Posted on 06/05/2015 12:57:35 PM PDT by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks.
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Quit normal to have several stems/plants from each potato hill. Once they bloom you can carefully use your hands to get some “new potatoes” from the side if you want. Make sure to recover the others so they continue to grow.
For mature potatoes to store, Approximately 2 weeks after the vines are dead is a good time to dig them up. No rush though, they will last quite a lot longer than that.
Store them in bins or mesh bags etc in the dark 40 degrees F is optimal.
As they are growing, make sure to hill up the soil around them or use straw around them. Not only serves a mulching purpose, but keeps the sunlight off them.
If the sun hits the potatoes, they will turn green. Cut that green off it’s toxic.
Quit = Quite
Will add you to ping list. Ping is once a week only, on Friday afternoon. However we do post to the same thread during the week. I try to check a couple of times a week to see if there’s a reply to me that I need to respond to.
We made 2 trips to that area, but never got around to the mule ride either. I would have loved it when I was younger. No desire now. Sold all my horses when I turned 60.
With osteopenia setting in, just seemed dumb to risk fracturing my back from some lil’ ole’ fall.
Last time a horse stumbled, and lost her footing, I wound up with a broken wrist and elbow. Took forever to heal. I continued to ride for a bout 5 more years or so. Then quit.
Speaking of horses. I can’t believe I missed the triple crown. After years of watching all three races, I missed every single one this year. Guess that’s my punishment. LOL
I’ll have to check out You Tube.
Thanks so much! And thanks for the tips on growing potatoes.
You are welcome.
Soap works for my neighbor: deer eat her roses if she doesn’t put it out.
I wouldn’t believe deer would stick their noses in a thorny rose bush, but they sure do!
Thanks!
Please hold johnny in prayer.
Thanks for the hint about keeping only one or two branches. I’m going to try it with my tomato plant. I have 1 small tomato and will baby it.
I hope yours does as well as the one I’m experimenting with. So far now it’s got 40 tomatoes and over 20 flowers. It actually has three branches which is one to many but it already had flowers so I’m just feeding it more. I keep all foliage trimmed off up to about two feet from the top of each branch. I have a hydroponics system so I’m watering it with the water from that with the hydroponic fertilizer mixed in. It’s also under a 50% shade cloth because the summer sun here in SC is brutal. Good luck with yours.
You’re so right! I was visiting friends over the weekend and the wife has Irish Spring tied up at each end of her tomato plants and then at another trellis-type area of her garden. It has kept the deer away. Another smelly soap to consider is Zest.
Praying daily for Johnny.
Hello greeneyes, and everyone!
We finished the class series a few days ago. Darlin and I pulled an all-nighter to prep for the test, which turned out well, but knocked us on our keesters for the next few days!
Here is the second installment on BUGS! Enjoy.... or not! LOL!
START Part Two
BUGS
TYPES OF FEEDING DAMAGE
A. SUCKING DAMAGE – Lace bugs will damage foliage by sucking
Spider mites: these are very tiny. The feeding pattern of their sucking activity shows a characteristic “STIPPLED” look. For those familiar with art history, the Pointilist school, using tiny dots of paint to get their effects, is the kind of effect seen by spider mites. Also look for webbing with spider mites. To prove their presence, take a white sheet of paper, knock the foliage above it, and you will see their dark bodies on the paper. Again, very tiny.
Aphids’ damage is also caused by sucking.
Other suckers are:
Scales, Thrips, Mealybugs, Plant bugs, and Mealybugs
You will see mealybugs most often in green houses and on house plants
It should be noted that a Wheel bug (Assassin Bug) is also a sucking type of insect. HOWEVER, even though it looks like it SHOULD be squashed, refrain from doing so. IT IS A GOOD GUY, and the sucking damage it does is not to plants, but to your plant damaging insects!
https://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/images?fcoid=417&fcop=topnav&fpid=27&q=wheelbug&ql=
A parenthetic discussion took place here about nomenclature conventions:
If an insect is a TRUE -—— you will use two words to describe/name them.
If an insect is not a TRUE-—— you will use one word to describe/name them.
EXAMPLES:
“BUMBLE BEE” - a bumble bee is a true bee, so you will use two words to describe/name it.
A “FIREFLY” is NOT a true fly. It is a beetle. Therefore, you will name it in one word, “FIREFLY.”
The same is true for “DRAGONFLY.”
However, a “STABLE FLY” IS a true fly, so it is TWO WORDS.
