24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

'DE is a harmless pesticide which works by physical means to kill and repel pests.' The point is that DE kills all insects. It does not differentiate between pest species and beneficials. It will kill a bee or a lady bug just as efficiently as a flee beetle or an earwig. So it is best not to use it until there is a definite problem to cure. Some pests will be dealt with by their natural predators if one can just hold off from the desire to deal with a problem the moment it appears. Aphids, for example, are often cleared up by ladybugs if one just gives them a few days to get to work.

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raspistill

DE can be applied to subdue the infestation, then rinsed off with a hose. My point is that it is harmless to humans and your veggies. To each his own. To the OP, DE is an excellent choice for pest control. Just use it when you need it.

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Larry Welch

Well done.

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redtartan(5a)

Lots of work, good job.

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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

Phee, please say that you'll call Bonide! They are there to help you! Who knows, maybe they'll tell you to give your harvested veggies a vinegar bath or something to dissolve the gook. I doubt it, but you won't know until you ask.

Rest assured that you aren't the first to make this mistake and it won't be the last. They will be used to answering this question.

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woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a

Agree with all the advice given.

Rule of thumb---- IDENTIFY pest FIRST, then treat with the least invasive(humans to bacteria alike) method on upwards.

Example: Aphids.......
Research Integrated Pest Management(biocontrol)
Squish
Water treatments with a jet spray every 3-4 days
Insecticidal soap treatments(same interval)
Neem oil(same interval)

If you have to go further than neem, you're doing something wrong... refer to biocontrol. Think diversity.

Now, not ALL pests can be dealt with as easily as aphids. But the same general rule applies... Identify, THEN treat.

Good luck.

Kevin

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cenflagirl

Same kind of worm and damage happened to my collards and broccoli .... you can see the chewed up mess the worm leaves from the inside of the plant... the leaf wilts but not the entire plant, look closely and you'll find the little hole... and finally the worm... I love Bt, just didn't spray it early enough.

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woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a

+ on Bt

Totally organic, available anywhere, VERY target specific, cheap!

Kevin

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dave_f1 SC, USDA Zone 8a(7b)

Nash, yes 2 gal/day, a few days a week does seem excessive. Remember you are only watering the root zone of each plant with drip and not the space in between. What your target should be is to approximate a 1 - 2 inch weekly rainfall with your irrigation. When there's no rain of course. Where you fall in that range depends on temperature, soil texture, crop stage, etc, etc. To really simplify things I try to deliver about 1 gal for every square foot of root zone per week. I believe a one-inch rainfall would give you a bit more than a half- gal over every ft2. That may mean having diff numbers of emitters for diff sized plants if that's an option for you. And of course leaving the system on longer as plants reach mature size.

If you're giving a young pepper plant 2 gal/day that's really enough for the whole week. If you had more organic matter and/or mulched more, you'd need alot less. That's the way I think of it so I have a good starting point and then I can tweak it as the season goes on. As I suggested before, actually dig with a shovel down to 6 or so inches to give you an idea of how moist it is after irrigating. It takes water several hours to percolate down 6 inches if you have a decent amount of clay, so keep that it mind. Maybe you could have an emitter that doesn;t have something planted by it so you could dig without disturbing roots. Just some ideas, hope it helps.

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balloonflower(5b Denver CO)

I do pop the blossoms (or small fruit) off until mine are showing good growth after planting, generally two-three weeks minimum. Once they show me the growth in both height and bushing (and healthy color), then I can't wait! I do read that some disagree and say that you're just losing the first tomatoes, but I don't think there's a set number of fruit on an indeterminate plant. So, I don't know if it's a climate thing, a soil thing, or what, but my tomato plants average about twice the size of others in my community garden. I see so many foot tall plants with clusters of fruit on them, which only get about two-three feet tall after, compared with my 8'+. I think it keeps putting energy into the fruit instead of root growth which is what I want to force deep first thing to withstand the sun once it gets hot.

