Jon Sousa

The two seeds are: Amerilcan Persimmons and Asparagus. I live in zone 8 - the Willamette Valley, Oregon.

The asparagus seeds I harvested from my own plants. The Persimmons came from some yummy persimmons and some seeds I ordered on line.

I have a greenhouse and a heating pad. Whadda-ya-think? When should I plant???

I picked my asparagus berries and found that they each contained 3-5 seeds. I have dried them out and have questions:

How long should I wait to plant them after drying?

Should I expose them to cold (refrigerate) for a while before planting them?

Reading this 4 year old post, it seems like a subject few people know a lot about.

I clicked on this because I had critters in my worm bin... rats! They (or it) dug down in and ate a bunch of my worms. I had to figure out a way to keep them out.

Thanks Julia, and all. I will try the codling moth trap next year.

This year I tried to interrupt that life cycle by putting down a layer of clean cardboard to the drip line and covered it with cut grass and leaves. My apples were a lot cleaner this year - not near as many worms... and some had none!

Another problem that I had this year with all my fruit was poor pollination. Tons of flowers very little fruit... this in spite of my planting all kinds of bee attracting flowers and having my own colony of mason bees for the last several years. I had a total of one cherry on a tree that was covered with flowers.

Grapes are usually easy to propagate. My daughter has a couple that I like, so I asked her to call me over when the new growth was about 6" or so, so that I could get some cuttings. I put the two varieties in water and roots were eventually sprouted. I put the roots in some good soil, kept them moist, and they all immediately died!

I had some more roots developing, this time waited until I saw new growth leaves, and planted them in soil again. They all died within days!

I had one more stick that was the slowest to grow roots. I waited for it to grow new leaves. Just this week I tried something new. Instead of planting it in soil. I left it in the glass full of water and added some sandy river loam... to about half the depth of the water. A few days later it still looked good and the new leaves were still growing instead of dying... so yesterday I added some more loam until all of the water was now under loam. I am treating it is if it was still soaking in water (which it is) but now it has nutritious loam gently surrounding the roots.

So far I am very optimistic. I will have to take it out of its current drenched condition eventually. I am thinking of waiting a couple more weeks.

Anyone else have a similar experience??? I have never had a problem with such healthy looking roots before.

So, here I am growing daikon radishes for the first time, and a couple of questions have come up.

I planted a row about 8 feet long and a little too close together because I didn't know how well they would sprout. After they were up for a three weeks I thought I would pull one to see what it looked like. It was as skinny as can be and it's taste was VERY strong. It was like all the flavor of a two inch diameter radish was packed into that little thread of a radish root.

Six weeks have gone by now, and many of the radishes are blooming... another surprise to me.

So here are my questions for you daikon radish experts:

1. When can the radishes be thinned as something to EAT (with the normal mild flavor of a daikon)?

2. Is it normal for them to be blooming so soon after planting?

3. When is normal harvest time? I see they are called winter radishes by some. Is fall and later the right time to pick or will they be delicious in the summer too?

Here are some more things that I do that are effective in fighting the dreaded slug:

1. One hour or so after dark I go out with a flashlight and hunt for slugs on my plants. I pick the slugs off individually and put them in a small jar with beer in it. This is very effective. I don't do it every night, just maybe twice a week when I am getting a lot of slug damage.

2. Beer bait. Put a small amount of old cheep beer in a small shallow bowl or canning jar and push into the ground so the lip is not too far from the soil surface. Leave over night. I like using small shallow canning jars so that in the morning I can put the lids on them until the night time, or until another day. The beer lasts longer this way and you can use it effectively for a long time.

3. Plastic traps. Slugs come out at night and are usually hiding during the day. Put white plastic down flat on the ground. The slugs will use it as a hiding place for the day. Check it every day for a while and pick off the slugs to put in your old beer jar.

4. Onion and garlic traps. These are very effective. I have mostly used this method later in the year when onions and garlic are flowering (or right after. Take a flower stalk of onion or garlic and cut it open in half the long way. Lay each half open side downward on the soil where slugs are giving your headaches. Slugs love these things and the pungent odor will draw them from at least a small distance. Leave them overnight and check in the morning. Pick off slugs and feed them to your old beer.

5. Every now and then, check under you planting pots for slugs. They will find their way there.

6. In shaded, out of the way places in your garden and flower beds provide small plastic "homes" for the slugs to hide in during the day. They will find them. Check them in the spring and every month or so during the day and drop the slugs into your favorite old beer jar.

All of these methods have caught lots of slugs. They are everywhere where I live in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

Mercy Pergande wrote:Someone JUST posted something about slugs and I cannot find it!

That would be my post in Growing Basil.  Here is my whole post:

"Where there's a will, there's a way."

Many moons ago, a old pioneer here in Oregon gave me another word of encouragement: "Don't let them win." He was talking about the deer who were eating my garden. He told me, "If you have to put electric fence everywhere, you do what you have to do, but you don't let them win."

I put a double electric fence around my cabbage and broccoli patch (a deer favorite), 3 feet apart, and then crisscrossed the patch every witch way with wire. They couldn't touch it.

Today's basil menace (as mentioned above) is the dreaded slug that seems to LOVE my basil. "Don't let them win." I finally found a solution that works. I planted my basil in large pots, including an old camping ice box. I then wrapped bare copper wire around each pot close to the top. A circle of copper wire will carry a very small millivolt current, and the slugs and snails can feel it. They will not cross the line.

I just harvested my first batch of delicious basil, which I am dehydrating to chop up for future culinary use. Also in the dehydrator is a large harvest of sage getting ready for the same purpose.  Hopefully I will post a photo of my slug proof pots soon.

There is another reason I am winning the slug wars right now. Malachi 3:11 says, "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground." I've been praying over my garden and asking God to rebuke the devourer.  God answers prayer... perhaps by reminding me that a circle of copper wire can do wonders.  This year I am also experiencing the best lettuce harvest ever (another slug favorite).

Here is a picture of my slug proof pots:

"Where there's a will, there's a way."

Many moons ago, a old pioneer here in Oregon gave me another word of encouragement: "Don't let them win." He was talking about the deer who were eating my garden. He told me, "If you have to put electric fence everywhere, you do what you have to do, but you don't let them win."

I put a double electric fence around my cabbage and broccoli patch (a deer favorite), 3 feet apart, and then crisscrossed the patch every witch way with wire. They couldn't touch it.

Today's basil menace (as mentioned above) is the dreaded slug that seems to LOVE my basil. "Don't let them win." I finally found a solution that works. I planted my basil in large pots, including an old camping ice box. I then wrapped bare copper wire around each pot close to the top. A circle of copper wire will carry a very small millivolt current, and the slugs and snails can feel it. They will not cross the line.

I just harvested my first batch of delicious basil, which I am dehydrating to chop up for future culinary use. Also in the dehydrator is a large harvest of sage getting ready for the same purpose.  Hopefully I will post a photo of my slug proof pots soon.

There is another reason I am winning the slug wars right now. Malachi 3:11 says, "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground." I've been praying over my garden and asking God to rebuke the devourer.  God answers prayer... perhaps by reminding me that a circle of copper wire can do wonders.  This year I am also experiencing the best lettuce harvest ever (another slug favorite).

Thanks for the encouragement Jen. I've been fighting slugs for a LONG time. Some more things that work: hunting for them with a flashlight an hour or so past dark, leaving plastic down on the ground and checking it in the morning, putting out beer bait, etc. The best bait I have ever used is a flower stalk from an onion or garlic, cut in half and put inside down along the ground.

Meanwhile, another couple of my basil have been eaten by slugs. Erg...