This year's gardening adventure. . .

[Cudedog]

An interesting year here for me, garden-wise, to be sure!

After maybe getting a total of five pounds of tomatoes out of last year's garden - for the entire summer (I discovered it was just too hot here for the varieties I had selected) - I did some heavy research on heat-tolerant tomato varieties. I came up with (all of these from Burpee) Better Boy, Early Pick, Sweet 100 (a cherry tomato), Early Girl and Fourth of July.

Better Boy and Early Pick were both total busts - no tomatoes at all off of any of these plants. Sweet 100 (the cherry) very strong, green & bushy - grew like crazy EVERYWHERE (LOL - "The Tomato Plant That Invaded The American West") but produced a very minimal number of cherry tomatoes.

Early Girl (a medium-size tomato) and Fourth of July (a small-size tomato) both have produced very well, without any out-of-control growth. Early Girl even produced a few large size tomatoes also! Yum.

Early Girl and Fourth July kept right on producing right through the nearly constant 105 - 112 degree temps I had for many weeks here, to the extent that I have been picking three to four pounds of tomatoes per week (instead of just five pounds for the entire summer, like last year).

I tried a Burpee bush green bean this year - not one single green bean picked all summer, although the plants look healthy. They bloom, but do not set fruit. Just too hot here, I think.

Harvested about 25 really large cantaloupe (large, but, unfortunately not too sweet); about six nice pie pumpkins (home-made pies already in the freezer!) and a few (very few) cucumbers. About 30 ears of corn.

I planted two varieties of strawberries - "Seascape" and "Chandler". Seascape has kept me in strawberries all summer (not really an abundance, but enough for my needs), Chandler produced exactly zip strawberries - zero, none, although the plants are vigorous and healthy. The Chandlers will get pulled out and replaced with Seascape runners this winter.

My Zuchinni and Yellow squash took off like gangbusters - for the first couple of weeks of production I was putting at least five pounds of squash into the freezer per week, to the extent I thought about tossing the larger ones, thinking new ones would be coming on.

Good thing I didn't toss anything, because the aphids came in truly astonishing numbers. I had noticed my zuchinni wilting, thought they maybe weren't getting enough water - then I looked at the underside of the leaves. I should have taken a photo - I actually COULD NOT SEE the underside of the leaves because they were totally covered by aphids! It was DISGUSTING! After a few days, aphids were on the tops of the leaves, and then covering the blooms, as well.

I tried a couple of organic things (I do organic gardening - I don't use any kind of pesticides around my home, because of my Joe) - I tried diatomaceous earth, spraying the leaves with a solution of castile soap and water - even spraying the aphids off the individual leaves with a spray of water (a herculean task when there are a lot of plants) nothing worked; except the soap thing seemed to burn the leaves; soon the zuchinni and yellow squash plants were dried-out dead.

At this point the hungry aphids began to spread from the dead zuchinni and yellow squash to my cantaloupe, pumpkin, butternut and cucumber plants in a constantly-growing aphid army.

Despairing, I finally considered insecticide for a brief moment, then changed my mind - I worry about Joe getting into poisons. He can get into most anything if he sets his mind to it.

At just about the time I was getting ready to pull out everything, and stuff the remaining plants (and their aphid passengers) into black plastic garbage bags I saw my first ladybug.

The next day I saw a few more, and a few days after that I began to notice quite a few more (although not a major number) of ladybugs, ladybug larvae, and ladybug pupa (and there were probably a whole lot more that I didn't see).

So I hit "pause" on the rip-out-everything-and-toss-it plan, just so I could wait to see what might happen.

About three weeks after I noticed my first ladybug, I wasn't seeing so many ladybugs at all any more (still one or two here and there, though), so, disappointed, I began looking at the underside of the leaves of the remaining plants and. . . all of the aphids were totally GONE!!! I was so surprised that my mouth actually dropped open! I couldn't believe it!

I came inside and looked up ladybugs online, it seems that just one tiny little ladybug, during the course of its life (larva, pupa - of course the pupa stage doesn't consume anything, adult) can consume up to five thousand aphids! EACH! Really, really surprising - so if I had, maybe only 20 ladybugs in my garden (like I say, there were probably more - they are pretty small, and can be difficult to see), these 20 could have consumed one-hundred-thousand aphids!

I was SO glad I hadn't used insecticide!

Anyway, all of the zuchinni, yellow squash, and cucumber plants had already died dead before the ladies arrived, but with the aphid pressure off I can now see new baby pumpkins out there, and new baby butternut squash.

I'll need to research how to head off this aphid thing for next year - this terrible aphid infestation was totally out of my gardening experience, and completely blindsided me. I have gardened off-and-on for many, many years, and had never seen - or even heard of - such a terrible infestation.

Anyway, that is this year's garden adventure.