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pitcom(6b SE Pa)

You can plant it now. Lacinto and blue curled scotch will grow and produce all summer long. I have had lacinto stalks grow over 3 feet tall as we pick the outer leaves all summer. Just keep and eye out for cabbage loopers, lacinto is a magnet for them.

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little_minnie(zone 4a)

In MN I grow kale all summer long but I lay off harvest during hot spells.

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annew21(7b NC)

Agree with the other responses. Very hard to tell until they bloom. The flowers are white instead of yellow, and (in my experience, may not apply to all species), wild cucumber flowers are very fragrant. Of course, once fruit forms you will know immediately...with the giant spikes and all. :)

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otcay

Are the wild ones edible, or perhaps I should say, are they palatable?

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wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana

Older watermelon leaves may age some, but if the plants keep almost all healthy leaves, all likely is well.

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cenflagirl

What kind of camera did you take this shot with? Awesome closeness!

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RedSun (Zone 6, NJ)

dave_f1 SC, I took your "Maybe you can just eat your leftover tubers." as insulting. If I'm mistaken, I apologize and I can remove my post.

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RedSun (Zone 6, NJ)

I just planted my purple sweet potato today. This is the one I have been talking about:

The slip has almost no root. The boots are actually at the tuber. So I cut a small piece of the tuber and planted the whole thing. I just want to attach the roots if the slip has no roots.

Here is a regular slip:

Field planted:

The front (left) are the slips with full roots (two with attached tubers). Most of the back row (right) are the rootless slips I chopped off the main slips. The rootless slips were housed inside for about a week and have grown roots about 1/2" to 1" long.

Thx for the "help"....

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Sure. Once they begin to break down the all the soil residents quickly go to work on them. Or field mice, or voles, or maybe it was a message from the garden gnomes. :)

Dave

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njitgrad(6A/6B)

Last night I went to plant some more various garden beans (Burpee brand) and noticed that the soil in my beds was crawling with ants. Not your typical house ant but a bit lighter in color. So after planting my new beans I decided to apply DE to the entire area with my puffer applicator.

Still wondering why my Rocdors germinated just fine and not my 274s? The Rocdors were listed as being treated with Captan (don't know what that means) in the seed catalog meanwhile the 274s were untreated.

I just realized today that it may not have been the best idea to sow the new beans last night with the good amount of rain we may get between Sun and Tues.

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FADiver (7B, eastern Virginia)

Maybe... But I just find that hard to believe... I just got soil test results that showed that all the nutrient levels were fine. And, the other cucurbits in the garden, including the large squash on the right are getting the same amount of water and are in the same soil and they're thriving. Add the spots on some of the leaves, and to me, it seemed like it must be disease. But, this morning suddenly the sick plant has begun to flower, so maybe it's not down for the count just yet.

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gumby_ct(CT it says Z5)

Having blossoms is like having babies and can weaken the plant further. Have you checked for insects on the backsides of the leaves?

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Nash Stanton

We had similar damage to our tomato plants and thought it was my herbicide spraying in the lawn at first. But upon closer look, there were copious amounts of aphids on the backside sucking away the plant. If you don't have any bugs on the leaves, then it must be herbicide drift.

Our plants 2 years ago looked extremely similar. The leaves were curled, deformed and shriveled but it wasn't herbicide. Look very very closely at the leaves.

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bcomplx(z6VA)

As Jean says, it could be either contaminated potting soil or compost, or herbicide drift. I'd set aside any amendments you used when potting up those guys, maybe plant some beans in the leftover soil and see if they crinkle up as they grow. If they grow fine, you can rule out aminopyralid or chlorpyrolid in the soil.

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digdirt2(6b-7a No.Cent. AR HZ8 Sun-35)

Yep. Patience. They will come when ready. They like to "make an entrance". :)

Dave

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ninecrow(England)

Cool Beans Guys

Thank You

:)

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grubby_AZ Tucson Z9

Just for funsies, here's powdery mildew for real. I let this run to see how far it would go. It goes far.If you get this much, it's too late to panic...

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Tabatha

O.O woah... That looks intense!

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