Lecture from handout he gave us resumes:
B. CHEWING DAMAGE
He showed us a picture of a leaf with the outer margins of the leaf (the edges) cut out with circular/ semi-circular holes. Leaf cutter bees will do this circular type of damage.
Another picture was of what is called “skeletonizing” - Japanese beetles and Elm leaf beetles will do this
https://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/images?fcoid=417&fcop=topnav&fpid=2&q=skeletonized+leaf+feeding&ql=
“Window paning” is the feeding on one side of a leaf surface
WHO CHEWS?
Caterpillars, Beetles – both larvae and adults, Grasshoppers and Crickets – nymphs and adults, Sawflies
You will often see gypsy moths hanging out in a forest situation with tent caterpillars feeding together
BIG NOTE ABOUT SAWFLIES:
A SAWFLY is NOT a true caterpillar, therefore, if you wish to control it with BT (bacillus thurengiensis) a bacterial means of controlling caterpillars, IT WILL NOT WORK!!! Be sure to identify the critter you are wanting to kill!
What is the difference between a true caterpillar and a sawfly?
A true caterpillar has less than or equal to 5 pairs of prolegs. The feet are round with a hook-like structure. This is what makes it difficult to remove them from their substrate – usually their food source.
The sawfly has more than or equal to 6 pairs of prolegs. The crochets are absent, and the foot pads are oval. There are three pairs of true legs.
http://insects.about.com/od/identifyaninsect/qt/sawfly-larva-or-caterpillar.htm
He showed us a cool video of a monarch caterpillar (fondly known to our presenter as “Fred the Monarch”) making short work in real time of a milkweed leaf. They work fast! He noted that people are now seeking out growing milkweed to conserve them.
The video illustrates why we need to act quickly if we see caterpillars and/or their chewing damage on important plants, because they eat quickly! They damage them right away.
Unfortunately, he did not give us the link for this video. However, I found one that isn’t Fred, but might be his cousin, George!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkoy—m633o
END INSTALLEMENT TWO - BUGS
:0D you are welcome, TIK! I’m glad to have that link - thanks for that!
Thanks again for posting this so diligently over the last several weeks. I have enjoyed it very much. Learned new stuff and relearned stuff I had forgotten. LOL
Thanks again.
Johnny News:
I don’t have all the new “members” here on my ping list, but I added two more to this ping. If you didn’t get a ping and you want one for Johnny news, send me a Freepmail and I’ll add you to the ping list. If you want off that ping list, let me know that, too.
About Johnny:
He is very ill; some of his body parts are not working. After his last chemo, three weeks ago, we went there to give him pain pills as his had not come. We bought the groceries he needed at that time. He got worse the next day and his brother took him to the hospital and he stayed there two days.
Then, he was back home again and taking care of himself and cooking. He tries to eat about 3,000 calories a day (he counts the calories). He sends me a pdf file every evening that has every med he took and when he took it, and every food he ate along with the listed calories.
In my opinion, he has not recovered enough from the last chemo to have another one. However, he will have another one tomorrow.
He has not posted on FR for several days and there are reasons for that. His eyes had deteriorated to the point he had trouble with focus. He now has three new pair of glasses. His hands tend to tremble and that hinders writing and typing.
He just sent me the pdf file for today and he weighs 109.6 pounds.
Since he will have chemo tomorrow, I ask for prayers for him throughout the day.
Marcella
Thank you so much for the update, Marcella.
Prayers for our dear friend Johnny are on the way.
I took down the “net room”, Pulled and cut vicious vines coming over my back fence from the yard behind me. That vine would take over that back garden. I had to get the vine off that back wall every spring.
We moved about 120 large pots from the wood deck onto the actual garden. There were three volunteer onions in one pot so I brought those here. Then, we had to take the weeds/vines/etc. to the dumpster. By that time, we were toast.
We both decided we are too old to do that type work again. Our sweat at least became cold sweat in the car. My townhouse is between 3-4 hours of straight driving to the house in Lewisville, north of Dallas. When we got back, I went straight to the shower. Since we have two, he went to the other one.
It is 100 degrees here. Been that way the past few days. At 81 years of age, I cannot work outside in that heat.
In the past few years, I have learned how to grow plants from seed and actually get food to eat. I documented my progress on this gardening thread - both my successes and failures and my battle with squirrels and birds. :o)
I envy the great pictures all of you have posted. I appreciate the work it took to produce those plants.
Marcella
Absolutely on the prayers Marcella, thanks for the post. I looked up his history yesterday and saw that it had been awhile since he posted. I am praying every day for Johnny.
Johnny if you read this - love you brother, you are a real fighter.
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