Earwigs have been driving people nuts this summer. They’re brown insects with pincers in the front and a double tail. They favor green leafy crops in the vegetable garden and new growth in the flower garden. They work at night and can really carve up your garden in record time. You can treat the ground around your plants with diatomaceous earth which will kill them. You can also use rotenone powder, low toxicity pesticide, awhich is effective but also has the potential to harm beneficial insects as well. Or you can join the “acceptable losses” school of gardening, in which you adjust your parameters to the reality of gardening: every season it’s two steps forward and one step back.
Archive for August, 2009
Earwigs
Monday, August 24th, 2009Blossom End Rot
Thursday, August 20th, 2009Blossom End Rot is a common problem with tomatoes and some peppers. The buttoms of the fruits turn black and soggy. It can be caused by irregular watering or the presence of too much nitrogen and too little calcium. Although it tends to be self-limiting, it can be disheartening. A 2% calcium chloride and water solution will help. But as the plant grows it will usually find sufficient calcium and self-corrects. Tomatoes react strongly to nitrogen. Add too much and you’ll get beautiful plant and no fruit. Give them just enough to get a good dark color and then scale back.
Powdery Mildew, Rust and Fungus
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009Powdery Mildew, Rust and Fungus usually appear when the summer heats up. Powdery mildew starts with a whitish cast on the surface of the leaf. It turns the leaf brown and the leaf dies. Rusts can appear on either the tops or the undersides of leaves and, as the name indicates, are brownish red in color. Other fungus manifest as gray or black discolorations on leaves, stem or branches. All are treatable. A 1% solution of sulfur and water, with a little dish soap mixed in, works well. Common hydrogen peroxide is also a potent fungicide, which can be used straight up or diluted with water up to 50%. Be sure to test a small portion on the plant first when using hydrogen peroxide mixtures and, as with all sprays, never spray a plant when it is sitting in direct sunlight. Controlling water application is critical when you have fungus problems. Never get the leaves wet. Always water at the base of the plant, preferably in the morning. Roses in particular suffer from a lot of fungus problems and may benefit from trimming out crowded growth in the interior of the plant to increase air circulation.
On the Lookout -
Monday, August 17th, 2009- Thanks to the rain a lot of perennials are running two or more weeks early and growing with uncommon vigor. Now that the heat is upon us it will help to glance at your garden once a day to scan for upcoming problems.
- Don’t prune or sucker your tomatoes. The fruit need protection from the brutal Colorado sun. See comments on tomatoes elsewhere in this blog.
- Harvest your basil before it flowers. Once it flowers the flavor drops right off the edge of the table. Good pungent dried basil is miles ahead of lousy bolted basil. Replant some in the shade or take a pass until early August.
- Watch for tomato hornworms. These big green caterpillars can reduce a tomato plant to twigs in only a few days. Watch the tops of your plants. Once leaves start disappearing you’ll know they’re at work. You’ll find them resting in the top third of the plant at daybreak. Do with them what you will.
- Deadhead your annuals and perennnials. Som perennials like the Stella D’Oro daylily will rebloom. Once a plant sets seed it things that it’s job is done. Thwart that tendency by pinching off spent flower heads, making sure to get the base. For each pinching on annuals you’ll double the blooms, because two shoots will develop where only one flower was before. Deadhead your roses by working your way down the stalk to the first set of five leaves below the spent bloom and cutting at a 45-degree angle just above that point.
Snails and Slugs
Friday, August 14th, 2009Snails and slugs have come out in force with all the rain. They’ll carve large raggedy holes in your plants and can consume entire seedlings in a night. There are many strategies to control them. Small bowls of beer,especially yellow bowls, will entice an drown them. Planks placed throughout the garden will give them a place to hide. In the morning flip them over and use an old spatula to scrape them off the bottom of the plank and into the trash. There are baits such as Sluggo, which are effective but not toxic to people or animals. But one of the best defenses against slugs and snails are ducks. They are merciless in their pursuit of the little buggers and they’re highly entertaining as well.
