sad day in the garden...

So, one of the worst possible infestations possible has taken over our entire set of ground and box plots in the garden.  We noticed about 3-4 days ago that the tomatoes and beans were beginning to literally get eaten from the ground up pretty much overnight.  From strong healthy plants only a week ago, we began seeing dead leafless stems start to replace our early spring growth on all but the squash, corn and pumpkins, but couldn't find any pests on the plants during the day.  So I did a little research and learned that some pests are only active after sundown.  So, like a late night detective once again, out I went with flashlight, crocs and gloves, and here is what I found hiding out in literally every plant we have...

Vegetable weevils.  We have hundreds on everything from the tomatoes to the beans and peas to eggplant, peppers, tomatillos and literally every root crop but the onions.  They are even in the potato barrels.

Unfortunately, these little shit balls (pardon my dutch) are immune to pretty much every organic treatment available.  For safe measure I sprayed 5 gallons of organic bacterial and neem oil pest control over the entire crop.  An hour later, not phased in the slightest.  Looking up information in the California Master Gardener website, one finds that only two other organic methods are remotely effective.  Hand picking each insect off of the plants at night for 2 weeks, or application of diatomaceous earth.

I happen to have a bottle of the stuff that I have used for flea control on the cat.  Diatomaceous earth is basically fossilized algae ground into a powder with particles so small (averaging 10 micrometers) that they invade the scaly body of arthropods and pierce the body of insects like glass shards.  So, as effective as the treatment is against vegetable weevils, it is also effective in killing nearly everything else as well... from mites and aphids to ladybugs, mantis, wasps and bees... all of which provide more benefit than harm in the organic garden.  My only hope is that broad local application at night followed by our morning dew, will affect only the pests that come out at night... namely this stupid little bugger eating the garden while we sleep.

The only other solution is either chemical grade pesticide (only two are effective against weevils... pyrethrin and azadirachtin) or pulling the garden, starving the pests, and black tarping the soil to suffocate any eggs or larvae through the summer.  

I'm totally against the idea of chemical pesticides as the reason I planted a garden in the first place was to avoid these toxins in our food, allow the natural flora and fauna to thrive without broad range chemical insect control that kills off already shrinking populations of bees and other beneficial pollinators,  and of course allow the cat to roam the back yard without fear of poisoning.  So, cross your fingers on the diatomaceous earth for us.  If I'm going to eat pesticide tainted veggies, I might as well buy them from the grocery store and give this year a rest.

Here's what the poor babies look like tonight... nuclear winter in San Diego.  Tomorrow, I will run out to buy another bottle to use in the raised bed and we'll see what we will see.

For more information on controlling this particularly nasty pest... http://homeguides.sfgate.com/weevil-control-vegetables-22775.html