Judith's garden plans, records, results, hopes.....

thank you Christopher!

my pergola discussion is here now https://permies.com/t/378355/Judith-cedar-pergola-top-bamboo

Judith Browning wrote:so happy to hear that May!
My peach seedlings are popping up also...more than I need but it doesn't look like my bearing trees will have many fruits this year and I'll need some replacements for the ones I expect to die soon from bore damage...I'm determined to get out ahead of the borers one day.
It will be interesting to see how your pears turn out...maybe you'll have a winner!

Our last apple died from borer damage. The pippin I started from seed ten years ago and had hopes it would make it but I didn't take any proactive measures.  It does have three nice sprouts at the base and I have three tiny trees from last years seeds so the 'trip apple' is still in the works.

I have way too much elephant garlic planted but I really love it to 'mark' young plants visually and the blooms are so striking and popular with the pollinators.

Are you opposed to pheromone traps? A funnel trap with a bucket catchment used in conjunction with the pheromone trap will draw all the males in the vicinity.

Then you can smash 'em and/or feed them to your chickens (if you've any).

You need to run the traps continuously from end of May through the first several frosts, and you need to run them for at least three years, since the larvae don't develop into beetles for 1-3 years as they eat their way through the roots and into the trunk.

The funnel bucket traps are the most effective method I've discovered for trapping the males. If you get all the males, no breeding can occur.

The traps are $5-$10 and last for three months. Assuming some overlap time, you'll need three per year. With the cost of a large funnel, a five gallon bucket, and your traps, you're looking at $100 spread over three years in order to annihilate your local population.

If you then keep the traps running in perpetuity, you should significantly decrease/entirely remove your bore beetles from your system.

Finer Points:

- One trap should cover between 1-10 acres, but plan on one trap per 1-2 acres if you want to maximize your effectiveness
- The traps should be placed at least 20' away from the trees you are trying to protect, just to make sure you're not inviting the problem to the party
- The trap needs to be low to the ground, so dig a hole to set your bucket in until only an inch or two is exposed above the ground
- They're active around dusk, so check your traps in the morning
- They're also drawn to light at dusk, so you can create light traps too, and these will also attract the females, but you'll attract all the other light-attracted critters too, so be careful how you design your trap
- They'll also sometimes fly into the electric bug zappers if they have a light kute, but that's not ideal because they're giant and stinky when fried
- The calufornicus ones are hissing beetles, and they fly, and if they fly at you you're gonna shit your pants (heh) because they're like 2.5" (I've included a picture) long
- Their larvae can grow more than 4" long

BONUS: I've included a picture of a much less obnoxious borer beetle that I see everyday on the milkweed, the Milkweed Borer Beetle.

Thanks Chance!
I'm not opposed to pheromone traps although I've never used them.
I used to spend a lot of time, not money, scraping bark, shaking for curculio, etc and just decided I would consider the trees temporary since it was easy enough to start more from seed....I was given some tanglefoot one time and used it on yellow cardstock and I seem to remember we had no curculio that year.

Thank you for the detailed helpful 'how to'!

We have had a real problem with borers of all sorts in this area recently.

They make traps for several species, including grape vine borers, so you could look into it.

Or, you know, you could keep doing what you're doing and you might even discover a seedling that doesn't attract the borers and maybe that's an inheritable trait...or maybe not, but since you're growing seedlings there's always the chance of something interesting happening.

I thought the rain had stopped for the usual summer drought but we had a nice little half inch shower mid day.

I am done with cucumbers and so are friends and family...I don't can them and we eat a lot fresh and a few in vinegar with onion in the refrigerator to stretch the season.
I brine some but we never eat them before they soften and they are too salty for our taste...so, as much as I looked forward to the first one I think I could live without them until next year.

Long beans are producing and enough to dehydrate and eat lots, green beans are done except for seed....what I'm really determined to have a lot to harvest in the fall are sweet potatoes, both purple and orange so I did water them some early today before the rain.

Eating a lot of moringa, purple sweet potato leaves, lambs quarters and a bit of new growth on the chicory that has not gone to seed.

passion flower vine everywhere....maybe we'll do something with the fruit this year...I'll share seeds if anyone wants some?

The hummingbirds have been busy at different flowers but mostly the hyacinth beans (and tithonia, of course)....they are ignoring those bright red scarlet runner bean blooms though!

the row of flowers and sweet potatoes pictured below has filled in a bit more than I expected with all these rains...I kept planting and everything took for a change.  The test will be whether the sweets produce as they are the important 'crop' in that row.