dsaur Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 I've got some nice 'maters coming, and of the two I've picked sor far, bugs had been at one. I've planted marigolds around the plants the last few years and that has cut way, way back on the caterpillers (cut worms, horn worms), but I still need more weapons. I think I recall reading last summer someone suggesting corn starch sprinkled on the fruit. Is that a proper memory, or am I just hearing voices again? Any suggestions/old folk remedies appreciated. Thanks, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmersonGA Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 I've been using BT this year and its worked like a champ. I'd always relied on sevin but I wanted to get away from it this year. I still lose a few maters but not that bad. Blossom end rot has been bad this year. I picked this bunch a couple of days ago. Crappy photo quality but its about 20 pounds of maters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Someone once told me that before planting in a ground, cut the top and bottom off of a 2 liter soda bottle, making a tube, plant the tomato plant within the tube... Crawling bugs won't want to go up the tube I guess. Tomato hornworms are the worst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsaur Posted July 16, 2011 Author Share Posted July 16, 2011 Nice crop, Cheston! Looks like you've got a good garden going. I've only got the 6 plants. Haven't been able to get my tiller going, and it's too hot to work on it now Dave, I like the bottle idea. I'll use that next crop. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POWERSTROKE Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 has been so hot tomatoes have been suffering this year. corn,squash, and green beans did very well. hopefully tomatoes will recover so i can make salsa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carvers Gap Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Neem oil or dishwashing detergent or Eight. Powerstroke my tomato plants are setting smaller than normal fruits and the plants don't looks as hardy as normal. Peppers are rocking. Beans are decent. Sqash have been excellent - best I can remember. Cucumbers have been average. I have had a groundhog problem(did I hope) - sweet potato slips are stripped bare. Let's hope they will recover before the first frost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carvers Gap Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I've been using BT this year and its worked like a champ. I'd always relied on sevin but I wanted to get away from it this year. I still lose a few maters but not that bad. Blossom end rot has been bad this year. I picked this bunch a couple of days ago. Crappy photo quality but its about 20 pounds of maters. What types of maters do you have there? I'm growin Krim, Cherokee, Big Beef, Granny Smith(I know it's an apple name as well), and Grape. Crooknecks look nice. I don't eat much squash, but those are the best. My chocolate bells are doing well. My heirloom tomato plants actually have less disease than the hybrids this summer - that is a rarity among rarities in my garden. Anyway, great looking crop there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmersonGA Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 What types of maters do you have there? I'm growin Krim, Cherokee, Big Beef, Granny Smith(I know it's an apple name as well), and Grape. Crooknecks look nice. I don't eat much squash, but those are the best. My chocolate bells are doing well. My heirloom tomato plants actually have less disease than the hybrids this summer - that is a rarity among rarities in my garden. Anyway, great looking crop there. I have Cherokee, Black Prince, Kelloggs Breakfast, Old German (I've got a couple of 2 pounders on it), Aunt Ginny's Purple, and Box Car Willie. Most years I just grow Blue Ridge Mountain but I felt like a variety this year. The blight has gotten some of them pretty good but I'll get 20 quarts canned before they're done. I had a ground hog problem myself earlier but he is gone now. I tried every possible way to get rid of him but I finally had to shoot him. He defoliated all of my beans, sweet potatoes, and jerusalem artichokes by the time he was through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtlehurricane Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Soap and water spray seems to be able to keep the tropical hoards of insects away here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsaur Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Soap and water spray seems to be able to keep the tropical hoards of insects away here. Yeah, I'm going to dust with corn starch, and if that isn't sufficient, I'll go with the soapy spray next. Haven't been bothered with nematodes, so far anyway Thanks all, T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Rain Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 We had a problem with bugs/worms last year with tomatoes and dusted with corn starch. Worked like magic. No more issues. This year, we've had a few bugs but the yield of fruit has been more than we can eat, so I really haven't done anything. The thing that has confounded me this year is that all of my squash and pumpkin plants have been invaded by squash (vine) borers. They have virtually killed all of my plants. I did not want to use Sevin, so I haven't really done anything. But if anyone has any suggestions on how to prevent those things, please let me know. I just planted a few more pumpkins, so any advice would be appreciated. Also, for blossom end rot, you should fertilize or use a calcium spray. Usually, that seems to indicate that the plant is not getting enough calcium or other nutrients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carvers Gap Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 We had a problem with bugs/worms last year with tomatoes and