Thoughts and opinions on the life and culture we have and need.
With COVID-19 making it’s way around the world, those of us with time and health are able to spend a whole lot of time in our gardens. Let’s hope the commercial greenhouses and nurseries (and everyone, for-that-matter) can survive this. I think it’s about time I wrote of our garden. It’s been a long time... Continue Reading →
Fruit Tree Pest Control Pests in trees usually come and go. Seldom will a tree die from regular pest pressure. When they do, there is a reason: An introduced pest with no natural enemies, or a stressed tree suffering from something else. In fact, when someone has shown me a tree dying of a normal... Continue Reading →
Eupeodes americanus is a hoverfly species with a range from Alaska to Mexico - and maybe beyond and even in Europe. Hoverflies are often mistook for bees - or so I hear. They do have yellow/black or white/black markings, but unlike wasps or bees, they have short antenna, enormous fly-eyes, and only one pair... Continue Reading →
The winterized garden: November, 2019. The rains have come. It was actually a wet September, which for us, is unusual. For the trees and my garden, it was welcomed - besides splitting my tomatoes and abruptly putting an end to the season for some more sensitive crops. October had been relatively nice, and we have... Continue Reading →
I’m lucky; Lucky-enough to have very few regrets. But there is one that’s not quite a regret, but if I delve too deeply into analyzing its causal events and my actions, it may just be. Or, maybe it’s just a bit of bad-luck: Losing a friend. I met a friend through some casual friends... Continue Reading →
Amazing! I had no concrete plans this weekend, so other than a soccer game, dinner out with the family and swimming with the kids, we spent the entire time in the garden. I knew I’d be out there a bit - a long-range trend shows cool, wet weather coming, so it may have been the... Continue Reading →
No one knows how many whitefly species there are, but most of the ones we are concerned about seem to arrive to North America via Florida, and the bad ones stay. If you’re not a total bug-geek like me and you have chosen to read this article it is likely because you are familiar with... Continue Reading →
Since the popularization of the modern greenhouse in Victorian England, non-chemical, greenhouse pest-control, as we know it, has been practiced. It was before modern chemical pesticides were available, and it was at this same time that Phytoseiulus persimilis (common name: Persimilis) became cosmopolitan and the standard for two spotted spider mite control. Without the sophistication... Continue Reading →
Disclaimer: This is in no way intended to dismiss the fact that there is peer-reviewed research needed on the interaction between cannabis varietals and invertebrates. I have noticed, first-hand, some common cannabis-related factors that are limiting, or preventing the success of beneficial insects - and in some cases, even killing them. In most of these... Continue Reading →
The most difficult hurdle for many, in their jump to bio-control from chemical reliance, is the need to switch the habit of reacting to pest pressure, with the habit of preventing pests in the first place. Prevention is essential in three ways: One, it works. Two, it is least expensive. Three, it gives you more... Continue Reading →
