Saturday, June 2, 2012

Strawberry season is upon us,
starting this weekend.
Lots of flea beetles, cucumber
beetles, cut worms, diamond moths.
Plant away.
This next week temps predicted to be in the
mid  40's in the early AM's which is cool.
Plant protection will
be needed Tuesday and Wednesday,use walls
of water, milk jugs, Remay cover, old sheets,
5 gallon blue water jugs,etc.

Friday, June 1, 2012


Black Cutworm (Agrotis ipsilon) moth counts are significantly 
above average. The average valley wide moth count is nearly
three times what would be considered normal.  Black cutworm 
infestations are very patchy.  I am not 100% certain that we are
 in a major cutworm outbreak. We will know in a week or two.  
 One of the problems with black cutworm damage in sweet corn 
is that by the time you see the damage, it is too late to control.  
 D McGrath

Thursday, May 31, 2012

The great weather continues,
for only a few more days.actually a
little rain Sat-Tuesday may be a good
thing, as the soil is drying out.
Everything is coming up nicely, but the
weeds are almost overwhelming, so
look at keeping them under control.
Try and get all of the chores done tomorrow
and then we can rest until Wednesday
of next week.
The lawn actually slowed down, yeah.
We are seeing lots of yards/gardens going
acid, so even now you add lime,
40# per 1000 sq foot.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Black cut worms are out and one grower said they
were chewing on his corn.  They come out at night. 
Just dig around the base of the plant and look for
dark colored, C shaped cut worms.  Pick them
or use a Bt spray to control them.

Also, the diamond back moth is starting to show
up in larger numbers with the warm weather so be
aware as they like ti munch on veggies.

If you are following the rain fall averages, in the local
Register Guard, the current rain fall is as close to
the short and long term averages that I have sen in
years.  As the old timers say, this year is very close
to what the weather was like in the 1950's.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Dear bloggers.
I know many of the local blog readers.  For those of
you who are from around the US and world, I would be most
interested in a short statement as to where you reside = country=
and how you found the blog.

Be aware that tiny black flea beetles are
out and they like chewing on small veggies.
Transplanting larger veggies help.
Cover early with Remay cover cloth.
Spray with a pyrethrum/rotenone spray works
pretty well.
Time to apply the predatory nematodes.
Even under a microscope, I had a hard
time seeing them.....leap of faith :)
Beans, onions, garlic are jumped out
of the ground this past week.
I am NOT going to talk about the
lack of slugs and snails.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Another great day for gardening.
Lots of cole and warm season crops in.
Grass is still going crazy.  The grass that I 
mowed two weeks ago, the grass has died and
is now nice mulch.  Knock on wood, no
secondary weed seed emerging, yet.
Tomatoes and peppers doing fine.
Plant some late and garlic and it was up
in less than one week.  When I dug a garlic up, I
noticed that the garlic scales, which keep the cloves
contained, there weren't many left, which means
the cloves may split more this year.
Berries forming very nicely.
Insects being slow, but the warm and
wet diseases are exploding.