23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Tent caterpillars that are striped yellow and black? It doesn't sound like tent caterpillars. But presumably you've looked at photos. To answer the other part of your question, no they aren't all related. At least not any more than all birds are the same. Various caterpillars favor different foods and have different degrees of "pest-ness", and plenty turn into wonderful butterflies and moths. Your cottony coccons could maybe be the work of the cabbage moth, especially if the corn is handy to the brassicas. Or it could be one of the untold hundreds of small moths and butterflies that go unidentified by most since they don't get up to anything bad in the garden.
Found out that the unidentified cocoon in my previous post is from the gypsy moth. Got my Purdue Extension newsletter today which had a picture of it as well as the history of the gypsy moth. Seems that our state has been hit with infestations of them this year.
Madonna
Yea, that's them... They usually leave older plants alone but they're a pain when direct seeding, growing soft fruit near the ground, or growing plants with tender leaves...
Good to hear that your plants are healthy.... Your plants are probably just good habitat for them bugs...
I planted some bulbs Jan 2013, didn't see anything so dug them up, at least I thought I did. This spring 2014 they were the first thing to pop up. The greens are tall, the base is thick and everything looks healthy above the soil. A friend just told me to wait for a little bulb to form at the top of the stem and then I'd know if they were good/ready? I was surprised to see them and can't wait to see if they are edible. Plant and experiment!
Oh, I get it. Cover as in frost blanket. Okra goes from bloom to maturity in about 3 days here. That's why I have to pick okra every. single. day. Ideally, you'd leave the pod to dry on the plant but I've never really paid attention to that timetable. You really just need the pod to be there long enough to get really big and woody. That's about a week, maybe two. You can cut the stem and dry the pod off the plant if you have to. I wouldn't leave it on the plant if it was about to freeze, even covered.
It shouldn't be a problem though. Just bag the first bloom and save that one. 4 months is plenty of time.
Leslie
As far as you critter damage goes, I wouldn't sweat. I had one that was rendered to a stick with only one or two little leaves after a hail storm last month, it has grown back to (almost) it's original size in just a week or two. As long as you have one good node left, it should recoup just fine!
I've grown basil both in containers and in the ground, and have never had the issue you describe. It makes me curious if you've got something else growing on the deck. Do the two plants look the same? Photos would definitely help. Good luck with the transplanting. I think it will grow back just fine, despite those lousy critters!
I plant corn in early July in zone 5, for fall harvest. I would think that you'd do even better in your zone. I've also planted beans late like that for a fall crop. I would think that since you've got the number of days to harvest putting you well before frost, you'll be fine. Things will grow slower with the shorter days of late summer, though, so add some days to harvest time for your second crops.
You've made a good choice between beans and corn, with a nitrogen fixer preceeding a heavy feeder, and vice versa. But you probably knew that already :)
I'm in North Carolina too (Triangle area) and I've had good luck with late plantings of beans. I have never had luck with corn because the cute little tree rates (also known as squirrels) always destroy them, so I can't give you any advice there.
The 65 days for the beans refers to when they start producing. They will continue to produce for some time. So I'm not sure you're going to be able to follow the beans with corn because it'll probably be too late in the season. Unless you rip the bean plants while they still have more to give.
-Anne
Did it actually go into the garden, into the area where the plants are growing? If so then, per their website FAQs, depending on the amount it will kill any broad leaf plants growing in the garden. Pulling and transplanting them won't save them. So all you can do is wait and see what dies and then replace it.
If it wasn't distributed into the garden itself, just around it then it shouldn't pose any problems that I know of. Had it been a liquid rather than a granular it would be a very different story.
Dave
I can make you feel better. I mistakenly grabbed a bag of weed and feed fertilized at HD, thinking it was regular fertilizer. Then I used it to side dress everything in my vegetable garden. Luckily, most of the established plants weren't too affected, but I'm still seeing some impact to the peppers and onions. Just yesterday, I was looking at the types of herbicides in weed and feed and learned that residual effects are fairly short term for these herbicide types. I also re-learned that weed and feed fertilizers are a really poor product for many reasons and that Canada has banned them completely.
No common ants don't attack plants but they will harvest/eat dying or rotting organic matter like dying leaves of lettuce laying on the ground. So if the lettuce is dying something else is causing it and the ants are just enjoying the buffet.
Wilted and cut off at the base sounds like cutworms.
Dave
In the end I did not have that many, and also in the last few years I have been eating far more root vegetables than in the past. I ate them all in a month, so I can vouch for one month in refrigerator type conditions (my garage, in a plastic tote, close to 100% humidity and below 40F).
I understand my problem now. They're definitely stressed, I will start new peppers from seed right on the ground (hopefully my cat won't damage the seeds by waalking on them). And yes I have mulched quite a bit of organic compost as a fertilizer at the beginning of the season.
OK, so counting days on the calendar, that puts it August 11 for 78 days. So that helps me to plan a little better. I don't have to put in for the exact dates off right now but I do have to let my boss know about when - so it will be sometime the 2nd week of August. I know what we have planted is probably not a big deal for most people - 4 30' rows, but for us old folks who move slower these days and working 12 hours a day by the time I add in my drive time, there is not enough time between when I get home and have to go to bed to do anything. Thus I will need a day or so to get it all picked and processed. Then I might need a vacation from my vacation to get rested up!!! :^)
Thanks all for your help.
Edie
I think if you haven't seen any new growth in two weeks, you probably arent going to get any. I wouldn't replant though. It looks to me like you've got an awful lot growing in a very small space. I don't know where you are, but here in California, this is how big a few cucumber plants can get.
Have you had success with this much planting in that small and shallow a space in the past?
I agree with Lori that it looks way over-planted to me but I can't tell what all the plants are either.
I agree that you might as well pull those 2 plants and pitch them. They are a lost cause. Whether you replant or not depends on the variety you choose and what you past success with this area has been.
And unless you saw them do it, I wouldn't assume that bugs did all that damage either.
Dave
Glad to hear you've got your answer. The link to the previous thread is below.
Rodney
Here is a link that might be useful: What cocoon?
I have posted my above post on the previous thread. Thank you.
Madonna