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Pests

Avoiding Chiggers

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These are my chicken boots. AKA Chigger Defense

When I got my chickens a couple of months ago, I started spending lots of time out in the pasture. They’re so much fun to watch, and since they’re my first chickens I like to watch them and see how they act.

As those first couple of weeks came and went I was driven crazy by bites all over my feet and around my waist along with some other sensitive areas we won’t talk about here. I decided to try to figure out what was eating me alive. Because of the pattern of the bites, I identifed the bites as chiggers.

Then, I found this article that talks about how this is the worst year for chiggers in thirty years.

How chiggers work is that they get onto your exposed skin usually from high grass. From there, they crawl into a tight space (like into your shoes or in your crotch or waistband) and from there they insert their little mouth like apparatus into your skin and inject enzymes that dissolve the cell walls of your skin, and that’s what they eat. They don’t burrow inside you and they don’t drink your blood. Now, I’m not an entymologist, and I don’t play one on TV and I’m sure there are many more detailed explanations you can find, but that’s the main gist of it.

So now, when I go to the pasture, I put on my chicken boots. I keep them in the car and put them on 100% of the time before I get out of my car. I haven’t had a single chigger bite since I started wearing my chicken boots while at the pasture.

I also wear them when I get my bee suit on because the combination of my bee suit and my chicken boots protects me from any bees that may have malevolent intentions. 🙂

I highly recommend getting your own pair of chicken boots (or whatever other style you want).

 

Update on Tulle

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About a month ago I covered two of my raised beds with PVC pipe frames and tulle. I planted broccoli in one of the beds, and zucchini in the other.

In another (uncovered) bed I planted Brussels Sprouts (which are closely related to broccoli and attract the same pests).

Here are photographs from today. You can see that the Brussels Sprouts leaves have been feasted upon by cabbage worms. On the other hand, you can see that the Broccoli leaves are perfect and untouched. It’s amazing!

Brussels Sprouts Eaten by Cabbage Worms

 

This broccoli has been grown under tulle and no pests have gotten to it at all.

Then also I took a photo of the zucchini under the tulle. I have never had such pristine stalks on any squash plant I’ve had. You can probably see in the photo that there is some sort of mildew on the leaves…but otherwise the plant looks very very good and is starting to fruit. I am hand polinating every day whenever there is a male and a female blossom available.

These stems are pristine. No pests at all!

 

So, I’m a big big fan. I’m going to be drowning in squash next spring!

Using Tulle In The Garden For Pest Control

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What do gardening and weddings have in common? Tulle!

In a previous post, I talked about my challenges with growing squash and defeating squash vine borers who are constantly plotting the demise of my squash plants. I heard from several people that protecting those squash plants with tulle (the netting often used in bridal veils) worked really well to keep the pesky creatures away.

So, I fired up Amazon and ordered a bolt of 104″ wide tulle.

This weekend I covered two of my four beds. I already had the PVC pipes curved over both beds. In one of the beds I have planted broccoli, and in the other I went ahead and planted a couple of summer squash seeds (even though it might be a little late). Wouldn’t that be something if I end up drowning in summer squash in the fall? (I mean..this is Texas!)

Using Tulle In the Garden

As far as the broccoli, every time I’ve planted it I have had problems with what I think are cabbage moths laying eggs, then the bright green worms eating the leaves on the plants and killing some of them. I’m hoping the tulle will keep the moths from laying eggs on the plants. I’m very excited to see how it will work.

Everything I read says that the tulle allows light and moisture through, but not bugs. It also seems to be long lasting. Also, quite unlike bird netting, it doesn’t “catch” on itself and become a jumbled mess. Another thing is that the openings aren’t big enough for the plant to grow through, so you won’t rip up the plant when you remove it. Seems like a homerun to me.

I’m guessing people who make wedding dresses don’t use bypass pruners to cut their tulle.

Stay tuned.

My Quest to Defeat Squash Vine Borers

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I’ve heard that people run from gardeners because they don’t want to be given any more zucchini? Well, that never happens to me. I’m guessing it’s mostly non-organic gardeners that have extra squash to pawn off.

So far, every time I grow zucchini or any other squash, I get a few fruits, then the squash vine borers get to the plant and it dies.

I’ve read that there are no squash vine borers on the west coast of the United States. I’m guessing that’s where the organic summer squash I see at Whole Foods comes from. Maybe trying to grow it here in Texas in a sustained way is a fools errand. But, I’m committed to figuring this out. If you have any tips, please let me know in the comments.

Here is a summary of what I’ve tried and the results:

Aluminum Foil:

I’ve seen several places online where I am advised to wrap the stems of the squash plant with aluminum foil so that the borers cannot lay eggs in or near the stem. I did try this, and I may not have done it correctly, but it was not effective for me.

Squash Surgery:

Once you see the damage of the dreaded squash vine borer, you can cut into the plant and remove the offenders. This is recognized as a last ditch effort to save the plant, so it isn’t surprising that I haven’t had convincing success with this method.

Floating Row Covers:

This is what I am trying right now. Here is what it looks like:

My first attempt at a row cover to overcome squash vine borers. Hello, Loper!

I’m not sure if I have it covered securely enough because the row cover material I had is not really wide enough, but it is what I had. Also, if you choose to use a row cover, you have to remember to hand pollinate your squash. Plus, you’ll have to water your plants yourself since the rain won’t get through.

Planting Near Aromatic Crops:

I read somewhere that planting the squash where cucumbers would grow over the top of them would confuse the borers and protect the squash. Also, if you plant the squash near other plants like onions or herbs, the strong aroma would do the same thing.

This year I planted squash near cucumbers (which didn’t do very well) and near my big oregano plant.

The plants did stay in tact longer than in previous years, but the still succumbed to borers pretty quickly.

Here are some methods that I found doing research for this article that I haven’t tried yet:

Planting “Trap” Crops. Pick a variety of squash that is more succeptible variety of squash and plant it nearby the variety you’re actully trying to produce. (Blue Hubbard Squash is said to be the most attractive)

Black Pepper. Sprinkle black pepper around the vines as a repellant.

Continuous Planting; One article I read said to plant squash every three weeks so that you could just harvest a bit from each crop and always have a supply before the plant dies from squash vine borers. Who has space for that though?

 

Other Tips:

Hygiene. Clean up all debris after you harvest your squash plant for the last time and are removing the plant. You don’t need to leave anything there to attract more pests.

Crop Rotation: Don’t plant squash in the same place two years in a row. Some places said to have a three year rotation schedule.

I will persevere. I think as long as I travel as much as I do right now it will continue to be a challenge. The borer eggs are visible and can be removed, but that’s a lot of consistent effort and if you are away from the garden for a few days you can’t keep that up.

My quest for a great squash crop continues!  I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions.