Hello-

I'm growing zucchini plants in large containers in Thailand, and my biggest problems are from leaf miners (tiny orange larvae tunneling inside leaves), whiteflies, and aphids. Does anyone have any nontoxic suggestions for fighting these?

Currently I spray a diluted homemade water/oil extract of hot pepper, garlic, ginger root, lemongrass, and neem tree leaves/blossoms. If I spray every 2 days, it helps some, but not a lot. The plants just barely stay ahead of these pests, and it feels like such a waste of their vigor.

I've seen cucumber beetles here, and they occasionally nibble, but they are few and far between, possibly because of the homemade spray. Also no problem with stem borers yet. But those three above I would really like to combat in additional ways, anything that doesn't involve chemical insecticides. I should mention that anything containing even a small nip of soap seems to damage the plants.

Thank you for any ideas that have worked for you!

-MerryStem