Not even mid February in CT and the garlic are coming up. Spring is near - I hope!
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The wing position and shape does not resemble thrips. Thrips, in the flying stage, have wings that have fuzzy margins. They fly away very quickly and are smaller than aphids (in general). Iād need a better, close-up picture, but it looks like the flying stage of aphids. There are vast numbers of aphid species, with different dispersal times, when they fly about.
If you have a hand-held microscope, take a closer look and compare it with pictures of winged aphids. If the wing margins are fuzzy, then itās thrips. If they fly away before you can take a look, itās probably thrips. Aphids tend to just sit there and donāt fly away as readily.
A third possibility is scale flyers. If you find scales, the immature, disk-shaped stage, thatās an indicator.
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Nice! Why do you have wire on top?
The squirrels!! They like hiding their treasures in the raised beds, guess itās easy digging but they make a mess!
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Understood! I donāt always know what digs in mine, but I keep mine covered too. I am most dismayed by the cat āmessesā.
Theyāre baaaaack!
I think these are better pictures.
I donāt see fuzzy margins, but they do fly away.
Iām not sure this works in this context, but using my Pixel phone to take pictures, and looking at them on Google photos, I can see a few moments of movement that show one of them flying away in the second picture.
What do you think about this one?
I grew it in the ground for about 20 years, but it died over the last year. Still under 5 feet , but I think something might have been wrong with the leader. I think thatās the right word.
The fruit was small, and scarred by western flower thrips until I figured it out, but they were delicious.
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Well, since you asked, if given the choice between a bowl of nectarines and a bowl of favas, Iād take the nectarines! The quantity of tasty is also in the treeās favor.
20 years is a good life for a dwarf-grafted stone fruit; thatās a little longer than some are productive. Stone fruits, especially dwarf/semi-dwarf, donāt live as long as apples or pears, under optimal conditions. Often itās the stock/scion grafting interface, which ultimately gets weak as the two components grow at differing rates. The top part of many stone fruits tries to become a very large tree. by grafting it onto a dwarfing rootstock, often a different species, the tree parts have a somewhat stressful relationship over time.
Of course, diseases can change any scenario. Since youāre aware of the thrips issue, you can deal with that. Maybe that Surround product can help. I canāt imagine thrips wanting to eat clay! Check with the local extension office, to see about spray schedules. Many pests attack the flowers or newly-formed fruits, long before theyāre starting to ripen. Plum Curculio beetles lay eggs in stone fruits long before they size-up. you may not have them there, but we have tons of them here, leading to āwormyā, diseased fruits if one does not spray. Itās a native pest; wild American plums are all over the place. They are roadside āweedsā, tasty weeds!
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Thank you! It seems that around here, itās aphids, at least on my pluots. I donāt see them yet, but I see ants, and every year I get that leaf damage that looks like leaf curl. I mostly just use an oil spray on those, and this year I tried to be more diligent.
It begins. Sungold, Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye tomatoes; Rosita eggplant; Anaheim, baklouti peppers; cilantro (thanks, @bogman!) ; basil; leeks. Phase two as soon as my new seeds arrive.
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You are on it!
Iām actually a little late! According to my notes, I planted on 2/1 last year. Hurry up, plants!
Yep, the second group of pest pics looked like aphid flyers. Apparently, the flyers there are more āathleticā and fly away faster than our slower country aphids, LOL! Ants are often an indicator there are aphids; they farm them, often bringing aphids to the plants to start a new āherdā. With favas out here, itās almost a certainty that some sort of pesky, big black ants will bring in purple-black aphids and overnight, you have a problem.
Sometimes, I dust the bottom stems of plants with insecticide, so the ants canāt climb up and down. Without the ants to defend them, the aphids often get taken out by predators. I have to do that with figs, or the ants ruin them.
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Good luck with all of those! Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye is one of my favorites. In our climate, the flavor gets really rich, lots of tomato flavor coupled with a great acid-sweet balance. Plus, the fruits are gorgeous.
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I love that tomato. Hereās some of my 2021 crop.
Last year was pretty pathetic for peppers and eggplant, so fingers crossed 2022 will be better.
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Beautiful! You gotta like those metallic, green stripes. Brad Gates is a genius when it comes to tomato breeding.
This is the time of year when Iām craving fresh tomatoes. Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye (PBTD) does not flavor-up in cooler climates. I have a friend in the SF Bay area of CA complaining PBTD was bland, not good flavored. I was growing it the same year during our tropical growing season and it was outstanding. Iāve grown so many tomato varieties, I canāt remember them all. Certain ones stand out and get fused into the memory. PBTD is one of them, for fresh-eating.
Mary Ann Billeraās Super Plum is another favorite, but itās almost extinct. The Billera plants are very tall, late and mostly a processing type, but with outstanding fresh flavor. Like other Italian canning types, they also donāt flavor-up in cooler climates. If you want āSan Marzano flavorā you need warm to hot growing conditions and lots of sun.
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I donāt have opinions on that many varieties, 'cause I only grow about 8 or 10 plants a year. Favorites so far are Black Krim, Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye and Sungold. Bloody Butcher is prolific but meh. Olpaca and Admiral Volkov did not do well for me. Honeybunch is good but not as crazed a producer as Sungold.
What do you use? I have I think Bionide Captain Jackās Deadbug, with Spinosad, and also Bionide " Eight Insect Control" with Permethrin.
Iāve sprayed my nectarines with spinosad for thrips before, and use āall seasonā oil for aphids on my apricot and pluots, but have never used dust on vegetables before my poor tomatoes in 2020, and maybe 2021. I pinched the tops of fava beans this year, which Iāve read helps with aphids among inherent things.
I have an Aji Amarillo and MIL āJeanās Jamaican Yellow Scotch Bonnetā that seem to have overwintered successfully, some pepper seeds Iām still trying to decide between, but definitely
Aji Charapita pepper and Sugar Rush Peach pepper if Iām not too late. Thank you @bogman! Lemongrass pulled through too, and shallots are waking up.
The āusual suspectsā for my Dwarf tomato plants, but pledging to grow fewer tomatoes this year, since we donāt like raw tomatoes that much.
Dwarf;
Rosella Purple
Wild Fred
Perfect Harmony
Crimson Sockeye
BrandyFred
Malle Rose
Beauty King
Sneaky Sauce
Non Dwarf Tomatoes I almost always include are Principe Borghese and Maglia Rosa.
If you start the Aji Charapita and Sugar Rush Peach now/soon, you should be fine. They start producing at a young age and really crank out the peppers! I pickled some long-sliced, cored SRP with some sliced turmeric and a little Pickle Crisp (Calcium Chloride for firming) and they came out great, very flavorful, barely hot. I was going for a Italian-style Pepperocini, so removed most of the white septa (āveinsā). The turmeric slices added color and flavor without the dusty residue of powdered turmeric.
Those two peppers are some of the most productive Iāve grown. Their flavors are super and theyāre plenty spicy.
Iāve used the old Carbaryl Sevin (5%) and permethrin dusts on lower stems, with good results. The carbaryl lasts longer. The main thing to watch is not wetting the stems and washing the dust off or turning it into a solid (melt>dry). Iāve no idea if spinosad will work; itās worth experimenting with it.
