I'm gonna wing this one without a name....

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salvia_lover Modi'in, Israel Aug 23, 2004

I live in Israel and we've got this nuisance little light brown (tan?) moth whose larvae just love to eat my mint. They are known for eating grass roots too (their Latin name starts with a "B" and that's all I remember...sorry), but they make a chaos out of my mint to the point that it's practically impossible to find an unbitten leaf! I've tried the chemical granules at the garden center, and they do work....for about 2-3 weeks before the buggers are back in full force again. So I'd like to know if there is any sort of organic solution to this problem short of burning the mint to the ground? LOL Soapy water? Anything else that might be useful on an on-going basis so I can use the mint and not poison my family and still find uneaten leaves? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

-Julie

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PanamonCreel Celaya, Mexico(Zone 10a) Aug 23, 2004

You'll have to check if treatments containing BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) are available somewhere. This Bacteria is lethal to larvae of the Lepidoptera family (Butterfly and Moth) but is not harmful to humans.

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salvia_lover Modi'in, Israel Aug 24, 2004

Thanks for the tip PanamonCreel. I'll check when I go to the garden center today.

-Julie

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imway2dumb Gordonville, TX(Zone 7b) Aug 24, 2004

Use it carefully. It'll do-in the good guys, too. :-)

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PanamonCreel Celaya, Mexico(Zone 10a) Aug 24, 2004

Actually BT, depending on the bacteria strain used, attack only a narrow selection of insects thus will not effect beneficial insects which makes it much more preferable to insecticides.

some info on BT:

http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/microbes/bt.htm

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imway2dumb Gordonville, TX(Zone 7b) Aug 24, 2004

I didn't see anything in that link that excluded catapillars of the butterflies & moths many of us want to encourage.

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PanamonCreel Celaya, Mexico(Zone 10a) Aug 24, 2004

Oh that's what you mean, well you know most don't think about the beauty of the Butterfly or Moth when their caterpillars are eating up a priced plant in the garden. Human nature I guess, first we make a beautiful, attractive garden "Table" of insect food and then we are not happy if the crowd comes to feast on it LOL.
Still the narrow spectrum of BT is much better than the "non-discriminating" nature of chemical controls.

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imway2dumb Gordonville, TX(Zone 7b) Aug 24, 2004

I agree! Thats why expressed caution.

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