Chives. Chives can act as a “barrier plant” against aphids. Plant chives between the rows of your lettuce crop to deter aphids from getting to your lettuce leaves.
What flowers go well with lettuce?
Chives and garlic, in particular, are good neighbors because they naturally repel aphids, a common problem for lettuce. Similarly, marigolds, one of the big powerhouses of pest repellers, can be planted near lettuce to help keep the bugs away.
Can you plant basil next to lettuce?
Plants such as basil are good when planted together with different garden crops. They improve the flavour of tomatoes and lettuce and repel bugs such as mosquitoes. Who wouldn’t want a plant in their garden that keeps away mosquitoes?
What is the most common pest of lettuce?
Key to Lettuce Pests. Caterpillars attacking the fall crop are usually the most troublesome field pests of lettuce. In the greenhouse, aphid and cabbage looper infestations often give problems. Cutworms, whiteflies, leafminers, and slugs are slightly less important greenhouse pests.
Can you eat lettuce with bugs on it?
Fortunately, there’s good news! Greens with holes in them that were created by feeding insects or slugs should be fine to eat, if you cut away the damaged parts.
Is it common to find bugs in lettuce?
Since romaine lettuce grows open, it is much more prone to insect infestation throughout the head than other varieties of lettuce that primarily grow as a closed ball. The insects most commonly found in open leaf lettuce are small black or green aphids and thrips.
Can you plant lettuce in the same place every year?
The principle is straightforward enough – the same vegetables should not be planted in the same place year after year. As a system of organic gardening, crop rotation has many advantages: It lessens the need for pest control. You reduce the spread of soil-borne disease.
Can you plant mint with lettuce?
Some good companion plants for mint include: brassicas, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, squash, oregano, and marigolds, to name a few. You can find numerous other options for mint plant companions in the garden.
What to plant with tomatoes to keep bugs away?
More Herbs & Flowers to Plant with Tomatoes to Keep Bugs Away: Don’t just stop at planting Marigolds with your tomatoes. For further protection from pest bugs, you can also plant basil, beans, bee balm, borage, sweet alyssum, chives, garlic, nasturtium, mint, anise, onion, and parsley.
What should not be planted near basil?
Plants to Avoid Growing With Basil
- Cucumbers. Cucumbers are a bad basil plant companion because the two plants compete for resources, such as water and nutrients.
- Fennel. Fennel is another plant that you should avoid growing with your basil.
- Thyme.
- Common Rue.
- Sage.
What vegetables should you not plant together?
Other commonly believed plant incompatibilities include the following plants to avoid near one another:
- Mint and onions where asparagus is growing.
- Pole beans and mustard near beets.
- Anise and dill neighboring carrots.
- Cucumber, pumpkin, radish, sunflower, squash, or tomatoes close to potato hills.
Can lettuce and cucumbers be planted together?
Lettuce, as a companion plant is good next to strawberries, radishes, carrots, and you guessed it, cucumbers. Again, for no special reasons, other than the fact that they do not dislike each other. For beneficial companion plants, that is reason enough.
How do you control bugs in lettuce?
Insecticides are the most commonly used method of insect pest control on lettuce crops — some of the most effective pesticides include azadirachtin, diazinon and pyrethrins. In recent years, several reduced-risk pesiticides like spinosad and methoxyfenozide have also become popular.
How do you remove bugs from lettuce?
So you have to swish them around in cold water that has a pinch of salt (or a drop of soap) in it. The salt or soap act to reduce the surface tension between the aphids and the leaf. Leave the greens in the cold water for a few minutes, swish them around, drain and rinse the greens.
What is eating holes in my lettuce?
Slugs are the most common cause of holes in leaves, but they often remain unseen because they feed at night. Sometimes larger slugs eat leaves from the edge inward, but small slugs make irregular holes inside leaves, as shown in the chard leaf on the right in the above photo. Slug holes always have smooth green edges.
How do you get rid of bugs in iceberg lettuce?
I get rid of most insects by first removing each leaf, soaking the lettuce in a vinegar water mix for 10 minutes or so, and running each individual lettuce leaf through water.
What vegetables have no bugs?
Some vegetables seem to have a natural, built-in resistance: carrots, beets, endive (including escarole and witloof chicory), chives, okra, Egyptian onions, parsley, peppers, and rhubarb. Under good growing conditions, lettuce might be added to this list, too.
What happens if you eat lettuce aphids?
Aphids are not harmful if swallowed and are thus perfectly safe to eat. They can often be found hiding among organic leafy greens—such as collards, kale, lettuce, mustard, and spinach—so those plants should be washed thoroughly prior to serving.
How do I protect my lettuce from aphids?
Another thing that you can try is spraying neem oil. Neem oil is a completely natural product that protects plants from various pests. Aphids hate neem oil and they will leave your lettuce alone if you spray it with some. This is a very handy way to keep aphids from bothering your plants that won’t cost much cash.
How deep should a lettuce bed be?
Six inches is enough to grow lettuce greens, herbs, and plants with very shallow root structures.
What should I plant after lettuce?
For most gardeners, the best vegetables to plant after lettuce are bush beans, which germinate fast in warm soil and produce heavily in late summer. Other good veggies to plant after lettuce include carrots, cucumbers, squash or a second sowing of basil to carry you through the summer.