On 7/9/2017 11:00 AM, Muggles wrote:
On 7/8/2017 7:46 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 7/8/2017 7:35 PM, T wrote:
On 07/02/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote:
songbird wrote:
...
i've been trying to get the edamame soybeans
past sprout stage. the first batch were all
eaten by chipmunks as they sprouted.
...

buggers have eaten almost every one i planted
which sprouted.

so far i think i have about 4 plants out of
a few hundred seeds planted. i'm not sure i
will get any return from them until i harvest.
it's pretty late - i don't expect much of any
thing at all at this point.

not enough time to hunt or trap. the air-gun
needs a bit more sighting in with new ammo and
i haven't had any time for that either.

if i want a crop next year of these i'll have
to get a better fence and/or get the gun sighted
in and/or get the traps out again.

the bribes worked for a short period of time.
i needed them to work longer.


songbird


Speaking of bribes, my eggplant's leaves where just
skeletons with the leaf part missing. Couldn't figure
out who was eating them. Then one fateful night watering,
I discovered it was the stinking earwigs. Many have lost
their lives since then. And my leaves have recovered.

Those stinkers sure do love eggplant. And I know
where to find them at night. Sort of like catnip
for earwigs.

In the day, they love under my bag of peat moss. So
every afternoon, I rattle the bag and stomp away.
Down to one yesterday, from about 200 a few weeks ago.
A carnage ensued.

Death to Earwigs!

Be careful T, the very large earwigs may track you down for stomping on
their babies. BG

We're bumping the high nineties here nearly every day. The other day it
rained on our subdivision two houses away from us but not on our garden.
Wife is wanting me to suit up and do a Cherokee/Choctaw rain dance.

We're using one of those on-wheels portable AC's. I collect the water
that it grabs from the humidity in the air and use it on my flowers in
the front yard. If I don't pour it directly onto the flowers, I pour it
into a large barrel on the front porch to use later.

We get several gallons of water from the air every day. It can increase
or decrease depending on the humidity in the air. Free water! I
sometimes will use it in the watering can and mix soluble flower
fertilizer into it, too, and then water individual flowers that need a
bloom booster.

You need to move to a place like Houston, we have heavy moisture nearly
year around. Our AC in the attic has a drain to the outside and into the
local sewer. State and county law. We're in the mid-nineties here at
noon and it is sweltering outside. Weather heads say really good chance
of rain for the next seven days. I will put a star on any day on the
calendar that drops rain for us. Weather folk must go to a college that
has a lot of classes that are wild guesses. G

T wrote:
....
Speaking of bribes, my eggplant's leaves where just
skeletons with the leaf part missing. Couldn't figure
out who was eating them. Then one fateful night watering,
I discovered it was the stinking earwigs. Many have lost
their lives since then. And my leaves have recovered.

when the beans first sprout there is some
creature that puts holes in the leaves. i've
never bothered to find out what it actually is
because the plants outgrow their ability to do
much damage. it's never killed a plant that
i've noticed.

i am all for live-and-let-live if i can get
some sort of harvest. if i'm lucky i will
have a few seeds from the Edamame plants...


Those stinkers sure do love eggplant. And I know
where to find them at night. Sort of like catnip
for earwigs.

In the day, they love under my bag of peat moss. So
every afternoon, I rattle the bag and stomp away.
Down to one yesterday, from about 200 a few weeks ago.
A carnage ensued.

Death to Earwigs!

some people make traps for them out of
upside down pots full of straw stuck on
poles. i've never tried that. really, i
don't think i've seen them in the gardens
here much at all.

for snails and slugs the idea is similar to
what you are doing. put down boards along the
areas where they are damaging plants and then
go out early in the morning and flip the
boards and remove any snails or slugs. we have
not had much of a problem from either of those
too.

i really like having a functioning ecosystem
i just wish we had a few more top predators for
deer, wabbits and chippiemunks.

ah, well, today gotta get out and pick some
more cucumbers. hope there's enough to make
some more dill pickles.


songbird

On 07/09/2017 11:23 AM, songbird wrote:
T wrote:
...
Speaking of bribes, my eggplant's leaves where just
skeletons with the leaf part missing. Couldn't figure
out who was eating them. Then one fateful night watering,
I discovered it was the stinking earwigs. Many have lost
their lives since then. And my leaves have recovered.

when the beans first sprout there is some
creature that puts holes in the leaves. i've
never bothered to find out what it actually is
because the plants outgrow their ability to do
much damage. it's never killed a plant that
i've noticed.

i am all for live-and-let-live if i can get
some sort of harvest. if i'm lucky i will
have a few seeds from the Edamame plants...


