I am not saying this is THE solution, butI researched what farmers did before we had pesticides.
For bugs, they used soap first. Soap would kill a whole swath of bugs. For any bugs that remain, they used tobacco water. They would let tobacco leaves diffuse into water, then spray or pour on the plants. I saw in another post talk about NEEM oil. Yes it is really good at ridding the soil of bugs that attack the roots (nematoads) in the soil. NEEM is also good for cleansing our bile ducts.
The biggest problem I have in my backyard garden is earwigs. They ruin squash blossoms and some tomato blossoms too. Neem oil doesn't do a bit of good for them. I've found that a combination of veg oil in a small yogurt container as well as using diatomaceous earth (DE) around the perimeter of the plant is helpful. That's because I don't want to spray chemicals on the plant. On a larger scale, I can see how chemicals would be attractive. Never tried tobacco water though.
NEEM and oil of oregano CURED several fruit trees that were nearly dead from fire blight. One was an apple, and 2 were asian pears. The asian pear I had to cut down to the soil, and sprayed around the base and the roots, and then covered. I basicially considered it dead. Then I buried the debrid like 3' deep in an area that would never be dug up again. To my surprise they all survived, and didn't spread it to other trees. The asian pear I "killed" actually resprouted and is now 7' tall after several seasons and very strong plant. No fuit yet though. May need a companion to flower.
I also treated a very badly debarked (bear or cat) quince tree with neem and oregano and it healed. Finally, a witch hazel had a strange fungus on it and this combo helped it but hasn't fully removed it all. I am waiting to see what will happen this year. Witch hazel doesn't usually have this problem.
I am not saying this is THE solution, butI researched what farmers did before we had pesticides. For bugs, they used soap first. Soap would kill a whole swath of bugs. For any bugs that remain, they used tobacco water. They would let tobacco leaves diffuse into water, then spray or pour on the plants. I saw in another post talk about NEEM oil. Yes it is really good at ridding the soil of bugs that attack the roots (nematoads) in the soil. NEEM is also good for cleansing our bile ducts.
I know about tobacco also.
The biggest problem I have in my backyard garden is earwigs. They ruin squash blossoms and some tomato blossoms too. Neem oil doesn't do a bit of good for them. I've found that a combination of veg oil in a small yogurt container as well as using diatomaceous earth (DE) around the perimeter of the plant is helpful. That's because I don't want to spray chemicals on the plant. On a larger scale, I can see how chemicals would be attractive. Never tried tobacco water though.
NEEM and oil of oregano CURED several fruit trees that were nearly dead from fire blight. One was an apple, and 2 were asian pears. The asian pear I had to cut down to the soil, and sprayed around the base and the roots, and then covered. I basicially considered it dead. Then I buried the debrid like 3' deep in an area that would never be dug up again. To my surprise they all survived, and didn't spread it to other trees. The asian pear I "killed" actually resprouted and is now 7' tall after several seasons and very strong plant. No fuit yet though. May need a companion to flower.
I also treated a very badly debarked (bear or cat) quince tree with neem and oregano and it healed. Finally, a witch hazel had a strange fungus on it and this combo helped it but hasn't fully removed it all. I am waiting to see what will happen this year. Witch hazel doesn't usually have this problem.