Spring 2004

Maybe with a few exceptions like cucumber beetles and squash vine borers, there’s no valid reason to put up with insects on vegetable plants over the summer. We’re not supposed to apply insecticides to vegetable plants anyhow, so you’ve got to explore time-tested substitutes for keeping bugs under control. Just where do you begin?

We know of only one foolproof way of catching bugs off guard:the old-fashioned rose duster filled with kitchen flour. When friends come to your home and sit down to an evening dinner with fresh veggies picked from your garden, just tell them your vegetables never have insects. The bottom will drop out of the conversation right then and there!

First, it’s safe to say you don’t have an old-fashioned rose duster anymore among your garden tools, but your local nursery does. Today’s rose duster is fabricated of heavy-duty plastic, and it’s inexpensive. It works just like the old one did. You add powdered material to the canister, attach the cover, then do out and dust your plants. That’s all there is to it!

In your case, fill the canister with ordinary kitchen flour. Make sure the cover is secured because you’ll be leaving the rose duster in the garage or whatever so it’s readily available to stop bugs in the vegetable garden. Always, you want to dust vegetable plants in the morning when plants are wet with dew. If there’s no dew, just hose down the veggies for 15 seconds, and shut the hose down.

Dusting plants is easy. Plants being wet, the kitchen flour adheres to leaves, stems and stalks almost like glue. By the time you’re out dusting, the morning flock of insects has already been parading and feeding on your plants. They’re after the sugar in every leaf, stem and stalk. However, when you dust your plants, insects can’t move as they normally do. The wet flour creates a gooey traffic jam on the plants, stopping bugs from moving to access new sites of carbohydrates. Since the bugs can’t move, they can’t eat, so bugs are dead within the hour. Of course, if it rains shortly after you’ve dusted the plants, insects will live for another day.

Remember what makes this dusting work:

* Plants must be wet with drew or having been hosed down;

* Use only kitchen flour and nothing else;