Garden thread.

Started by peg_688, April 12, 2006, 08:45:41 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

PeakEngineer

Hi all.  I'm working on learning how to garden with some small raised beds and few fruit trees in Florida.  Right now I'm fighting an infestation of little green worms that are chewing their way through my cucumber leaves.  Does anyone have a better way of fighting them other than picking them off one by one?
Interested in solutions, not despair.
http://peakoildesign.blogspot.com

glenn kangiser

I thought I had heard about pepper spray - found this

Garlic & Pepper Spray

Protect your garden plants from cabbageworms, caterpillars, hornworms, aphids, flea beetles and other chewing/sucking insects by routinely using a natural spray that you can make at home. The spray must be applied regularly, especially after a rainfall. Brew up a batch as follows:

6 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp dried hot pepper
1 minced onion
tsp pure soap (not detergent)
1 gallon hot water

Blend & let sit for 1 - 2 days. Strain & use as spray. Ground cayenne or red hot pepper can also be sprinkled on the leaves of plants (apply when leaves are slightly damp) to repel chewing insects or added to the planting hole with bone meal or fertilizer to keep squirrels, chipmunks, dogs and other mammals away from your gardens. Be sure to reapply after rain.

http://www.cdcg.org/pests.html
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.


PeakEngineer

That's a neat site, thanks!  I'm going to make up a batch of the pepper spray today.
Interested in solutions, not despair.
http://peakoildesign.blogspot.com

glenn kangiser

Let us know how it works - I never really tried it -just heard it worked - we have enough frogs in the pond on the roof to keep most of the major pests out of the garden. :)

Might even keep Raccoons out  --although they are kind of fun to chase around the garden at night with a flashlight - did that at 4 this morning
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

PeakEngineer

I tested the garlic/pepper spray on one of my cucumber plants, and after 1 day there was no burning or bugs.  I sprayed the rest of the affected plants today, so we'll see how they do.
Interested in solutions, not despair.
http://peakoildesign.blogspot.com


glenn kangiser

Great news Peak Engineer-- I'm ready to try some of this on the raccoons ---they have been digging potatoes and vegetables.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Sassy

#106
Yeh, I've worked several hours in the garden the past couple days.  Cleared out a bunch of stuff yesterday to leave room for all the new stuff growing (parsnips, spinach, potatoes, beets, turnips, swiss chard, carrots, tomatoes, flowers) & wouldn't you know it, the raccoons tore up all the new stuff as well as dug up a lot of the potatoes, chewed on them & left them sitting there.   :(  >:( :'(  Don't know what to do with the critters...  :-/  Maybe if they bit into some hot peppers they wouldn't come back  ;D .  They're cute but so pesky...
http://glennkathystroglodytecabin.blogspot.com/

You will know the truth & the truth will set you free

PEG688

Buy ya a nice blue tick hound better yet a pack/ pair of Black and Tans  most lovely sound at night 2 or 3 B&T's runnin a long legged coon deep into the night :) Reminds me of my youth, some of which was misspent :o but not the hound hunting part  ;)
When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about .

glenn kangiser

The dogs are a good idea - I've always had them untill the last few years - on the road too much - they get impatient - go looking around and get into trouble - -- everything is down hill from here and they always seem to head down to a neighbors place below.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.


PEG688

Ya know when ya wanta hunt coon, it's a hunt ta find one to run , but if ya just don't wantum around there ever where ;D

So with that thought who needs money, think I'll just stay home from work , I'm not wantin any ::)
When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about .

glenn kangiser

Let me know if it works, PEG -- that's like me carrying a spare and a jack for my trailer so I won't have a flat tire. :-/
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

PeakEngineer

Well, I guess the garlic/pepper spray doesn't do much to ward off the green worms on the cucumbers.  I'll just keep picking them off for now...  The good news is the spray doesn't seem to damage the plants, so it might be effective against other bugs.
Interested in solutions, not despair.
http://peakoildesign.blogspot.com

glenn kangiser

Good experiment - We were worried it would run off our frogs and preying mantis' so are still thinking about it.  Thanks for the update.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

glenn kangiser

#113
Traveling through the mountains today we came across a swarm of Ladybugs.  They are great for the garden - I guess we should have grabbed a handful but the little rascals do bite.



"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.


PEG688

QuoteTraveling through the mountains today we came across a swarm of Ladybugs.  They are great for the garden - I guess we should have grabbed a handful but the little rascals do bite.





