You could try using a spray of diluted neem oil, which is totally organic. I don't grow asparagus, so I've never used it for this problem .... but I do use it for gooseberry sawfly and find it works well.
I use it as soon as growth starts in April and I drench the foliage. Any spare solution goes onto the soil below as the earthworms are supposed to love it. I repeat spray every few weeks.
Neem is best used preventatively .... but will work on pests that have already arrived. It does not hurt beneficial insects. Only chewing and sucking insects are affected. The main reason is that insects need to ingest the neem oil to be affected, and beneficial insects don't eat your plants. However, you can still kill beneficial insects if you smother them with neem oil, so I tend to spray late evening to be safe.
It does stink a bit ... but is easy to mix up and apply.
I got mine off ebay .... wasn't expensive for a big bottle which will last ages. At room temperature it is solid, but goes liquid again within a couple of hours in the airing cupboard.
Worth a try.
Bee x
Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Out of interest, why do you artificially feed the birds if you want them to control pests? Wouldn't it be better to encourage nesting and natural foraging behaviour by providing native plantings for winter berries, nest boxes, brash piles etc. Then they may hang around and be hungry and eat pests.
Asparagus beetle are large enough to pick off by hand, if they are in huge numbers I would do that then cover with insect netting, pick again etc... ...though, back to the point about artificially feeding the birds, I bet something finds them tasty and rather easy prey.
I've found the birds still forage around my pots and plants even when I have feeders out.
There are always some exceptions. I've watched my neighbour feed birds for years, it's clearly visible from my front window. They stage onto the blackthorn along our drive, take their fill and are off again. Never seen any of them foraging around, only pigeons on the ground clearing up spillages.
Totally different to the scene in our back garden when I finish off for the day, soon after it is alive with foraging birds. If we are lucky enough to have the nest boxes used, it's constant pest removal all day long when there are hungry mouths to be fed.
I'm comfortable with using pesticides when it comes to bug infestations. It's as much as "eating poison" as is washing your hands with handwash then eating food with the same hands.... unless you go around actually spraying pesticide into your mouth!
There's a proper way to use it, with specified times between application and harvesting so risk to us is minimal.
There's plently of hours in a day to spray where bee and other pollinator activity is non existent (the first few hours after sunrise are majestically silent in the garden) as well as right before sunset, so I don't worry about that either. Used responsibly as they were always meant to be used, they're a godsend especially if you're fully self sufficient in your own food (homesteading).
I'm comfortable with using pesticides when it comes to bug infestations. It's as much as "eating poison" as is washing your hands with handwash then eating food with the same hands.... unless you go around actually spraying pesticide into your mouth!
There's a proper way to use it, with specified times between application and harvesting so risk to us is minimal.
There's plently of hours in a day to spray where bee and other pollinator activity is non existent (the first few hours after sunrise are majestically silent in the garden) as well as right before sunset, so I don't worry about that either. Used responsibly as they were always meant to be used, they're a godsend especially if you're fully self sufficient in your own food (homesteading).
If it was only about pollinator activity.. ..which clearly it is not, it would be wonderful. I grow a great deal of my own veg with no need for pesticides whatsoever, though I am an ecologist, it is not rocket science to develop a balanced ecosystem where no single species exists in high enough numbers to be a 'pest'. It's doable with nothing more than simple habitat creation. Unfortunately once the chemicals come out, it becomes a constant requirement because if target species are poisoned the predators that would have controlled them are deterred.
It has always been the case that harmful affects of pesticides in natural food chains are underestimated, it takes a great deal of study to 'prove' they cause harm when anyone who has been around for over 50 years like me knows we are losing insect life at an extraordinary rate. The evidence it is related to pesticide use is overwhelming.
It is simple step to then realise we are also losing the natural predators that would have controlled pest species. In the end it just becomes pests and pesticides, intensive agribusiness has proven that more than adequately over the past 6 decades.
The way to make the risk of pesticides to humans minimal, is not to use them. Simply because the risk is not just about the direct consumption of poisoned food, it is about the destruction of the ecosystems that support us.
Posts
You could try using a spray of diluted neem oil, which is totally organic.
I don't grow asparagus, so I've never used it for this problem .... but I do use it for gooseberry sawfly and find it works well.
See this link for further info.
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
and this one for how to make it.
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-insect-spray.html
I use it as soon as growth starts in April and I drench the foliage. Any spare solution goes onto the soil below as the earthworms are supposed to love it. I repeat spray every few weeks.
Neem is best used preventatively .... but will work on pests that have already arrived. It does not hurt beneficial insects. Only chewing and sucking insects are affected. The main reason is that insects need to ingest the neem oil to be affected, and beneficial insects don't eat your plants. However, you can still kill beneficial insects if you smother them with neem oil, so I tend to spray late evening to be safe.
It does stink a bit ... but is easy to mix up and apply.
I got mine off ebay .... wasn't expensive for a big bottle which will last ages. At room temperature it is solid, but goes liquid again within a couple of hours in the airing cupboard.
Worth a try.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Asparagus beetle are large enough to pick off by hand, if they are in huge numbers I would do that then cover with insect netting, pick again etc... ...though, back to the point about artificially feeding the birds, I bet something finds them tasty and rather easy prey.
Totally different to the scene in our back garden when I finish off for the day, soon after it is alive with foraging birds. If we are lucky enough to have the nest boxes used, it's constant pest removal all day long when there are hungry mouths to be fed.
There's a proper way to use it, with specified times between application and harvesting so risk to us is minimal.
There's plently of hours in a day to spray where bee and other pollinator activity is non existent (the first few hours after sunrise are majestically silent in the garden) as well as right before sunset, so I don't worry about that either. Used responsibly as they were always meant to be used, they're a godsend especially if you're fully self sufficient in your own food (homesteading).
It has always been the case that harmful affects of pesticides in natural food chains are underestimated, it takes a great deal of study to 'prove' they cause harm when anyone who has been around for over 50 years like me knows we are losing insect life at an extraordinary rate. The evidence it is related to pesticide use is overwhelming.
It is simple step to then realise we are also losing the natural predators that would have controlled pest species. In the end it just becomes pests and pesticides, intensive agribusiness has proven that more than adequately over the past 6 decades.
The way to make the risk of pesticides to humans minimal, is not to use them. Simply because the risk is not just about the direct consumption of poisoned food, it is about the destruction of the ecosystems that support us.