Garden Geeks thread

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Cut worms, or in my case voles.

Update on the plant sale at church. 420$. Absolutely blown away! Most we have ever made!

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Cut worms, correct. You can also slip a cardboard tube around the seedling, maybe an inch long, 1/2 in the ground, 1/2 inch out, cardboard tube from paper towel roll or toilet paper or make your own. It will dissolve after awhile but once seedlings get going. I'm thinking the tar paper deal stops another type of worm from laying eggs at the base of the seedling. I should have written all that stuff down Lots of tricks to organic gardening and I saw quite a few but if you don't have the problem you forget about them.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Cut worms, correct. You can also slip a cardboard tube around the seedling, maybe an inch long, 1/2 in the ground, 1/2 inch out, cardboard tube from paper towel roll or toilet paper or make your own. It will dissolve after awhile but once seedlings get going. I'm thinking the tar paper deal stops another type of worm from laying eggs at the base of the seedling. I should have written all that stuff down Lots of tricks to organic gardening and I saw quite a few but if you don't have the problem you forget about them.

You can also use a sleeve of knee high with the toe cut off.

 

[FiveHole12]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

For cut worms I use the type of paper they wrap meats in at the butcher shop... the kind of paper with a waxy coating on one side. I cut 2" wide strips and staple them loosely around the plant stem. 1" under ground, 1" above. The cutworms don't hurt large stems, only the thin stemmed young transplants. The paper biodegrades over the summer. Wax paper would work also but longer to biodegrade.

Planted tomatoes, cukes, summer and zucchini squash, onions and eggplant this weekend. Spinach and beets have been in the ground a while.

FWIW... I planted 24 tomato plants and didn't protect against cut worms this year. I'm gonna be bummed if I lose them.

 

[goldy_331]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

We used to just put a nail in next to the stem. We were told the cut worm is a bug that wraps its body around the stem and the nail prevents them from doing that. I don't know if that worked, or we just didn't have the cut worms around.

 

[MadTownSioux]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Garden planted today. Peas, beans, lettuce, broccoli, and squash.

Planted in the last 2 weeks: Potatoes, corn, watermelon, carrots, pole and bush beans, onions, hot and sweet peppers, and tomatoes.

Long-term goodness: Hops, currents, raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, and rhubarb.

My next-door neighbor told me he came home late Friday, and his headlights picked up 5 big fat rabbits patrolling the edge of the garden. Time for a pellet gun!

 

[FiveHole12]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Planted in the last 2 weeks: Potatoes, corn, watermelon, carrots, pole and bush beans, onions, hot and sweet peppers, and tomatoes.

Long-term goodness: Hops, currents, raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, and rhubarb.

My next-door neighbor told me he came home late Friday, and his headlights picked up 5 big fat rabbits patrolling the edge of the garden. Time for a pellet gun!

If you like eating wild rabbit, that'll work.
If not, try planting some marigolds around the perimeter of the garden.
Another solution, which works for deer as well... beat 2 eggs to 1 gallon of water (I use 6 eggs for my 3 gallon sprayer). Beat the eggs very well so they don't clog the sprayer. Optional: I also add a little garlic powder. Spray on on your plants and the deer and rabbits won't eat them. I does work and a lot cheaper than store bought solutions. Only problem is you have to spray again after a rain.

 

[geezer]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

got the outdoor stuff in Saturday, already had the tomatoes, grapes, peppers and dill in the greenhouse going. Already had the strawberries and garlic going outside. Saturday planted the potatoes, squash, cukes, carrots, leafy greens, beans, peas, snap peas, sunflowers, dahlias, basil and then got a solid inch of rain on Sunday. Need some sun to dry things out a little, I've had it happen before where all the seed rotted in the ground. Hoping for a good year.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Tomato plants have wilted in the recent heat. Pretty much done until the weather cools down in the fall. The main mission this summer will be to help the new grapefruit, lemon, apple, and peach trees survive their first summer.

