Yes, it’s Portland. But still. This is ridiculous.
Discovered a couple of nights ago, on my nightly slug hunt, that I’ve clay-colored weevils. I guess they’re a type of vine weevil that eats the roots when it’s larval and then the leaves when it’s an adult.
The local nursery recommends a “big hammer” to get rid of them and sold me some Sevin? or something like that. It’s a poison, poison. I can’t bring myself to actually use it, though. Instead, I’m just going out with a small jar of soapy water in addition to my ammonia bottle. I pluck the little critters off the currants and drop them in. Turns out that it’s also a good way to get rid of the slugs when they’re on something tender that wouldn’t take the ammonia spray well. Then, by the end of the hunt, I’ve got a big, gross jar of arthropods and friends. Gonna try that first and follow it up with some beneficial nematodes to kill the larva.
One must assume that these critters have been here for years and are therefore probably fairly well established and unlikely to be a new introduction that will eat the yard this year. I’ll go organic on them for a season and see what happens. If it’s worse next year, I’ll go Monsanto on them. But the first night, I got six or eight… the next night three… I got two last night (sadly one on the strawberries). So, it seems as though I’m reducing their numbers.
I’m also seeing some chlorosis on the Pak Choy. I think it’s a result of the *incessant raining.* I checked the pH, and it’s not basic enough to cause that. Odd that it’s only affecting some of the plants. The nursery also sold me some Miracle-Gro to spray on them. I’m more OK with that than the poison, though neither is to my particular liking in my garden. The info dude recommended it due to the speed with which the plants will take it up (the iron specifically).
Took the fig tree out of the ground and put it in a pot. From everything I’ve read in the meantime, it seems that one can get a lot of fruit from a containered fig tree, and you don’t have to worry about the roots taking over the yard.
Lots of beautiful blooms on things. I’ll try to post some pics for record-keeping of what’s where.
Recent Comments