dusted with corn starch. Worked like magic. No more issues. This year, we've had a few bugs but the yield of fruit has been more than we can eat, so I really haven't done anything. The thing that has confounded me this year is that all of my squash and pumpkin plants have been invaded by squash (vine) borers. They have virtually killed all of my plants. I did not want to use Sevin, so I haven't really done anything. But if anyone has any suggestions on how to prevent those things, please let me know. I just planted a few more pumpkins, so any advice would be appreciated. Also, for blossom end rot, you should fertilize or use a calcium spray. Usually, that seems to indicate that the plant is not getting enough calcium or other nutrients. Squash borers are a bear. Plant looks great one day and collapse the next. Sounds like you know the garden routine very well. If your garden is like mine you can't even rotate the plants far enough to escape them next year. If it were me I probably would break down and use some Sevin or Eight next year as a preventative measure. And I'm sure you know the backlash is losing benefical insects to the pesticide. Tough call. Glad to hear your tomato plants are strong. My plants have been really impacted by the heat west of the Apps here in Kingsport. We had a dry spell that weakened the plants. Lots of small fruit, nothing exceptional. Best year for peppers that I've had in a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Rain Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Squash borers are a bear. Plant looks great one day and collapse the next. Sounds like you know the garden routine very well. If your garden is like mine you can't even rotate the plants far enough to escape them next year. If it were me I probably would break down and use some Sevin or Eight next year as a preventative measure. And I'm sure you know the backlash is losing benefical insects to the pesticide. Tough call. Glad to hear your tomato plants are strong. My plants have been really impacted by the heat west of the Apps here in Kingsport. We had a dry spell that weakened the plants. Lots of small fruit, nothing exceptional. Best year for peppers that I've had in a long time. I planted more squash and more pumpkins, and I bought some insecticidal soap. Since the young plants have sprouted, I have noticed eggs at the base of several of them several times. I have been looking very closely at them for signs of mischief. I'm not going to let the squash borers get these! I bought some liquid Sevin, but like you said, I'm a little timid about using it. If the insecticidal soap works, I'll use that instead. Main thing is, I'm just going to look them over very carefully every day. I hear you with the peppers. I've had a pretty good crop of them as well. I also planted corn this year. I have not had a problem with insects with the corn, but I have noticed that some/most of the cobs have about 1/4 of the cob (near the tip) where the corn kernals didn't develop well. Either it's been too hot and I didn't give the corn enough water, which is entirely possible, or I didn't put enough nitrogen enriched compost down, which is also entirely possible. The cantelopes and potatoes are doing well though. Gardening is hard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmersonGA Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 I planted more squash and more pumpkins, and I bought some insecticidal soap. Since the young plants have sprouted, I have noticed eggs at the base of several of them several times. I have been looking very closely at them for signs of mischief. I'm not going to let the squash borers get these! I bought some liquid Sevin, but like you said, I'm a little timid about using it. If the insecticidal soap works, I'll use that instead. Main thing is, I'm just going to look them over very carefully every day. I hear you with the peppers. I've had a pretty good crop of them as well. I also planted corn this year. I have not had a problem with insects with the corn, but I have noticed that some/most of the cobs have about 1/4 of the cob (near the tip) where the corn kernals didn't develop well. Either it's been too hot and I didn't give the corn enough water, which is entirely possible, or I didn't put enough nitrogen enriched compost down, which is also entirely possible. The cantelopes and potatoes are doing well though. Gardening is hard! Every year I lose my squash in early to mid June to borers. I treated my squash with BT this year and it is still producing. In fact I'm a little tired of squash at this point. The BT also cut back on the corn worms. Use to be that almost every ear had a worm on at least the top few inches. So far I've harvested 6 ears and only 1 worm. BT is a natural, but sometimes overused, pesticide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carvers Gap Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Dug some potatoes this evening. Perfect but few in number. I think the dry spell we had in NE TN cut down down on quantity. On the other hand, my bell peppers look really good. My sweet potato plants are recovering from the run-in w/ the groundhog. Tomatoes are plentiful but smaller than normal still. My garden is starting to get that late summer look. In two months the first frost will be just around the corner. On a side note, a deer has now figured out that it can indeed jump my Rio Grande fence in the backyard. Thank goodness my garden is fenced in w/ 6' fencing. Sub-urban deer are a pain in the rear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsaur Posted August 10, 2011 Author Share Posted August 10, 2011 Lol, after all my worry about the bugs, so far the marigolds are doing the job. I've only had two tomatoes that were eaten on this year, all the rest have been happy and whole! Marigolds rule! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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