Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Around me there are tens of miles of water and cities. No farms around. I had 2 containers with potatoes at the beginning of a season. Few days ago found couple Colorado potato beetle on it. Go figure.

The Nazis got the wild idea of bombing England's farms with potato beetles.
The idiots tested it out on their own fields first.

Worth

[kayrobbins]

Ginny, I did pull all the kale and put it in black plastic bags sealed tight. Non of my organic sprays did anything to control them. I started new kale and collards and have those growing now and so far no problems. Since I make so many green smoothies for breakfast I try to have greens growing all year. But if the white flies return I will pull them up.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Larry, did you have any tomatoes with dark and light green swirly patterns and stunted growth, that just quit producing? If not, you might not have a whitefly problem. Look at the underside of tomato, pepper, and brassica leaves, if you see very tiny white insects, or not quite so tiny white clusters, or if your broccolis have silvering color on the leaves, or if you see tiny black flies on your sticky traps, then that's whiteflies.
They have gotten much better in the last 3 years down here( ground central for them).
Whiteflies are basically aphids with wings.
There are 34 varieties of whiteflies in S. FL.
The MGs say that now predators have found them to be good to eat.

I looked at some images online and I'm all but sure I don't have a white fly or stink bug problem. The insects that I find most annoying are ants. They quickly find their way into any cracked tomato, therefore, I try not to grow varieties prone to cracking.
Other than that I'm not sure what can be done with them other than tolerate them.
Larry

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Around me there are tens of miles of water and cities. No farms around. I had 2 containers with potatoes at the beginning of a season. Few days ago found couple Colorado potato beetle on it. Go figure.

Yes and those beetles said "whew! thank goodness we finally found some food in this concrete jungle... :-)"

Amazing how they show up from out of nowhere. We stopped by the community garden near us one day a few weeks ago and they said they were infested with potato beetles there.

Ginny

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

I looked at some images online and I'm all but sure I don't have a white fly or stink bug problem. The insects that I find most annoying are ants. They quickly find their way into any cracked tomato, therefore, I try not to grow varieties prone to cracking.
Other than that I'm not sure what can be done with them other than tolerate them.
Larry

I use this information:
"Diatomaceous Earth (often referred to as "DE") is an off white talc-like powder that is the fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton. When sprinkled on a bug that has an exoskeleton (such as bed bugs, ants or fleas) it compromises their waxy coating so that their innards turn into teeny tiny bug jerky. But it doesn't hurt mammals. We can eat it. We do eat it! It's in lots of grain based foods because lots of grains are stored with diatomaceous earth to keep the bugs from eating the grain!"

It does not kill them all but deter them. I have ants attacking my cucumbers and zucchinis this year. I sprinkle DE powder around plants, some bottom of leaves and stems, but not around flowers. I have ants that farm aphids. They are real pain in a b..

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Worth1

The Nazis got the wild idea of bombing England's farms with potato beetles.
The idiots tested it out on their own fields first.

Worth

Worth you always share such interesting facts! I think you would do very well on Jeopardy... :-)

Ginny

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by efisakov

I use this information:
"Diatomaceous Earth (often referred to as "DE") is an off white talc-like powder that is the fossilized remains of marine phytoplankton. When sprinkled on a bug that has an exoskeleton (such as bed bugs, ants or fleas) it compromises their waxy coating so that their innards turn into teeny tiny bug jerky. But it doesn't hurt mammals. We can eat it. We do eat it! It's in lots of grain based foods because lots of grains are stored with diatomaceous earth to keep the bugs from eating the grain!"

It does not kill them all but deter them. I have ants attacking my cucumbers and zucchinis this year. I sprinkle DE powder around plants, some bottom of leaves and stems, but not around flowers. I have ants that farm aphids. They are real pain in a b..

Ants around cucumbers are not a good sign; look for a tiny hole in a cucumber / or frass on leaves. I judge the health of my cucumber plants on level of ants. Zero ants usually mean healthy plants and a lot of fruit.

I gave up on zucchini several years ago. Same with Melon.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Ants around cucumbers are not a good sign; look for a tiny hole in a cucumber / or frass on leaves. I judge the health of my cucumber plants on level of ants. Zero ants usually mean healthy plants and a lot of fruit.

I gave up on zucchini several years ago. Same with Melon.

I am using DE weekly. Will post how it works.

[Goldie321]

Pulled the last of my tomato plants today. Just toooo hot and with the rainy season the plants just keel over and basically rot - fungus is a problem this time of year. It's been over 90 out for weeks now and the fruit just won't ripen. Pulled the last few and ripening indoors.

Pepper plants coming back from an 'attack' by something. Went out one morning and the leaves from all but one plant were gone - not scattered on the ground or anything, just gone! Baby leaves coming out so maybe they will bounce back.

Funny part, haven't seen even one bug in my garden this year. Maybe these temps this year are too hot for them too lol!

[Fiishergurl]

Hi Goldie,

Are you in north, central or South Florida? My plants are being pulled this week also. I'm away but I'm paying the maintenance guy where I live to pull the plants and wrap the earthboxes and swcs in clear plastic bags to solarize them.

Ginny

[Barb_FL]

Goldie - I've had pepper plants stripped of all it's leaves and come back and produce a lot.

[Goldie321]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Hi Goldie,

Are you in north, central or South Florida? My plants are being pulled this week also. I'm away but I'm paying the maintenance guy where I live to pull the plants and wrap the earthboxes and swcs in clear plastic bags to solarize them.

Ginny

We're west central about ten miles from the Gulf.

[Zone9b]

I'm trying to see what if anything I can get to grow during the hottest part of the summer. I planted a 16' double row of Pinkeye Purple Hull Cowpeas yesterday. I also planted some Tatsoi seeds. Tatsoi is said to be similar to Bok Choy but shorter. Third, I planted some Astro Arugula seeds, which is probably a long shot. I have another variety which may be more heat resistant. Now I'm hoping something comes up.
Larry

[efisakov]

Have anyone tried growing zucchini during the summer? How about watermelon?

[maxjohnson]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Have anyone tried growing zucchini during the summer? How about watermelon?

Yes. I grew some zucchini for the first time and had some massive plants, and neglected to spray it or apply any DE, so the cucumber moth caterpillars ate them all. I'll grow them again in spring instead. I have one in container which may be easier to manage.