Those stinkers sure do love eggplant. And I know
where to find them at night. Sort of like catnip
for earwigs.

In the day, they love under my bag of peat moss. So
every afternoon, I rattle the bag and stomp away.
Down to one yesterday, from about 200 a few weeks ago.
A carnage ensued.

Death to Earwigs!

some people make traps for them out of
upside down pots full of straw stuck on
poles. i've never tried that. really, i
don't think i've seen them in the gardens
here much at all.

for snails and slugs the idea is similar to
what you are doing. put down boards along the
areas where they are damaging plants and then
go out early in the morning and flip the
boards and remove any snails or slugs. we have
not had much of a problem from either of those
too.

i really like having a functioning ecosystem
i just wish we had a few more top predators for
deer, wabbits and chippiemunks.

ah, well, today gotta get out and pick some
more cucumbers. hope there's enough to make
some more dill pickles.


songbird


You know, the solution to all this is Chickens or Guineafowl.
I haven't the time though

On 7/9/2017 7:17 PM, T wrote:
On 07/09/2017 11:23 AM, songbird wrote:
T wrote:
...
Speaking of bribes, my eggplant's leaves where just
skeletons with the leaf part missing. Couldn't figure
out who was eating them. Then one fateful night watering,
I discovered it was the stinking earwigs. Many have lost
their lives since then. And my leaves have recovered.

when the beans first sprout there is some
creature that puts holes in the leaves. i've
never bothered to find out what it actually is
because the plants outgrow their ability to do
much damage. it's never killed a plant that
i've noticed.

i am all for live-and-let-live if i can get
some sort of harvest. if i'm lucky i will
have a few seeds from the Edamame plants...


Those stinkers sure do love eggplant. And I know
where to find them at night. Sort of like catnip
for earwigs.

In the day, they love under my bag of peat moss. So
every afternoon, I rattle the bag and stomp away.
Down to one yesterday, from about 200 a few weeks ago.
A carnage ensued.

Death to Earwigs!

some people make traps for them out of
upside down pots full of straw stuck on
poles. i've never tried that. really, i
don't think i've seen them in the gardens
here much at all.

for snails and slugs the idea is similar to
what you are doing. put down boards along the
areas where they are damaging plants and then
go out early in the morning and flip the
boards and remove any snails or slugs. we have
not had much of a problem from either of those
too.

i really like having a functioning ecosystem
i just wish we had a few more top predators for
deer, wabbits and chippiemunks.

ah, well, today gotta get out and pick some
more cucumbers. hope there's enough to make
some more dill pickles.


songbird


You know, the solution to all this is Chickens or Guineafowl.
I haven't the time though
Guinea's prefer to roost in the tallest tree around and lay very small
eggs. But, they are really good watch hens, anything moves they will all
start their call, sounds like guinea, guinea, guinea to my hearing. When
I was a boy my folks had about 20 of them to warn us if anyone or
something was coming on the farm. They're all dark meat but very tasty,
made a lot of guinea gumbo's back in the day. Stupid chicken will stand
there and wait for a fox to eat them. They will roost in the top of a
tree but will come to the barn for grain and to lay their eggs. Get some
guineas.

T wrote:
....
You know, the solution to all this is Chickens or Guineafowl.
I haven't the time though

we're not into keeping animals (other than
worms!). i've no desire to keep them
anyways. i much prefer a wild population like
the quail or bob whites, but they don't come
close to any of the gardens here. it is rare
for us to see a pheasant in the yard, but we
often hear them in the areas around us calling.

unfortunately the neighbor's hunting has
reduced their population by quite a bit. we
used to see a lot more of them. the wild
turkeys have been doing ok from what i can
tell.


songbird

songbird wrote:
....

i had 5 plants growing.

"had", being the keyword there...

Mom weeded the gardens and scraped
three of them.

in her defense they were just stubs
that were still green, but they didn't
have leaves on them much at all.

the other two remaining plants are
taller and had more leaves, but have
recently been nibbled back to just the
central stem. i weeded around them
and said again, "These are plants I
don't want chopped down." they are
in a different location so not in as
much risk of being chopped off now.

i kinda doubt i'll have a crop at all
at this rate. or if i'm lucky a few
seeds. not enough to replace what was
planted.

win some, lose some...


songbird