Gardening

[Crystallas]

Got the first jalapenos and first tomatoes down as well as enough beans to have a three person meal with them. All delicious.

Got a bug problem though. Am seeing some fat catepillar things in the garden box, but not in the tomatoes, and seeing a bunch of tiny little striped beetle looking things.

anyone got good recommendations on a way to treat the bug issue? I would like to use as little store bought chemical as possible, but will resort to it if needed.

I really wouldn't try to kill beetles unless they are destroying your crop. They actually help you keep other pests at bay.

Beetles are hardy. You need to make life difficult for them then decide if you want to risk killing off beneficial insects to minimize the problem. Things that make life difficult, mulch and straw. Things that get ingested by most insects but are safe around humans(using caution, of course) Borax and diatamatious earth. Salts(baking soda wash) should work too, but salts plus soil means you change the soil in a way that will disturb the garden far more than just kill a few bugs.

I would do a borax/boric acid barrier first, not a broadcast. DE I would broadcast.

 

[Xuder O'Clam]

Got the first jalapenos and first tomatoes down as well as enough beans to have a three person meal with them. All delicious.

Got a bug problem though. Am seeing some fat catepillar things in the garden box, but not in the tomatoes, and seeing a bunch of tiny little striped beetle looking things.

anyone got good recommendations on a way to treat the bug issue? I would like to use as little store bought chemical as possible, but will resort to it if needed.

Sounds like ten lined June bug. Sevin, merit, acelepryn, and Bt (Bacillus Thuringiensis) are chemicals and products you can use to treat them while in the larva stage, or for Bt treating the soil. They won't kill adult bugs. If it's the japanese beetle (white spots around the edges of its hindquarters, then treating your soil with milky spore will do in the grubs, but not the adults

Organically, there are nematodes, or you could fashion a rudimentary trap by attaching a small white light to the top of a jar with a couple of inches of vegetable oil in the bottom. The light will attract the adult bugs, and they won't be able to escape from the oil. Caterpillars you may need to use a contact insecticide, or find the nest, likely in a tree, cut the limb out and burn the nest. Then hand remove any in your garden and destroy.

Another way to try control certain pests is simply spray your plants with a mixture of vegetable oil and dish soap.

Edit - To Crys's point about beetles, it depends on the beetle. Some are for more damaging to plants than beneficial, particularly introduced ones like the Japanese beetle.
If it is the striped beetle, the adults don't do a lot of damage to veggie patches. It's the larvae or grubs that damage them while eating the roots.

 

[Xuder O'Clam]

Another thought is this tiny striped beetle looking thing could be four lined plant bug. Small, black and gold stripes. Life cycle is short, feeding stage even shorter and damage is mostly aesthetic. Just pluck any damaged leaves to allow new to grow, and don't worry about any treatment.

 

[Burque]

Another thought is this tiny striped beetle looking thing could be four lined plant bug. Small, black and gold stripes. Life cycle is short, feeding stage even shorter and damage is mostly aesthetic. Just pluck any damaged leaves to allow new to grow, and don't worry about any treatment.

They are really small. with some gold on them.

They breed by attaching nose to tail.

when we pulled the lettuce there was a shit ton of them in one corner. Wifey is sure they were eating small holes in the lechuga.

 

[Burque]

I may try to get a piucture of both when I see them again.

 

[Xuder O'Clam]

They are really small. with some gold on them.

They breed by attaching nose to tail.

when we pulled the lettuce there was a shit ton of them in one corner. Wifey is sure they were eating small holes in the lechuga.

If it is like pockmarks on the leaves, and not cut edges or skeletal remains of leaves, it just may be the 4 line plant bug.

About a quarter inch at maturity.

 

[Burque]

If it is like pockmarks on the leaves, and not cut edges or skeletal remains of leaves, it just may be the 4 line plant bug.

About a quarter inch at maturity.

Pock marks yes. But it doesn't look like that. More brown and black versus yellow and black I think. Damn I'm going to have to see if I can get a picture when I water tonight.

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[Xuder O'Clam]

Probably a mirid of some sort, which these bugs are classified as.

 

[Burque]

Probably a mirid of some sort, which these bugs are classified as.

Similar shape, and about a quarter inch is the biggest I've seen.

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[Crystallas]

I have a good sized cache of ginseng to work with, but who knows what is eating the seeds (which is fine, so as long as whatever animal it is shits it out). But I do want some to replant strategically. I have the soil and simulated environments ready and protected a few plants to keep pests at bay. But In the next month as seeds mature, I have no idea how to effectively germinate because there is conflicting information and the assumption that everyone can recreate soil conditions.

Anyone grow American ginseng? Tips? Stuff other than things a google query can find?

