TOPIC: 6 prong with double berry stem, seed bed, wild sim, garden stuff (TNhunter)

TNhunter, do you spray your greens? if so what do ya use? I've been wanting to grow summer greens but afraid they might be to buggy to fool with.. so far I just grow late fall greens and freeze up whatever we can for the year..

Thanks Clawhammer

Clawhammer...

I am an organic gardener ... so I don't use chemical pesticides.

On my greens what I usually do is start a bed, and let them grow and harvest up until they start getting buggy. (and they do get buggy after a while) Then I will pull it all up and put in compost pile.. I will break that bed up again and wait a couple weeks and replant it with something else (crop rotation).

5-6 weeks after starting the first bed I will start another in a different location... and when the first bed gets buggy and pulled.. the second bed is still in good shape and produces for several more weeks before getting buggy.

You can keep two beds going like that, alternation locations, and keep the greens going.

I got some aphids and white flies now on my tomatoes... when you have all of that fresh green growth, whether it is tomatoes or greens, critters are going to come on. Not much you can do about that.

While looking for a organic solution to aphids I ran across this one.. A guy at a local Farmers Co-Op recommended it. He said their organic gardeners report that it works really well, especially on soft bodied creatures and caterpillars.

It's called captain jacks dead bug. See amazon link below.

www.amazon.com/Bonide-252-Captain-Jacks-...eywords=captain+jack

Below are some details on the active ingredient.

Contains Spinosad, a naturally occurring soil dwelling bacterium that was collected on a Caribbean island from an abandoned rum distillery

It gets 4.5 stars from Amazon reviewers (88 reviews).

I am trying it on my tomatoes now.. and when my next green patch starts getting buggy I am going to try it out on them too. It is usually caterpillars that end up wiping out the greens and it is reported to be especially good on them.

I read thru the documentation and on most fruits and veggies it says it is safe harvest 1 day after spraying. I would probably wait a week myself just to make sure.

Spinosad kills insects via hyperexcitation of the insect nervous system...

It does not kill immediatly, but once ingested by the critters it makes them hyper-excited and they expire from exhaustion after a period of time.

Reported as very save for human beings... but not will kill bees (honey bees)... so consider that. Don't usually have much bee activity around greens (unless they go to seed and flower).

I am just experimenting with this new organic solution myself, so can't really brag on it yet. In a few days I should know how it works on aphids and white flies.

Good Luck !

TNhunter

Thanks TNhunter
I'll check out the link. I have heard good things about Spinosad I didn't know where to find it.

Your correct TN. We use Spinosad on the farm here in FL. Works well on soft bodied critters. We still have not found an ingredient to kill potatoe beetles. If you get stink bugs, which is always a problem for tomatoes etc. Use concentrated dawn dish detergent and water. I'm sure it will get white flies also. You'll need a 1 gallon sprayer. Fill the sprayer with water, then squirt soap in the sprayer and shake it. Spray the plants real good. Under neath the leaves also. That will toast them!

gareth..

I will have to try the dawn mix sometime... I have bought an insecticidal soap in the past and used it with good results.

The Spinosad product (Captain Jack's Dead Bug) did a good job on the aphids and white flies. It took a few days but they are well under control now.

I have had some leaf blight fire up on my tomatoes.. they were very bushy and thick.. and I removed a lot of the bottom foliage to get some air flow in there. That has slowed the leaf blight spread.

It has been 11 days since I made those previous pics and today this is what my Tomato bed looks like.

We have had 8-10 ripe ones now and got a load of maters coming on... will be canning some before too long.

Yum !

TNhunter

Those in that previous pic are big beef... they are a heavy producer of nice large round tomatoes and they have good flavor too.

The one below is a new one that I am trying this year.

Got it from Burpee.. and it is new for them this year. It is the result of a cross between Brandywine and Rutgers tomatoes. Both the parent plants are known for excellent flavor. Brandywine is by far my favorite tomato for taste. Just can't beat em. They are not heavy producers though but the Rutgers are... so this mix of Brandywine and Rutgers might just be a real winner.

So far they are doing great and got some nice sized tomatoes and large quantity coming on. I have one that is very near ready... may eat it tonight and see just how good they taste.

Burpee calls this one - Jersey Boy Hybrid.

TNhunter

My Ambrosia Sweet corn is looking really good... got tassels and small ears on now.

Won't be long now... for fresh corn on the cob.

One last pic from the garden...

TN,

Everything just looks perfect! That patch of Sweet Corn is a model of perfection. Won't be may days until some great eating.

Hugh

TNhunter wrote:

Those in that previous pic are big beef... they are a heavy producer of nice large round tomatoes and they have good flavor too.

The one below is a new one that I am trying this year.

Got it from Burpee.. and it is new for them this year. It is the result of a cross between Brandywine and Rutgers tomatoes. Both the parent plants are known for excellent flavor. Brandywine is by far my favorite tomato for taste. Just can't beat em. They are not heavy producers though but the Rutgers are... so this mix of Brandywine and Rutgers might just be a real winner.

So far they are doing great and got some nice sized tomatoes and large quantity coming on. I have one that is very near ready... may eat it tonight and see just how good they taste.

Burpee calls this one - Jersey Boy Hybrid.

TNhunter

That looks like some nice crops tn. I like to stick with rutgers tomato because it is straight run and not hybrid. Leaves the usage of it's own seeds without having a bunch of cherry tomatos like when you use the seeds off of hybrids. I buy new plants every year but nice to be able to use your own seeds if the scenereo does come into play where one must rely on one's self for food.