What Did You Do In The Garden?

secuono said:

I found these turds on my eggplants, flea beetles. Been manually removing them.
Any other way to easily deal with them?
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i've found that the plants attacked by them here early in the season will outgrow the damage they do so that i ignore them and get on with other things.

flowerbug said:

i've found that the plants attacked by them here early in the season will outgrow the damage they do so that i ignore them and get on with other things.

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I see that a lot in the literature when I read about flea beetles, that you just ignore them as they won't do any real damage, or if the plant is more mature they won't hurt it. Maybe in some places but when I was in Arkansas the flea beetles loved eggplant. They would turn the leaves to fine lace fairly quickly. Every leaf. Those leaves would dry out and just crumble, they'd chew them up so the roots could not get any moisture to the leaves.. The plant would soon die if I didn't treat them. They would always go to eggplant first, eggplant made a good trap plant.

@secuono I used Sevin to treat them but Sevin was my go-to insecticide then. If I had them today I'd use Spinosad because of the withdrawal period. I consider Spinosad safer for general use.

Ridgerunner said:

I see that a lot in the literature when I read about flea beetles, that you just ignore them as they won't do any real damage, or if the plant is more mature they won't hurt it. Maybe in some places but when I was in Arkansas the flea beetles loved eggplant. They would turn the leaves to fine lace fairly quickly. Every leaf. Those leaves would dry out and just crumble, they'd chew them up so the roots could not get any moisture to the leaves.. The plant would soon die if I didn't treat them. They would always go to eggplant first, eggplant made a good trap plant.

@secuono I used Sevin to treat them but Sevin was my go-to insecticide then. If I had them today I'd use Spinosad because of the withdrawal period. I consider Spinosad safer for general use.

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the reason i don't notice them like that would be because i don't grow eggplant. i see them on the beans at first and then they're done. i've had some bean plant leaves look like lace too, but normally they're not that bad. just spots here or there. the worst gardens they seem to be in are those that have a lot of organic matter in the soil.

Little jobs. At DD's house I transplanted 12 tomatoes to a tree pot to grow for a few weeks, along with 6 sweet peppers in aNOTHER tree pot. DD's still don't have the garden area weeded, shade perennials moved, saplings removed. I DID plant okra next to the garage. The plot is 10 inches wide and about 20 ft. long, sits on the east side of the 1 car garage. I removed last year's leaves, raked it up---I had amended this bed in the past--- planted okra about 6-8 inches apart. My 1 year old okra seeds came up this Spring withOUT watering, but they should water this weekend. That WILL grow. The tomatoes and peppers were severly potbound and should recover in their temporary pots.
Otherswise, not too much. Weeded tomato, etc bed and watered this morning. Watered the corn around the cistern and the okra/corn bed on the west side of the garage. My weekend---
REscheduled shooting practice that WOULDN'T have been a hassle last month is taking up my ENTIRE Saturday AFTERNOON!!!
1/2 of Sunday gone, too. Staying home every day next week that I don't have a closing. Hot as blazes, but it's light enough to work outside at 5:30AM.

Entomologists tell us that the beetle larva is in the soil, chewing on roots. How much damage that they do there would be difficult for the gardener to know.

DW asked me yesterday why 3 young sunflowers growing together had died. I don't have a for-sure explanation. However, I pointed out that in a dozen square feet, we will find a weed seedling that has died. Sometimes, they are difficult to notice or, to bother to notice a small dead weed.

I sure know that radish is another favorite for flea beetles. But, the beetles hit all the cruciferous species hard and I have lots of them.

Steve

Weeding and getting ready to pick bok choy. Some of the Swiss chard did not come up and not very many cucumber seeds sprouted, so I will be replanting those, and maybe one little last row of pole beans. Is it too late for pole beans? Cobra 80 days.

Ridgerunner said:

I see that a lot in the literature when I read about flea beetles, that you just ignore them as they won't do any real damage, or if the plant is more mature they won't hurt it. Maybe in some places but when I was in Arkansas the flea beetles loved eggplant. They would turn the leaves to fine lace fairly quickly. Every leaf. Those leaves would dry out and just crumble, they'd chew them up so the roots could not get any moisture to the leaves.. The plant would soon die if I didn't treat them. They would always go to eggplant first, eggplant made a good trap plant.

@secuono I used Sevin to treat them but Sevin was my go-to insecticide then. If I had them today I'd use Spinosad because of the withdrawal period. I consider Spinosad safer for general use.

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Do you sprinkle it onto leaves or soil or both?

Right side, they have lots of chew holes, but still growing new leaves & green. But I don't want it to get worse. I have two more plants that they're also eating outside of the picture. I have 3 eggplants growing.
I also have potatoes about 25ft away, but only the cat & a sheep have bothered them.

The Spinosad I use is a spray. I just do the leaves and try to avoid getting it on the soil. I don't want to kill the good guys that live in the soil.

Gardening with Rabbits said:

Weeding and getting ready to pick bok choy. Some of the Swiss chard did not come up and not very many cucumber seeds sprouted, so I will be replanting those, and maybe one little last row of pole beans. Is it too late for pole beans? Cobra 80 days.

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80 days would just barely work here now... but i'm not sure if they are speaking of dry beans or fresh or shellies there. for fresh eating beans or shellies that would be enough time yet here.

the hard part is that we're coming up one the hottest part of the season and they might get fried a bit.

Yesterday, weeded (on hands and knees) 8 rows of corn. Pigweed was 18-24” tall and grass thicker than my yard (sure seemed that way).
Today, tilled my last 2 spots to plant. Then planted my last 2 rows of sweet corn. Not sure what I will plant in other spot. Unfortunately I still have a lot of garden to weed yet. Then straw it.
I have sweet corn shooting tassels. Sweet corn in KY has pollination issues.