I have probably a different view on this. It is quite possible that you don't know what is in fact eating your veggies. I have found that most insects are feeding on plants at night. Go out an hour or so after dark with a good flashlight and check out the nightlife. Chances are you have some earwigs that are feasting. I have almost never seen them in the day but they sure are active at night. I squish em between 2 popsicle sticks. Do this for 4-5 nights in a row and you will notice a vast drop in your plants being eaten. I generally don't bother with pillbugs except when plants are at the seedling (most vulnerable) stage. I have seen them feasting on plants but I am pretty sure I don't have high concentrations of them. But in the early stages I squish em too. I avoid all pesticides like the plague. We used to use Sevin early on when we first started the garden some years back but hey man, we're eating those veggies ! We also decided to grow mostly exotic varieties of melons and veggies since when I add up the time, water, and other expenses we're running something like $5 per tomato. It sounds like you have a fairly limited space. You should be able to maintain it as I have described above without pesticides. Something else I have found that works wonders is DE -- Diatomaceous Earth that is used for swimming pool filters. Sprinkle it around your plants in a ring and it will eliminate many of the crawling bugs that cause trouble. Wayne

Use the stuff with no fear - organics will not burn or harm your plant. I have had my best luck with using an all-organic program that is manure based (either horse, cow, or poultry). There is no need to fear bad microbes with properly composted &/or pasturized manure - composting gets rid of the bad & encourages the good (which is not harmful to us, only beneficial to the plant); pasturizing may kill microbes, but it's only killing bad. It's the process of composting that encourages already existing good microbes in the soil, that's why it's good to put certain types of uncomposted organic matter in soils (ie: letting grass cippings drop behind every now & then, or spreading manure). As for the guy who has no need for molasses, poultry manure & humates, this is what I've learned through scientific research of the materials: The molasses is a high quality natural sugar which is loaded with all kind of nutrients that provide food for the GOOD microbes, to encourage their propogation, & therefore health of the soil - the poulty manure is a manure product that is very high in nitrogen per pound (more so than many other manures), as well as the other nutrients needed, but yet won't burn the plant on application, like chemical fertilizers (it also slow releases, so it doesn't wash into our waterways causing fish death & drinking water contamination) - the humates stimulate growth & plant development by storing nutrients for slow release - and just for the record, the sea kelp is a great source of organic nutrients, & green sand is a natural source of iron & other minerals that won't burn a plant, either. I've used this product on my St. Aug & Bermuda grass lawns & pastures, & have had much luck with using it in conjuction with spreading dried horse manure with one of my applications yearly, as well. I've have also had FABULOUS luck using this product in my garden with composted horse manure, & a sprinkiling of dissolved diluted molasses (cheap livestock feeding type) 1x per growing season. I will most certainly look for & use it again - so I have nothing but good to say about this product or Medina products, in general. Also, the odor dissapates in 2 days if watered so that it breaks down from it's pellet form - after the watering the smell rapidly leaves after less than 24 hours. If you don't water, it will take a couple days more to dissapate . My only warning when using the product is to be sure to water it until it breaks down from it's pellet form (just needs to be saturated for this to happen) if you're using it in a pet yard - if you don't, your dog may eat it. It WON'T harm the dog (as it is pasturized against the bad stuff), but I just find this a pretty disgusting canine practice! (Also, for the equine uneducated, dogs LOVE dried road apples left behind from horses - yuk!)

container blueberry, some folks on this forum have yet to grasp the concept of what an organic fertilizer is and how it can be beneficial to your specific growing operation. Take advice offered by them with a very large grain of salt!! Meat meal is not all that different from any other protein-based animal byproduct used as an organic fertilizer - bone meal, blood meal, feather meal, fish meal, etc., etc. Typically, you will see it listed as MBM - meat and bone meal - as one is heavier on the N levels and the other on the P. Together they form a relatively balanced and fast-acting basic nutrient source. Organic fertilizers are intended to supply specific nutrients that may be missing or deficient in existing soil. Simply adding organic matter can not always satisfy the nutrient demands of fast growing crops in a single growing season. Organic farming operations have utilized supplemental fertilization practices for decades in addition to the more typical annual cover cropping or applications of manures, composts or other OM. That is why many organic fertilizers are OMRI approved -- if they were never necessary (or somehow bad for the soil) as some posters would lead you to believe, there would not be the massive market for them there is nor any need for the organic gardening/farming approval. Since all organic fertilizers (other than mined minerals) are derived from plant and animal byproducts, they ARE JUST AS MUCH ORGANIC MATTER as is compost or animal manures. That emphasis is intended for those who persist in thinking they are not. They require activation (mineralization/digestion) by soil organisms to release the nutrients into plant-accessible forms. In this way, they encourage all manner of soil biology and improve the soil in much the same manner as any other form of OM. Plus they offer the benefit of specific nutrient supplementation and often in a much more fast-acting form than does typical OM.

I dunno. I've had good luck with their cherries at least. Our Minnie Royal and Royal Lee trees have settled in nicely. I was a little concerned since the trees had already broken hibernation probably due to their low chill requirement but I needn't have been I guess. The trees were nicely pruned and had good calipers too. Admittedly one took longer to acclimate but it may have been due more to my planting technique than anything else.