As soon as it cools off a bit (if it ever does - 98 degrees here yesterday, upper 90's/low 100's for the rest of the week) I'll need to go out and take up and drain my drip system (could NOT have done a garden in the heat we have had this year if I had had to go out and do the "stand-out-in-the-sun-with-a-garden-hose-in-my-hand" thing) so that the tubing and emitters don't freeze and get ruined when our two-days-max of below-freezing-at-night weather arrives.

Would really enjoy hearing anyone else's garden news! Please post!

Thank you.

Anne

[Birdie]

Oh, Anne, I can identify with the OMG aphids! My milkweed that I grow, specifically for the Monarch Butterflies (their host plant) and many other butterflies like to nectar on the plants. Any given day, I will find flowers and may be and may be not leaves covered with the little yellow beasts! For me it is a big bucket of dawn soapy water and the water hose. I dip the aphids is the bucket and swish them around and then was the soapy water off for the butterflies protection. It’s pretty much a daily thing. Some days I win, others they win. The butterflies will continue to nectar but after a bit the flowers and leaves die! Never thought of lady bugs. Bet I order some for next year. I hate dealing with the lil beasts…such a waste of time when I could be doing something else - yeah, don’t ask what!

Okay that’s my story!

[Bethers]

I watched a movie set in a vineyard this week and they had switched to organic growing and purchased ladybugs to keep the plants healthy. Very cool that they found your plants even if it was too late for the ones already dead. That said, done of my sister's plants only provide for part of the summer before dying. I know she's learned which ones to harvest what time is year. But I have no clue. I'm glad your garden was good to you this year.

[snowball]

it sounds like you had a pretty good garden given everything... I think I've heard about lady bugs likening aphids but never would have dreamed that they eat that many!!! amazing you might add that to the nursery list the tomatoes would have tasted so good ...
sheila

[Cudedog]

It’s pretty much a daily thing. Some days I win, others they win. The butterflies will continue to nectar but after a bit the flowers and leaves die! Never thought of lady bugs.

I actually knew that ladybugs were carnivores, but I had never in my life before experienced their predation in such dramatic fashion. It really was surprising - an aphid infestation worse than I could have imagined, to nothing in a few weeks. Unfortunately, the leaves had been damaged, even after the aphids were gone, so some of the plants (cucumbers, mostly) died anyway. But, like I said, those plants that still had a spark of life in them (even though the damaged leaves did not recover) put on new growth at the ends of the vines (the vines looked dead, too, but they weren't - just the leaves), and new fruitings, at the end of the vines.

I will probably to maybe try to order ladybugs next year, but it seems the mail-order kind tend not to stick around - maybe because there needs to be "food on the table" when they arrive, or they need to look elsewhere. I might try it anyway, though.

Thanks for your post, Birdie!

Very cool that they found your plants even if it was too late for the ones already dead.

Thanks, Beth. Yes, it was very cool. They came when I least expected any kind of help - then, suddenly, here they were! And INSECT help at that! Had I sprayed any kind of insecticide, that would have done for the ladies as well.

I think I've heard about lady bugs likening aphids but never would have dreamed that they eat that many!!! amazing you might add that to the nursery list the tomatoes would have tasted so good ...

I really wish I had taken a couple of photos - I could literally not see the underside of the zuchinni leaf, because it was so thickly covered by aphids! I had no idea that ladybugs were such hungry eaters, either, or that so relatively few of them could "get the job done" so fast!

And. . . I am still getting tomatoes! "Only" 102 here today. . .

Thanks, Sheila!

Anne

[BarbaraRose]

I haven't had much luck here with potted plants I think due to the weather here. I did have a few cherry tomatoes the first year but 2 years of regular tomatoes and nothing. Tried strawberries both years and nothing from them either. I might try the cherry tomatoes again this year.

When I was in Vista, I had a lot of aphids on the milkweed plants for the butterfly larvae. I sprayed them with Dawn and water. I was afraid it would kill the plants too but it didn't. Did take care of most of the aphids tho. This past winter, I had an aphid infestation on my hibiscus plants. Tried the Dawn and that seemed to work until the plants finally died from the excessive heat in May and June.

I wish I had room to grow things in the ground rather than in containers. I think they would do much better. They just dry out so fast with the dry air and wind here (and the heat).

[Shirlv]

Anne, my adventure was exciting as the giant tomato plant took over the balcony. Lol. Had a successful planting of lettuce in the spring. Summer, herbs and tomato plant which died from lack of water during my asthma bout because I couldn’t haul gals of water as needed. The raised garden at daughters suffered the same fate. I guess I was spurred on by my farmer ancestors because the fall crop of kale, lettuce and herbs are back on the balcony. Weather is still too humid but I have an inhaler.

[JudyJB]

Barbie, container gardens do dry out fast in your climate. One solution is to use bigger containers than usual to help store water. The other is to water them twice a day--morning and evening.

And I think liquid dish soap diluted in a spray bottle also does a good job with aphids. You could use it next time if you do not yet have any ladybugs.

