Gardening

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Poverty gardening - APHIDS! (lemmynsfw.com)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Was so happy to see my sad, under-soiled tomato plant putting out flowers, but it's also attracted aphids! I'm too poor to even afford pesticides, and was planning on growing organic anyways, but I'm not getting any help with pest predators from the surrounding apartment environment (cropped lawn grass and dandelions)

How do I attract natural predators of plant pests, like hoverflies, parasitoid wasps, ladybeedles and others without just buying a pack from a store? I want to engage in the war on bugs on the side of bugs, but the bugs that eat the bugs that eat my plants, for essentially a budget of $0. How the hell am I supposed to do this...

Oh and if anyone's wondering, I bought these plants from the farmer's market on EBT because they were cheap but I can't buy any dirt or bigger pots. So I'm working with the best I got until I get a job and a paycheck

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

You could craft a insect catching net and go bug hunting with that. An old window sheet and some sticks could make a good one. Swoosh it through some flower fields, and collect the beetles and whatnot. Some of them will eat aphids, and maybe lay their eggs.

It's important tho that you get some flowers and cover crops as fast as possible.
For example, you could throw some fenugreek, pea, or whatever whole spice in there.
They won't stay there for long if otherwise.

Greetings from my german balcony! 🌱

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