Reducing pests (insects, snails, etc.) in my shade house?

[sheepdawg]

Hey everyone, I have a simple shade house constructed from poles and shade cloth. I'm having problems with snails, aphids (and ants), mealy bugs, and various other flying insects. I spray my plants with Yates Rose Shield for the systemic insecticide and fungicide, as a preventative measure. But this doesn't seem to deter the more determined pests.

And anyone know of a good insecticide that I can use on my herb garden?

[benbonsai]

I get aphids from time to time, and the first time I had them they were reallll bad. I use max guard defender spray on systemic insecticide... works a treat.
I also have on hand some rich grow systemic incecticide pellets now that I have quite a few trees as it’s cheaper.

That’s how I controlled aphids, I believe they work on scale and othe pests though not sure about snails.

[shibui]

I spray my plants with Yates Rose Shield for the systemic insecticide and fungicide,

The fungicide in Rose Shield is systemic but the insecticide is a pyrethroid and is not systemic. It kills by contact or by ingestion so you need to hut the target with it or it has to eat some to die. Mealy bugs are suckers so they do not eat the pyrethroid. Many mealy bugs are living under the soil and sucking on the roots so they will not be affected by a contact insecticide. Rose Shield is reasonably effective on aphids because they are all near the top of the plant so they get hit when you spray but it is not effective on mealy bugs or scale. Ants actually look after aphids and protect them. If you treat the ants you will usually have less aphids but you will still need to use other control. Kill small numbers by hand or spray if there are more than that.
It is quite difficult to kill all the Mealy bugs on a plant because many are hiding under the soil. The only way I have been successful is with a systemic insecticide. Ben has mentioned Rich Gro. I have used their Bug killa granules and that seems to work well. Confidor is another one that is effective but it seems to be disappearing from the shelves. Both these contain imidacloprid which is systemic and residual and has been implicated in honey bee deaths so please don't apply it for a month or so before flowering because bees can take it back to the hive in nectar from flowering plants that have been sprayed.
Upturned plastic pots are effective traps for snails - they hide there during the day and can be killed. Beer traps are also very effective at attracting and killing snails and slugs if you can be bothered maintain them. I take great delight in hunting snails on rainy evenings and mornings but I have never been able to kill enough of them so I also use snail bait to reduce numbers even more.

I would avoid using insecticide on herbs I want to eat. Not sure what herbs you are growing but I get very few pests on culinary herbs down here. Most herbs are almost weeds and have strong flavours to stop pests from eating them. Low toxicity insecticides like pyrethrum (made from plants) or white oil (vegetable oil emulsion) should be safest to use on edibles.

[SueBee]

It sounds like your shadehouse has become a wind/sun haven for bugs- perhaps spray the actual shademesh with a long lasting 3-6 month outdoor insecticide to deter them...won't hurt bees but may deter them.You will still need something for mealy bugs etc though..as they are in the soil. You could even impregnate some cloth (outdoor insecticide as above) place in a jar in a jar and hang it in there as a deterrent.

[Mia9012]

I use Pestrol Ultra Automatic Sprays. Keeps all the insects away and its made with natural ingredients. But it depends on the area you need to cover. I have also used Pestrol Orange Guard is you really want to go all natural. It is a surprisingly a very effective product, but you have to reapply manually. Works excellent with ants.