Man ya should got some for me to :o They're great aphid killers  :)
When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about .

glenn kangiser

I know -- now I'm kicking myself because it is one heck of a drive back up there and they may be gone anyway.  Near 4 wheel drive road in places. :-/
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Amanda_931

#116
Question is, are those the real thing, or the Asian Lady Beetles?

Some friends here concreted over their cordwood masonry house because zillions of the little things came in through the cracks in the fall and winter.  And they don't smell nice when you crush them.  And they pinch a bit.  My friends have christened them "Bitch Bugs" which I've always thought a bit unfair, but, but maybe I've never gotten that many of them.  They do love the bottom of the door panels on the passenger side of my truck.  Passenger side faces south as it's parked.

These guys are imports, a bunch of different kinds, some may have been imported deliberately, some appear not to have been.

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/trees/ef416.htm

QuoteLarge numbers of lady beetles (ladybugs) infesting homes and buildings in the United States were first reported in the early 1990s. Ladybugs normally are considered beneficial since they live outdoors and feed on plant pests.

One species of lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, can be a nuisance however, when they fly to buildings in search of overwintering sites and end up indoors. Once inside they crawl about on windows, walls, attics, etc., often emitting a noxious odor and yellowish staining fluid before dying.

In many areas of the U.S., these autumn invasions are such a nuisance that they affect quality of life.


(weird, in live preview the picture shows up, not in the final post.  OK, I'll do it this way!)



Asian lady beetles vary in color. Note the whitish area with M-shaped marking 
behind the head (M. Potter, Univ. of Kentucky)




Amanda_931

Here's another link, with specific suggestions on how to vacuum the little beasts up:

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/housingandclothing/M1176.html

glenn kangiser

#118
Now you are confusing me, Amanda.  I don't know if I want these things or not. :-/

We checked it over and didn't see the M, but reading the article you linked, it still looks like even the asian ones were brought in to eat aphids.  The close up above is the actual ones we saw.  

We haven't gotten bit yet and haven't noticed any smell from them.

Maybe they're the good guys.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Sassy

Yesterday we took Glenn's mom & dad up to the mine - Glenn was determined to actually find the mine shaft - which he did finally.  We also stopped by the area where all the ladybugs were at & got us a few... hundred or more.  I let them out in the garden today.  They don't really look like the ones that Amanda posted about - we even examined them under a magnifying glass.  Anyway, there's a bunch in the garden so hopefully they get all the aphids & other bugs they like - just killed a big tomato worm  :P - we don't have too much problem with the aphids but they do like the broccoli & cabbage plants - & forget about growing the plants with the little cabbages on them (can't remember the name  :-[ ... keep thinking if I keep writing the name will come to me...  :-/ ... oh, yes, brussel sprouts!  :)
http://glennkathystroglodytecabin.blogspot.com/

You will know the truth & the truth will set you free


Amanda_931

Y'all may have a climate where they don't go looking for white places to over-winter (between the door and the cab of my truck, the outdoor storage locker on the trailer, for instance.  I get them inside, too, but not enough to cause rage on my part)

Nobody would hate them if they didn't mob houses in the fall and winter.  

Although they are imported.  The USDA brought one species in, but apparently it didn't survive.  What we've got now is a handful of different species--no one's quite sure how they got here (in a white box on a container ship?).

glenn kangiser

#121
Fred drove my truck today -- when I got to the little town near the jobsite he goes, "Your truck is full of ladybugs -hundreds of them."

I punched holes in the bags we put them in so they could breath.  Guess I made them a little too big, eh?  They are finding their way out of the truck though. :)


So far I have only seen them swarm in the woods around here.  This bunch and a bunch about 20 years ago.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Amanda_931

#122
Pillowcases are great for moving living things in.

Cats, for instance.  I've had a couple that clawed their way out of them, but most thought that a pillowcase was a lot better than having to stand on the vet's exam table while we talked.  One got out of hers while we were on the way to the vet because of a badly tied knot.   After I got the car into a nearby parking lot, I asked her if she'd rather be bouncing around the car or inside the pillowcase, holding it open to show her what I meant, she voted for inside without any more urging, came from the back seat to the front and hopped in.

They can breathe.  It's washable.  The best ones are the cheapest possible polyester-cotton--the Dollar Store ones are very nice.  Stronger than pure cotton, none of this nonsense about high thread counts.  

I'd prefer to have a cat in a carrier for a 200 mile trip, but I'm not sure the cats did.

Expect it would work for ladybugs too.

Since you saw them behaving like that 25 years ago, they probably are the native guys.  As far as I know they don't tend to mob house or white trucks.


glenn kangiser

As you may already know, Amanda, I tend to lose pillows with pillowcases off of the truck. :-/
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Amanda_931