldn't use any metal tools. I would also add that the person look up for themselves the toxicity of all parts of the trees, especially leaves drying on a broken branch. They routinely take out large cattle with much better digestive protections against wild foods. I try to be cautious, especially since foraging isn't really necessary to my lifestyle. I simply enjoy it. I like the idea of eating rare foods and flavors untouched by, and unavailable in, the factory food marketplace. And when discussing these foods on a public forum where some, potentially, may not have the faculties to understand the danger, why suggest that people cut corners? You don't ask for proof that it's poisonous. You assume it's poisonous! Knowledge is what helps a person make good choices. If you aren't 100% sure of what you are doing, you don't lessen the caution, you increase it. If you wish to take the risk yourself, that's a choice you live with (hopefully,) but you don't argue for the lessening of caution that might put others at risk. If you have the ability to hire a laboratory and test out the amount and effect of the toxin across a wide selection of poke varieties, as well as using various cooking methods, along with portion size, frequency of consumption, and weight and maturity level of the individuals consuming, then have at it - and please publish your findings. Until then, the cautions should remain in place.
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woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
10 years ago
"They are Pie pumpkins, not Halloween pumpkins! LOL "

So... Thanksgiving in July??

:P

Kevin
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
the link says:

However, a food scientist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System says no part of this plant should be eaten by a person or animal.

"The roots, berries, seeds and mature stems and leaves of pokeweed are poisonous," says Extension Food Scientist Jean Weese. There are at least three different types of poison in this plant -- phytolaccatoxin, triterpene saponins, an alkaloid, phytolaccin, and histamines.

===>>>> all the power to ya.. if you know what you are doing .... ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link
wertach zone 7-B SC
Original Author
10 years ago
""The roots, berries, seeds and mature stems and leaves of pokeweed are poisonous,"

The key word in that statement is Mature. You pick the leaves when they are young.

The poisons in the plant is why I'm thinking it may be keeping the bugs away.

Yes Ken, I know what I'm doing when it comes to cooking and eating Poke. I've ate it all of my 59 years and my family has too.

We have never even had a tummy ache from it.

A lot of old folks used to swallow dried berries for their rheumatism and never got sick! I've never tried that nor plan to.

Kevin, us Southerners don't turn down any kind of pie any time of the year! ;)

I'm going to experiment with it on my fall squash crop and see what happens.

Ted
mulchmama
10 years ago
Poke is awful awful stuff! If you want to go to the trouble of harvesting and preparing it so it can be eaten, fine. All I know is, I react to it as I would react to poison ivy, and I found out the hard way when my arms and legs got a huge dose of it when I was cutting some down a couple years ago. That stuff is vicious bad!
wertach zone 7-B SC
Original Author
10 years ago
I think it is time for me to take a stand against the Poke haters here! LOL

I'm So sorry to hear that you have had such a bad reaction to poke MulchMama.

Are you sure that it was the poke?

Since your profile states that you are a "Certified Landscape Designer" you could have possibly been exposed to many other plants that caused the reaction?

Are you allergic to peanuts and many more things? You may want to have an allergy test to be sure! I'm allergic to chlorophyll yet I still garden!

I have saw a lot of people blame something for allergic reactions that were not related to what they thought it was.

I have been around it and used it for many years as a great fresh spring veggie when nothing else is available.

I'm not being negative or doubting you or anything, just curious.

I have never heard of anyone having a bad reaction to it, that is why I'm curious!

When we were kids we would crush the berries and paint our bodies with the dye! We were the original "Blue Man Group" ! Actually purple.....

" If you want to go to the trouble of harvesting and preparing it so it can be eaten, fine."

I kind of take that as a slap in the face, but I will ignore it and hope you meant it differently!

The harvesting and preparing isn't any harder than harvesting and preparing any other green that is domestically grown. Easier actually since it isn't covered with dirt.

And it tastes better than any other green that I have ever ate!

I can buy it canned at the local grocery stores, I think the brand names are Allens and Glory . So it must not be so poison after all?

I'm not wanting to start a piss fight or anything, but poke has gotten a bad reputation from some people over the years that isn't justified.

People once thought that tomatoes were poison because they are from the nightshade family, yes parts of the tomato have poison in them and poke does also. But they also ate potatoes, from the same family without a qualm?????

A quote that I can't confirm about a brave man that ate the poison tomatoes.

"He stood on the steps of a courthouse in Salem, New Jersey and ate an entire basket of tomatoes. He attracted over 2,000 people, who were mostly waiting to watch him die. Women passed out from fear, and the firemen's band even played a mournful dirge. Needless to say, he survived, as did the tomato."
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
10 years ago
'cmon folks, have you not heard of Polk Salad Annie (gators got your grannie)?

"If some of ya'll never been down South too much...
I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this, so that you'll understand what I'm talking about. Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods and the fields, looks somethin' like a turnip green. Everybody calls it Polk salad. Polk...salad.
Used to know a girl that lived down there and
she'd go out in the evenings and pick a mess of it...
Carry it home and cook it for supper, 'cause that's about all they had to eat, But they did all right. "

tj
wertach zone 7-B SC
Original Author
10 years ago
tj, We call it poke sallet, not salad, I misspelled it in the OP !!!! LOL

Maybe they say salad in Oak Grove, Louisiana, where Tony Joe White came from. It might be the Cajun thing though, a little French added in! LOL
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
hey peeps...

listen to me.. you eat whatever makes you happy... i will presume someone taught you how and what to eat... some back bayou zombie witchdoctor.. lol ...

but my guess is that a VAST MAJORITY of readers here.. never chime in ... just read along.. and stuff whatever they can in their mouths... you wouldnt believe how many I SAW THIS MUSHROOM posts i have seen in the last few weeks... and some idiot wants to stuff it in his mouth based on a couple of opinions from peeps he doenst even know.. here on GW...

so whenever someone talks like this.. i am going to tell them its a poison ... and unless grandma taught you how to do it right.. maybe you ought to keep things out of your mouth ...

so y'all have a great dinner... and take care

i am worried about you.. but not on this.. lol...

ken
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
Good for you, wertach! I've known many who grew up on poke weed greens. Never tried them myself but never say never!
Kimmsr
10 years ago
I can find nothing about using pokeweed as an insect control although these plants I have found seem to be free of any insect pests.
The leaves of tomatoes, finely shredded and steeped in water, sprayed on the garden has been found to have some insect pest control, so who knows.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
I agree, kimmsr. I would find it very difficult to dismiss the possibilities of poke weed as a repellent without at least experimenting a little.
Leafhead
10 years ago
Kudos on finding a green and *native* solution to your bug problem. I promote the use of bugs and other green methods to control pests.
wertach zone 7-B SC
Original Author
10 years ago
My fall squash is about 4" tall now. I mulched 1/2 of it with poke this morning and left the other bare so that I can compare them.

I will post results later.
agillesp11
3 years ago
I can see this as an older post but I'm fascinated with this idea of using pokeweed mulch to control squash borers! how has it worked out?

Poke Salat to control bugs?

Comments (16)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

wertach zone 7-B SC
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Poke Salat to control bugs?

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