 

[Burque]

So the garden straight popped off. there are tomatoes and jalapenos and habaneros flooding my ass right now.

lettuce is done.

cauliflower and broccoli are taking over, planted six squash plants where the lettuce was and they are heading towards being big, expect them to **** up the whole garden in the fall.

Anyone got good hot sauce recipes? I am going to have ghosts and habaneros and Jalapenos (red and green) for the next couple of months and want to jar them up.

 

[Crystallas]

Food dehydrator.

Or smoke the peppers.

Either way, fantastic way to preserve them and use peppers in future hot sauce recipes as well.

IDK, not a pickled pepper person. But you can go that route in addition to whatever you were thinking about. Also you can bag dry the seeds separately from the flesh in the preserve bin, then make the seed portion into something to reduce certain pests next year.

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

Food dehydrator.

Or smoke the peppers.

Either way, fantastic way to preserve them and use peppers in future hot sauce recipes as well.

IDK, not a pickled pepper person. But you can go that route in addition to whatever you were thinking about. Also you can bag dry the seeds separately from the flesh in the preserve bin, then make the seed portion into something to reduce certain pests next year.

I've dehydrated tomatoes and they are the bomb when you have too many. The only other things I've done with the dehydrator is beef and chicken jerky that came out pretty good.

 

[RacerX]

Typical August in California, my gardens are overrun. I canned so much last summer I still have a half-full cabinet from that season, so i'm gonna pass on canning this year.

A couple of my planter beds are so thick and jungle-like I'm half expecting to find a couple Vietcong hiding in there.

I'm pulling about 10 lbs. of tomatoes daily, a half-dozen cucumbers, an insane amount of peppers and chilis, and have at least 50 lbs. of cantaloupes about ready for harvesting. Gonna see how much longer i can tolerate a huge garden salad plus gazpacho every frigging' day.

I've been juicing my apples, carrots, kale, and spinach every couple days and re-purposing the pulp into bread, veggie-burgers, occasionally adding them to a Korean soup mix.

 

[oober]

Typical August in California, my gardens are overrun. I canned so much last summer I still have a half-full cabinet from that season, so i'm gonna pass on canning this year.

A couple of my planter beds are so thick and jungle-like I'm half expecting to find a couple Vietcong hiding in there.

I'm pulling about 10 lbs. of tomatoes daily, a half-dozen cucumbers, an insane amount of peppers and chilis, and have at least 50 lbs. of cantaloupes about ready for harvesting. Gonna see how much longer i can tolerate a huge garden salad plus gazpacho every frigging' day.

I've been juicing my apples, carrots, kale, and spinach every couple days and re-purposing the pulp into bread, veggie-burgers, occasionally adding them to a Korean soup mix.

Tomatoes freeze pretty well. Instead of canning, core lay them out on a baking pan in the freezer until they harden, bag them up and store in freezer, remove as much air as possible or vacuum seal if you have one. When I want to make a sauce, I grab a couple bags of frozen tomatoes, run each one under hot water (skins will peel right off) into the sauce pan they go.

Even in the freezer for up to 6 mo, they taste so much better the canned varieties. Add spices to suit your taste. And best of all, no preservatives.

 

[RacerX]

Tomatoes freeze pretty well. Instead of canning, core lay them out on a baking pan in the freezer until they harden, bag them up and store in freezer, remove as much air as possible or vacuum seal if you have one. When I want to make a sauce, I grab a couple bags of frozen tomatoes, run each one under hot water (skins will peel right off) into the sauce pan they go.

Even in the freezer for up to 6 mo, they taste so much better the canned varieties. Add spices to suit your taste. And best of all, no preservatives.

Well, damn, that is some value-added advice, I will try it this weekend and I thank you.

 

[oober]

Well, damn, that is some value-added advice, I will try it this weekend and I thank you.

I let them cook for awhile in a pot, then run them thru the food processor(make as thin or chunky as you want), they don't liquefy on their own. I think you will be surprised how fresh the sauces taste... Glad I can help.

 

[Bigfoot]

my youngest son threw a bunch of pumpkin seeds in my wifes flower area around Halloween, and lo and behold we have a pumpkin growing. Have a ton of vines that took over my wife flowers. Was hoping for more pumpkins, but at least we got one.

 

[brett05]

my youngest son threw a bunch of pumpkin seeds in my wifes flower area around Halloween, and lo and behold we have a pumpkin growing. Have a ton of vines that took over my wife flowers. Was hoping for more pumpkins, but at least we got one.

We get pumpkins to this point and then somehow they start to rot. Anyone got advice for Bigfoot?

 

[Burque]

We get pumpkins to this point and then somehow they start to rot. Anyone got advice for Bigfoot?

roll em every couple of days.

That is what we do with our spaghetti and butternut squash.

Dont have to crank em till you are breaking the stem or anything just turn em a quarter turn and then back the other direction next time.