23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

I have pocket gophers. I read as many threads as I could stand, then went to work. I started with Juicy Fruit, the cheapest option. Nothing. Then moved on to pellets, gas and flooding. Nothing. The neighborhood cat tries, but is hit or miss. I ordered Cinch traps, and have a 100% success rate! Some are caught within an hour, but most are overnight. Minimal digging, traps don't get pulled in the tunnel, no need to block the hole after setting, proof that the pests are DEAD--what more could you ask for? The neighborhood cat has gotten better since I give him the dead ones, too. He has a taste for them now!

Thanks quone!

I use Macabee style traps. I will look into the cinch traps on the strength of your recommendation. The gum thing is a known myth. There is a researcher in UC Davis who was able to feed captive gophers juicy-fruit for an extended period. He observed no obvious ill-effect. Apparently they do eat it, though. It just doesn't hurt them.

--McKenzie

My cucumbers get planted right next to the zucchini, so I should treat them too, right? They didn't really seem very affected last year. Maybe because they were more affected by some sort of yellow wilting that I didn't notice much powdery mildew.

Can you tell me more about treatments? I've used baking soda/water because that's what I read can help it and I had it on hand... but it's harsh on the leaves so I tried to only use it where it was already slightly affected by the mildew (really bad leaves were just removed, the baking soda was only on the ones I was trying to save).

I'm trying to keep organic or, more importantly, non-toxic since my little girls like to help in the garden too. Is there a better alternative to baking soda that isn't so harsh to the leaves, but is also non-toxic?

All of the above that I mentioned are organic. I've tried the baking soda and milk before and didn't have too much luck but that was before I knew that proactive treatments were necessary for keeping PM at bay.

Neem works good, but in the summer when it's over 80F or the sum of the temps AND humidity is >140, then you shouldn't use pesticides et al. If you do use, wait until at dusk.

Potassium bicarbonate works well also. And for the money, is economical. I still lost my cantaloupes to PM last year but that was because summer came early here and I didn't practice what I preach by treating from day 1. It won't happen again! You can buy it online but wine and brewer's shops have it also. The brew shops wanted too much but I found a wine shop that sells it for $6/lb. So, shop around. Use at a rate of 4 tsp/gallon of water.

Yep. treat any cucurbit(cukes, squashes, melons) since they tend to be the most susceptible. I did see some on my maters last year, but not bad enough to inhibit production. Peas can also have a problem with PM, but it usually doesn't affect it until they're about done for the season anyway.

As far as the milk treatment, I've heard some rave about it. I also have heard some wide ranging ratios. From 10:1 to 4:1, from fat free to whole. Dunno.

Regarding toxicity, the harshness you mention may have been too much baking soda mixed with water. Try it about the same ratio as the potassium bicarbonate. It may have also been the whole temp thing I mentioned. With any treatment, do at dusk, and if it's going to be a scorcher and/or very bright(sun) the next day, rinse off in the morning. Good idea for any pesticide et al in the dead of summer..

Good luck.

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Sun, Feb 16, 14 at 21:13

I'm new to this forum and trying to go big with my garden this year so get ready for questions as spring approaches, lol.

Anyway, I've had both good and bad customer service at both Lowes and HD. Most recently was last Spring when I was trying to buy metal conduit to build my trellis frames. I went expecting to get a few pieces of 10' conduit cut to the sizes I needed and then connect them at home with 90 degree corner connections. Problem was, the first guy I found to help me said they couldn't cut conduit in the store and I knew I wouldn't be able to cut it by hand at home. The shorter pieces cost nearly as much as the 10' pieces so it would more than double my cost. Thankfully, a helpful employee was walking by and saw how frustrated I was with the first guy and stepped in to see if he could help. I told him what was going on and he says "oh yeah, we can cut that for you over in the plumbing department" THANK YOU!!!

For the most part, I've found the people in the gardening department to be completely useless. I've had pretty good service for the most part over in lumber though - usually get better service when I bring my sister and leave my husband at home, lol

Looking forward to hanging out here, I'm stepping into new territory in many ways with my garden this year and I'm likely to need help!

Melissa

Good luck with the new garden.

You can cut it at home -- a 5 dollar hacksaw does the trick in no time. I don't cut it though --- I slam rebar into the ground about 3 feet and then slip the conduit over it and drive that into the ground a foot or so. Slip on the corner pieces along with the horizontal, tie up those nylon trellis nets and voila!

You're right... garden center help is atrocious at both.

I have found that plumbing help is probably the most knowledgeable.

