Where to Direct Questions About Gardening
Question
June 16, 2014
I am new to NM and raising a few basil, tomato, green chili, oregano, peppermint and flowers. I have seen a little cream colored moth on the plants and also white butterflies. Something chomped my cosmos too. (A grasshopper by the looks of it.) Will a spray made from garlic shells work to deter them? Or an earth friendly dish soap solution?
Answer(s)
Answer by WR: I think we’ve had a few more grasshoppers than usual this summer. Did you hear about the cloud of grasshoppers that passed over Albuquerque in early June and showed up on the radar map? The weather forecasters couldn’t figure out what was happening. Luckily most of the grasshoppers kept going. If it is grasshoppers eating your plants, I don’t think there is much you can do.
Have you tried contacting the master gardeners? We are master composters, but some of the other people who get our questions email might have answers for you as there are many gardeners in our organizations. But, you might try contacting the Master Gardener hotlines.
Here is how to contact the Bernalillo County master gardener hotline:
http://abqmastergardeners.org/index.php/resources/mastergardenerhotline
Or, you can post your questions here:
http://abqmastergardeners.org/index.php/ask-a-question
Here are details about Sandoval County hotline:
http://aces.nmsu.edu/county/sandoval/mastergardener/scmg-telephone-hotline.html
And, in case you live up in Santa Fe area, here is their website
http://sfmga.org/
Good luck! It’s quite a challenge gardening in NM, but still lots of fun and totally worth it. Don’t forget to compost. 🙂