[MandysMom]

In addition to Judy's suggestion, you can buy water absorbing crystals to add to soil which will take up water, swelling in size, then gradually release it as plant needs it. Won't help if you forget to water, but sure aids in getting more water available to plants. I haven't looked lately, but the reused to be potting mixes that came with it, but you could always add an extra tsp or so. A little goes a long way.
Velda

[snowball]

In addition to Judy's suggestion, you can buy water absorbing crystals to add to soil which will take up water, swelling in size, then gradually release it as plant needs it. Won't help if you forget to water, but sure aids in getting more water available to plants. I haven't looked lately, but the reused to be potting mixes that came with it, but you could always add an extra tsp or so. A little goes a long way.
Velda

have used those they do work
sheila

[Shirlv]

Found the turkey baster. Going to remove the rainwater from flower pot sauces. Is this a pitiful way to spend your declining years.

[Colliemom]

Nature is great for taking care of things her way. This summer we had an outbreak of gypsy moth caterpillars. About every 10 years or so they hatch out big time and this was one of the years they did. They destroy the leaves off oak trees and also other trees by chewing them up. But they also leave their droppings everywhere. Caterpillar poop is extremely hard to get better and it is extremely slippery when wet. They climb up the trees and buildings and anyplace and sometimes they are just covering stuff. I can get gross. Eventually they pupate and then they hatch into moths. The female Mark cannot fly and so she stays on whatever tree she hatches on. The males fly around looking for a female termite and after they made the female lays eggs on the tree and then dies. Then the process will start all over again next spring. But nature has a way of combating them and that is flies. Black flies, looks like you’re ordinary housefly but they don’t bite and they are after the caterpillars. They call them “Friendly Flies”and they say don’t kill them. They lay their eggs on the eggs that hatch into the caterpillars and kill them. Like the lady bugs, once the job is done they disappear. They on,y way that you can control the gypsy mouth is a mass aerial spraying that has to be done in the spring when the caterpillar’s first emerge. Our property owners association and the one on the lake next to us, are working on that now. Hopefully if all goes well we will be having a spraying this coming spring. The timing is critical. In past years if they have been extremely bad like I have a county wide basis then the county will spray. But this year here they were just confined to one corner so they say they are not going to do it although they are asking for data from those of us who have had problems this year. Here’s a link on the little buggers for those not familiar with them. Although this is fron NY it also applies to Michigan.


https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/83118.html

[Colliemom]

Annie, Have you ever thought about perhaps putting in some kind of a cover over top of your garden area, so that the hot sun does not bake on itall day. That can get the ground ready hot. . I have a friend who built a raised garden downstate, and put a wire fence up around it to keep the critters out. Over top of that wire fence she also sometimes will cover it in order to keep the sun off part of the day when she has hot weather.

[Cudedog]

But nature has a way of combating them and that is flies. Black flies, looks like you’re ordinary housefly but they don’t bite and they are after the caterpillars. They call them “Friendly Flies”and they say don’t kill them. They lay their eggs on the eggs that hatch into the caterpillars and kill them. Like the lady bugs, once the job is done they disappear.

Very interesting, Sue! I have never heard of these flies, but I have seen gypsy moths around here, although before I looked them up just now I didn't know what they were.

This evening, when I was sitting on my back step doing the ball toss for Joe, I looked down and there was a larval stage ladybug walking across the step beside me (although small, they look kind of fierce - if I didn't know what it was, I would probably have squished it).

I have no idea how it got there, but I gingerly picked it up and carried it out into the garden.

I have a whole new respect for ladybugs!

Anne

[JudyJB]

Ladybugs are certainly helpful, but I once had a very bad experience with them and stink bugs. Here is what happened.

In late October, I was camped at Carlyle Lake in Southern Illinois, at the Dam West Campground, on the other side of the road from the lake --County road 1430 N). My site was at the far end, a few hundred feet from a soybean field that they were taking in with a big threshing machine. By late afternoon, my motorhome was covered, and I mean COVERED, with swarms of both ladybugs and stink bugs--thousands and thousands of them. And I am not exaggerating--it was like wing-to-wing bugs. I was told that the farm equipment had picked them up and either scared them up or "threshed" them with the soybeans.

I tried not to go in and out more than I had to, but apparently, they made their way in through my slides and however. Both kinds of bugs like to find a warm hiding place for the winter, but I looked it up and they cannot reproduce inside. However, for the next 4-5 months, I was catching and killing maybe a dozen ladybugs and a half-dozen stink bugs each day! You cannot squeeze stick bugs, but I picked them up and put them in a ziplock bag. At the end of each day, I disposed of the bags, but I still found ladybugs and stink bugs in my bed and under my pillow at night. I had to shake out sheets and bedspread and vacuum around the cracks.

After maybe 6 months, I was finding only a couple of ladybugs and maybe one or two stink bugs each day. In any case, the whole thing freaked me out. Lesson learned is to watch where you park in late fall. Ladybugs are nice, but I really want them outside, not in my home. Also, you can put them outside live, but stink bugs are agricultural pests, so you must kill them.

Made me appreciate pesticides!!!