Kevin

Get a Baxter. Mine was free. :)

I worried about rabbits the first year we had a garden because I had seen so many around the house already (despite having a dog). I bought short chicken wire fencing to put around the garden but ran out before I could finish the second bed. The second bed had several square feet of strawberries and carrots right in the front that would be free picking for the rabbits, but they never disturbed them... it seems that rabbits prefer clover and my weed-filled yard was FULL of clover. I'd watch them hop right up to the strawberries and choose the clover just in front of the bed and leave the strawberries alone. I was shocked, but in 3 years I've yet to put more fencing around that second bed and the rabbits never seemed to bother it.

If you don't want to deal with fencing, maybe plant a patch of clover for the rabbits away from your garden before deciding if a fence is really necessary.

Melissa

You mean transparent roof but not the side walls?
But how can the temps come down just by transparent roofs ?

To clarify, our roofs are not like those slanting ones usually found in US. We have concrete straight roofs.

I understand. If you want to protect your vegetables from the weather, you have to allow ventilation or the temperature will rise. Standard vents in standard greenhouses can not remove a lot of heat. Also, greenhouses breed a lot of plant diseases, again due to poor ventilation. Hoop houses in this country are often made with removable sides, to insure excellent ventilation.

Well thank you :) this is why i love gardenweb. I was planning to plant them this sunday after i wash the roots (they are going to be used as an ornamental because i like asparagus leaves)

Where are you in zone 6 that you can plant anything now?

I tape a length of wax paper to the tabletop. Marker and glue dots don't stick and the finished "seedtape" comes off easier.
A single sheet of paper towel works great for square foot gardening also.

Having done a variation of this many times I feel kinda stupid never thinking to tape the TP down before laying the seeds (which would help a lot). It seem obvious upon reflection. Thanks.

I like to start mine just 3 weeks ahead in paper cups with holes poked in. I plant out into black plastic mulch with drip tape underneath and cover with row cover until they start flowering well. Melons are not the easiest thing to grow. It always seems like some plants don't make it. I look under the row cover 2 weeks after planting and add some more seed if necessary. I do 2-3 different plantings to stagger the harvest. Shut the water off once the fruits reach full size so they will be much sweeter. Early on they need lots of water. Do not rush planting. Prep the soil with any kind of manure. They can handle rich soil. I have sandy soil.

insteng, it a shame you had to bury all of those melons. Maybe next time you could take them to a food bank instead?

Would careless watering lead to unintentional electrocution?

I got my shelving unit at Costco. Yes, Ceth, I thought about the watering-thing, too. The first year I had it, I draped painters plastic (cut to size) over each light unit. But since my shelves are now covered, the water cannot fall down unto the light underneath. I water with a pitcher and if I overfill, the water runs out the bottom and just rolls off the sides. If a person used a hose, I would think they would have to be careful not to spray the light bulbs.

All the electrical cords look over-done, but very little electricity is being used at one time. Again, a hose-in-hand might be a dangerous thing if the surge protectors were to get splashed.

From what a friend told me, we are out of freeze danger. I like the bucket idea, Kevin.

Marbella...advertizing is a no no

Saxton,
Last June I decided to expand my gardening area by laying down cardboard. The same day I planted some corn and butternut squash seeds in that area--they grew great!
I just cut small holes and removed the grass under the holes, filled with soil and mounded the area a bit, planted seeds, and then covered the remaining area with compost.
You might not be able to kill the grass before planting time, but you might be able to plant there anyway (with a little extra work).

It takes a long time to kill grass roots but you can put down cardboard and mulchy stuff on top and then make holes and plant in them. It won't work for small seeded things like carrots but you can make holes in your cardboard and mulch and plant tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, etc. Then in fall keep all that stuff decomposing and layer more good organic matter on it.

Thank you jimster for the PAN link. Unfortunately it is a 2001 link.

To determine what effects rotenone has been reported to have on the brain since the PAN review, I did the following Google Scholar searches.

Google Scholar search using the keywords rotenone and brain.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=+rotenone+brain&btnG=&as_sdt=15&as_sdtp=

I then did a more restrictive search using the keywords rotenone and parkinson.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=rotenone+and+parkinson.&btnG=&as_sdt=15&as_sdtp=

Here is a link that might be useful: Google Scholar rotenone and parkinson search

I use a shop vac on cucumber beetles.

I just think it is funny that people assume organic pesticides will somehow know how to kill bad bugs but do no other damage. If you kill the pests you kill the bees as well.