 

[jen]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Planting this weekend. Haven't really thought about what, besides cucumbers, basil and dill. Strawberries are looking good so far - I might actually get berries.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Planting this weekend. Haven't really thought about what, besides cucumbers, basil and dill. Strawberries are looking good so far - I might actually get berries.

The chipmunks eat all my strawberries.

Planting this weekend. Nightmare. Need to plant tomatoes in tubs d/t blight. Have cukes, Jukes and summer squash to put in but trying to figure out how to outwit the squash bugs. Lettuce is up. Arugula up. THe spinach is just not coming along. Grr.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Have cukes, Jukes and summer squash to put in but trying to figure out how to outwit the squash bugs..

Cover the plants with reemay, its a thin polyester material, lets in sun and keeps bugs out. It will give your squash a chance to get going. Sooner or later they will out grow the reemay but by then they are stronger and can take some munching from the beetles

 

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

The chipmunks eat all my strawberries.

We put together a nice little enclosure around our strawberries and it is working really well. We found thess 3-corner joiner thingees in some garden supply catalog and made a frame out of bamboo. Attached chicken wire around the outside, then put bird netting over the top. It's real easy to lift the netting to pick and then set it down again, meanwhile the frame construction keeps critters from forcing their way in.


For some reason your travails this year remind me of that scene in Phenomenon where the John Travolta character can't figure out how the rabbit keeps getting into his garden....

 

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Cover the plants with reemay, its a thin polyester material, lets in sun and keeps bugs out. It will give your squash a chance to get going. Sooner or later they will out grow the reemay but by then they are stronger and can take some munching from the beetles

THey get really large, start to produce and then an ARMY of those squash bugs that looked like armored cars attack and overwhelm them. Usually when we are on vacation.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

THey get really large, start to produce and then an ARMY of those squash bugs that looked like armored cars attack and overwhelm them. Usually when we are on vacation.

I wonder if you could vac them up. I tried it with potato beetles one year when I had been gone for awhile, took a shop vac out in the garden, didn't work very well but I did suck up quite a few beetles. Rotenone is the other thing you could try?

 

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

I wonder if you could vac them up. I tried it with potato beetles one year when I had been gone for awhile, took a shop vac out in the garden, didn't work very well but I did suck up quite a few beetles. Rotenone is the other thing you could try?

Hmm. Vacuuming is ian interesting idea. Truly, you can have no concept of how much of an infestation it is. It looks like an ant farm on every plant.

 

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

10 tomatoes in 20 inch pots with some basil. 4 cukes in the earth box. deck planters done. The rest of the weekend to do S Squash, Zuke, beans, various other seeds.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Hmm. Vacuuming is ian interesting idea. Truly, you can have no concept of how much of an infestation it is. It looks like an ant farm on every plant.

They have tractor mounted vacs in large organic operations so it does work. You aren't the only one with cucumber beetles up the wazoo. The problem you have is stuff gets planted in the same area every year. As much as it might suck you might be better off not having squash for a year or 2. I'm moving my squashes down the hill this year, totally different garden, been fallow for many years.

Too hot to transplant stuff today, seeds going in tomorrow, beans, carrots lettuce spinach, carrots etc. Monday supposed to be cloudy so transplants will go in

 

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

They have tractor mounted vacs in large organic operations so it does work. You aren't the only one with cucumber beetles up the wazoo. The problem you have is stuff gets planted in the same area every year. As much as it might suck you might be better off not having squash for a year or 2. I'm moving my squashes down the hill this year, totally different garden, been fallow for many years.

Too hot to transplant stuff today, seeds going in tomorrow, beans, carrots lettuce spinach, carrots etc. Monday supposed to be cloudy so transplants will go in

I moved my squash to pots, across the yard last yr, using new pots and dirt from the store. No go. they found it.

 

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

I moved my squash to pots, across the yard last yr, using new pots and dirt from the store. No go. they found it.

Not much else you can do besides poison. I'd still do reemay to get them going.