24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Looks like an immature Cereal Leaf Beetle.
Dave
https://www.uky.edu/Ag/IPM/scoutinfo/wheat/insects/clb/clb1.htm

I was so stressed out because something was eating my bell peppers. After reading some of the posts, i decided to go out to my garden with a flashlight about 10 pm to look around; and thats when I saw them! Lots of Snails! I picked up about 12 of them, put them in a cup & doused them with salt! Whew! that was such a relief! I think I will try the coffee grounds method to keep them away.

A desert tortoise adopted us one year and it was extraordinarily vicious against snails (no slugs here), which was wonderful news until garden sprouting time when we found out the tortoises are omnivorous and also loved anything and everything from opuntia tunas to pea sprouts.

I have a homemade system which really just a plastic tube inside of another and yes you do need to add water at the top first to get things going. In mine I used two 3 " hydro pots and packed them full of soil as my wicker and used two 2x4 block to support and raise the upper bin. I wasnt with this as is so I took it back apart and cut out and hot glued a view window so I could actually see the water level. I used a pvc pipe as filler . This is working fine. Keep in mind you will need to make extra drain holes in the upper tub so excess can drain back out and not create root rot.
But now I wonder If I could make a more simplified normal pot with just simple floor saver catch all as the watering wicking . I used to do this with african violets using thick string as a wicker. I would encircle the entire bottom of pot then draw it up the sides. I wonder if anyone has done this with a normal container pot and have it work ok. I will try I can find those clear bottom feeders that are large enough.


Thank you everyone. I think the consensus is that sea weed fertilizers do benefit the soil.
What I had meant to ask was unlike some fertilizers that absolutely do nothing for the soil or positively harm it, and one only hopes that the plants just suck up the nutrients present in them, the sea weed material has a component that can nurture the soil in addition to components for the plants.
I do get it that these simple addition from bottles cannot develop the structure of soil like compost and earthworms.
Thank you so much.
K.


Ok then it is a water soluble powder as opposed to a granular (used dry) or a liquid (already dissolved). Each form has different uses and application rates.
Water soluble powders have the advantage of dilution so you can cut its strength as needed. 15-30-15 is normally considered quite a strong fertilizer and so easy to over-dose with. So if you mix it 1/2 T per gallon you'd have 7-15-7 (still quite strong). Ferts like this are often used/mixed at quarter strength to avoid overdosing and soil salt build-up.
Like Dan said soil testing services in Canada are broken down by province and each AG ministry has their own facilities. For starters see: Soil & Water testing Services in Canada

Thanks for the link, I just literally 5 min ago emailed one on that list that is down Island from me, waiting to hear back. Tracked a company down in Ontario that does it for $25 but I gotta mail 1 1/2c of soil 2/3 of the way across the continent!!! Federal AG department was no help other than recommended to talk to the Provincial AG department. Left a message there with their "soil specialist" lol. Will keep trying...




Thanks for replying, I was hoping I was right and didn't need to worry about them quite yet. I just started seeing squash bugs and eggs and I have been seeing crazy numbers of cucumber beetles. I had a little bit of a panic attack thinking about the infestation starting just as I am going on vacation in the next couple of weeks.

Molex, I just looked out our window today after a complete day of raining to glimpse our garden. We have twice over raked out & blown out the needles. Lo and behold, what do I see, an entire garden filled with little green seedlings from our neighbor's other tree. It does look like the Tree of Heaven leaves & seedlings. In all our 22 years of living here and having a garden, I do not ever remember the trees dropping seeds & needles like this quantity....ever. Tomorrow we will try to pick up, rake off as many as we can. Do you know if these hurt the tomatoes & cucumbers? Thanks. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


<any home remedies>
Yeah, your fingers. Rather than spraying it with anything since ANY spray can damage the plants - why not just use your fingers to squish and wipe it all off. Works for 100's of pests. If you are squeamish just put on gloves.
Dave

No entomologist here, but best I can guess via web is some type of Cicadellidae. Looks very leafhopper like. They come in such a large range of colors I was only able to find 1 image that looked similar to yours. A search for "Leafhopper eggplant" does return results, so I assume they do like to feed on them. They are on the pest side of the spectrum.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2238/2205463292_8b04e3bede_m.jpg

Thanks. I think you're right. Looks like something in the leafhopper category. I got rid of him.
The weird thing is everything I read about leafhoppers said they would readily move and were fast... hence the "hopper" part of their name I suppose. This thing... I had to literally push him to move and he'd move over a centimeter. And all night long he didn't move more than a few inches, staying on the eggplant the whole time.
So found him where I left him last night and pushed him around to get him out from under a leaf and just was able to grab him by the wings. Just weird again since that seems uncharacteristic.
Luckily I don't see any damage to the eggplant, but I don't want to take chances after the damage from worms and cucumber beetle I've encountered in my rookie gardening season this summer.


This is my first year using oil traps, and they are a huge improvement. The earwigs go out of their way to crawl in. Last night I placed shallow dishes (plastic lid tops from the food truck) with one-half inch veg oil in each, drizzled with 1 teaspoon bacon grease and one-half teaspoon soy sauce. Between three traps on the deck, this morning I had a hundred earwigs. After clearing them from the deck several times during the day, I'm convinced they crawl up the posts at night to feed on my seedlings. In addition to what is here, https://www.growveg.com/growblogpost.aspx?id=408
I read of a guy who uses 8-10 inch lengths of half-inch poly tubing, stuck into the ground at angles. I'm a home wine maker, have tubing and airlocks lying on the dining table in the sun to dry out, and dang if lost earwigs don't go in there at night.




Joe- That's strange that mine and yours would be so different. It couldn't be because of a mixup/mislabel on my end since I have no seeds for an oakleaf type and all the other lettuces I've planted have grown true. Do you happen to have your seed packet still? If so, what is the lot number? Mine is "Lot 6, Origin France, Sell By 11/15".
Rodney
Lechuga just means 'lettuce' in Spanish. Oak Leaf is what you grew from that packet? The picture shows one of the loose Red Leaf types like LolaRosa. Not at all crispy. (maybe a bit of crisp at the base, like a half inch).
Seems just a way to cover up a mix-up? Or Lechuga Tangy is a variety and you got the wrong seed. I grow both types and like them. At least you ended up with a lettuce.