Amkuska's 2025 Garden

[AMKuska]

@Shades-of-Oregon These are 4 starts with the 'root riot' beginnings. How do they look to you?

Top

Side - yes, those are bugs. Right before rinse/spray

 

[heirloomgal]

Perhaps they've laid eggs in the soil and are hatching.

Exactly. This is why sprays could never rid me of them, the next generation waits in the soil. In order to break the cycle the soil has to be dealt with, that's the tricky part.

 

[digitS']

DW is a fan of green house plants. Summertime, they can be carried out to the greenhouse or under the shade of the porch roof. Divided, repotted – Autumn, back they come in the house. Back come the fungus gnats.

Bacillus thuringiensis soil surface treatment seemed to have been mostly ineffective on them. Yellow, sticky traps catch lots of the gnats but green house plants are intended to be attractive. Sticky traps aren't.

We think of the pests as "fungus gnats," only one kind, but they are not. This year and last, they are smaller than usual. Even to my untrained eye, I see the difference.

Aphids. We see the eggs on the underside of leaves, "ah, ha, aphids!" Is this the only place to find aphid eggs? Are there more than one aphid species? Of course there are.

One year, we had a population explosion of black aphids here at home. Never before but that year, they were everywhere! That has been about 6 or 8 years ago and never since. Are all the  green aphids here the same species? I strongly doubt it. The University of Wisconsin says that worldwide, there are about 5,000 aphid species. Cabbage aphids can be a special problem in my garden. The University of Florida says the eggs overwinter in debris on the soil surface. You know, mulch ... humus, compost. Darn them!

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

can you get some lady bugs for the greenhouse? they often will do a number on many small bugs.

 

[AMKuska]

can you get some lady bugs for the greenhouse? they often will do a number on many small bugs.

That's not a bad idea. I'll look into it!

 

[AMKuska]

DD potted up the experimental plants today. She did much better then the last time she tried. Instead of grasping the very top of the plant she grasped about 3 inches from the root. We looked at the root structure, and DD got to see an air pocket from not tamping the dirt down hard enough the last time.

We saw that there were no roots in the air pocket. DD compared the size and health of the one with the air pocket to the one that didn't, and found it to be less healthy.

Everyone was tamped down most carefully and watered and put back in the greenhouse. Even if they expire from these efforts--which I believe this time were good enough that this is unlikely--they've done a wonderful service in learning for DD.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

I use sticky tape for catching gnats other flying insects .or just use a vaseline on paper hang around plants to snag adults. Also use my coffee grinder to grind eggs shells into powder and place a thin layer over the top of the soil so gnats can’t escape or get in the soil. Let soil dry out on the top layer and keep surrounding areas free of standing water. Use a fan over the plants keep a flow of air if possible. All else fails and there is a gross infestation I use a fogger in the greenhouse to eliminate insects. Works great. Unless your greenhouse is heated or warm temps at least 60F lady bugs will not be active.

For more info see link below

The control of fungus gnats in your greenhouse - Kekkilä Professional

You have probably seen them before, fluttering through your greenhouse: fungus gnats or sciarid flies. These little mosquito-like...

www.kekkilaprofessional.com

 

[AMKuska]

My son helped me build the new cold frame yesterday. He has gotten a lot better at hands on things since residing the house with us.

My sister gave this to me for Christmas. I love it!

I held it together while my son put the screws in.

This part looked complicated in the instructions but was actually easy. My son loved the fact that it can stay up. Ingenious!

All done!

 

[AMKuska]

Well, I got myself into a bit of trouble with my darling husband a couple of days ago. It went something like this:

Husband: *stabbing finger vigorously at greenhouse* "What is that?!"
Me: *Frantically trying to remember if there were any Super Secret Seed Orders lately* "What?!"
Husband: "Those tomato plants are FOUR FEET TALL."
Me: *Relieved* "Oh. Those are indeterminates. They do grow like that."
Husband: *Slowly opens up a garden page and reads on what this "indeterminate" thing is*
"It says they never stop growing! It says we don't have anything tall enough to stake them with! IT SAYS SHE SENT HER SISTER IN 3 WEEKS AGO TO GET TOMATOES AND HASN'T SEEN HER!"
Me: "But think of the tomatoes!"
Husband: "I need a machete!!"

In any case, it's not just the fact that they're indeterminate that is the issue. Things have been getting a bit leggy in the grow tent. My husband thinks it may be because he had pink lights on one side for small plants, and white lights on the other for tall plants last year, but this year he tried to mix them up. It seems the plants don't care for mixed lights.

His solution was to buy me...*drumroll* MORE LIGHTS!!! We added them in today.

Also, I had to promise to trim anything that grows out the door of the grow tent. Where's his sense of adventure?!

 

[ducks4you]

I am only starting 1/2 a dozen early tomatoes this year! I have seen too many "Audrey's" try to create a jungle in my basement!
The rest will be seeded in late March, 4-6 weeks before my last frost.