Gardens anyone?

[tomturkey]

Raq

Are they gypsy moth caterpillars not tent caterpillars?  From Howard City to Newaygo the oaks are almost totally bare from the gypsy moth caterpillars. They have also been devastating some of the pines as well. There are a lot of other areas that have been devastated.

Knocking on my wooden head they have not hit my property over by the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. Probably next year.

[Raquettedacker]

Your right Tom gypsy moth not tent. 
 Not the little skinny black ones but the bigger greener ones.   And there green inside when you squish them….

[ActiveTrapChecker]

There’s a hillside across the valley called oak hill. Full of oak trees.. It’s bare from the tent caterpillars. I will try and get a picture of it..  Hasn’t happened in 4 or 5 years .

Here’s an excerpt from an email I received from DEC’s Bureau of Invasive Species & Ecosystem Health:

It is getting late in the season to spray Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insecticide because is only works on the caterpillars and they should be starting to pupate soon. This is what Jerry Carlson, the chief of the forest health program and research scientist, said the other day regarding gypsy moth natural diseases:
 
"Hope you all heard, the gypsy moth larvae near the Canadian border have been found to be over 50% infected with the virus and a fungus that kills them quick.  Hopefully we will find that in many other parts of the state this week or next.  The heavy rains seem to be a correlation to the rapid spread of these insect diseases."
 
We are likely experiencing the boom of their 10-15 year population cycle and this native disease will eventually take most of them out, if not already. Luckily most trees should be able to recover even after a massive defoliation event and should start to refoliate in the next few weeks. There will be some tree mortality but this it to be expected with gypsy moth population peaks. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

[Raquettedacker]

Got cherry tomatoes?   

[rgfixit]

No pics but I ate a bunch of yellow ( damned if I can remember the name) cherry sized tomatoes a couple hours ago. They never  made it to the table.

Rg

[Raquettedacker]

Sun sugar ??

These are Tom Tumblers..  Grown in hanging baskets…

[rgfixit]

 Could be. I’ll have to look at the tag in the ground under the plant. ….if I can find it. Bushy little thing.

Rg

[Dirt23]

We grow the sungolds and boy are they tasty like the candy of the garden.  Starting to get some tomatoes now but plants were started 3rd week of march.  I feel like even though we don't realize daylight is getting shorter plants sure do and really start working on fruit

[rgfixit]

Mine are called Sun Sugar. They certainly are sweet. It’s a low bushy plant with a ton of tomatoes.

Only planted 3 plants this year. The past 2 years I had problems with early blight. No signs of anything yet this year. Some nice tomatoes coming in.

Rg

[fishinator]

Mine are called Sun Sugar. They certainly are sweet. It’s a low bushy plant with a ton of tomatoes.

Only planted 3 plants this year. The past 2 years I had problems with early blight. No signs of anything yet this year. Some nice tomatoes coming in.

Rg

not sure if it would help you or not, but I stopped my blight problem by pruning the bottom branches. Haven't had a problem the past couple years.

[rgfixit]

Tried that last year to no avail. I rotated my plantings this year as I always do. Maybe it helped.

Rg

[cnypanfisher]

We did good on our first time with the garlic. Got 75 hard and soft neck garlic and 25 elephant garlic. Not bad our first trip, next year softer soil and I'm gonna energize the soil with the compost from the barrel composter. RG you leave your garlic in longer than we did, my buddy said get it out by July 4th.

[rgfixit]

Nice haul!

I leave it until most of the leaves are dead. I pulled a couple the other day to check progress. I grow all German hard neck.



 Nice big heads. They’ll stay another couple weeks or more especially with the rain we’ve had. I like them To start drying out in the ground before I pull them. Works for me anyway.

Rg

[Raquettedacker]

Nice job guy’s.   👍
I’m getting ready to pull mine and fill the bed with beans and peas…

[Raquettedacker]

All kinds of matos left …..