stinkbugs on tomato, moments before their demise

Outside watering this morning, everything was cool. Then I had this moment, you know the one. The moment where you see something but your mind does not comprehend it because it just doesn't seem real or you have some denial defense mechanism kicking in to save your mind from shattering into a million pieces. But then I processed it - stinkbugs (leaf footed bugs) en masse all over one of my Roma tomatoes. Once I picked my jaw up off the floor I ran inside and picked up my camera and the pest spray I made (diluted dishwashing liquid and veggie oil) and went to work eradicating the bastards. Let me tell you this, they DID NOT like my spray :) I had to rinse off all the dead bug carcasses off my tomato, haha. The are quite considerate to all bulk together to make them an easy kill though...

Tomatoes are growing like a boss. Don't ask me what variety these are, b/c I have no clue. This bush was one that started to sprout in my compost so I just saved it. Here's to hoping they're tasty. I didn't plant Borage around it like last time but I'll see if there is a noticeable difference when I munch into one.

There is another compost sprout I saved that is growing just as well and I'm fairly certain it's a Roma variety.

The last of the 3 tomato bushes is a Sweet 100 that I actually bought and it is lagging behind these other 2.
Niki 1, Commercial growers 0  :)

I went into the bushes today and thinned out some of the dense leaves. 1) the main reason, so that the plant gets better air circulation (so its less prone to problems) and 2) less surface area for me to have to look for caterpillars! It's a war I tell you and I will offer them the least amount of refuge possible.

convolvulus (full sun)

convolvulus(part sun)

Something to note... The spouts on the left and right sides are THE SAME plant (Convolvulus) , planted at the same time, in the same soil.

So what's the difference? The one on the right was subjected to full sun like around the clock. The one on the left is in a semi-shady spot. It's listed as a Full Sun plant. Interesting.

Now, granted they don't have the same, exact watering conditions since they are on opposite sides of the yard, but I wouldn't think that would be a huge contributor as to why the ones on the right have reddish outlines on them.

But now that I think about it, they ARE just little sprouts and I shouldn't have put them in harsh sun before they had a set of true leaves, even if it is a full sun plant. I'm going to leave it where it is and see how it pans out anyway.

Fireants on Peacelilly... why?

One last thing:

Why are these retarded fireants way up at the top of my Peace Lilly plant? Made absolutely no sense to me...

Gardenia

The gardenia houseplant I started from seed a year or 2 ago has finally bloomed. I squealed like a little girl when i saw the first bloom from my kitchen window. It was ridiculous.

Oddly shaped strawberries

I had some strawberries in my garden, right in the ground, no special treatment and some of them look lumpy and odd. I think it had something to do with poor pollination or weather conditions, not sure which. I went ahead and uprooted them and placed them into hanging pots with about a 1:1 mix of sand and garden soil (which is pretty much all composted stuffs). They like sandy, acidic conditions and nice drainage so I think the hanging pots will work great. Also, when the berries grow they won't be sitting on wet soil so they should fair better. I'm sure they would have been just fine to eat, but i pulled them anyway.

I also deadheaded my Moondance rosebush today and figured since I took such a huge chunk of stem off I would try to root the cuttings. I've gotten it to work before so why not try again. Its in a mix of 2:1 vermiculite to seed starting mix and the stems were cut at an angle just below a node and dusted with hormone rooting powder. I'm hoping that will do the trick.

They're going to sit on my north facing windowsill along with some Coleus i took cuttings of and some Larkspur, Bird of Paradise and Orange Jasmine seeds I put in little paper pots.

Both the Orange Jasmine and Bird of Paradise were soaked in water for like a day and a half. I nicked (well, filed) the Paradise seed too like is recommended. I did not however put in the fridge for a week b/c i was just too impatient. If it won't germinate I'll add that step in there next time. :) Orange Jasmine seeds floated at first but after soaking so long they sank. Read that a floating seed doesn't necessarily mean it's not viable but only time will tell.

cicada

Random Cicada exoskeleton spotting. Disgusting looking yet interesting.

citrus leafminer damage

My citrus leaves are curling and have these squiggly lines all over them. I seem to have a case of a citrus leafminer. The little larvae hatch and eat their way through the leaves leaving the squiggle lines apparently.

momma leafminer

I wanna try not to use pesticides, so I'm going to pick off all the infected leaves so i make sure to get all the babies actually eating the leaves and then spray some organic deterrent on them: 1 cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon liquid detergent diluted with water at a 40:1 ratio. Not gonna lie, I'll probably make mine a little stronger than that. for a nice description of the citrus leafminer, see here for a pdf by Cali university UCDavis.

I was pruning today and even caught a glimpse of the thing. He looks a bit like an insect frog, its strange.

And as a sidenote: "Citrus leafminer moths are attracted to new flush of citrus trees. Avoid pruning live branches more than once a year, so that the cycles of flushing are uniform and short. Once the leaves harden, the pest will not be able to mine the leaves. Do not prune off leaves damaged by citrus leafminer because undamaged areas of the leaves continue to produce food for the tree. Do not apply nitrogen fertilizer at times of the year when leafminer populations are high and flush growth will be severely damaged" citation

yellow striped armyworm

On an upside, I found one of the caterpillars munching on my plants. The broccoli, onion and tomato have been hit on, so unless this guy was having a veggie buffet, he's got more friends around. I couldn't find him b/c i was looking in the wrong place before: tomatoes instead of onions. Left him out an open location and hopefully the birds find him. Ah, the circle of life.

He is black with a yellow stripe down the side and completely hairless. His name, the dreaded armyworm. Aptly named b/c we are totally at war right now.

Nymphalinae?

Went and found a nifty caterpillar today though that i think is some sort of butterfly. He was munching on a weed. Better than my plants though! I wanna say its Family Nymphalidae, Subfamily: Nymphalinae 


he's kinda awesome looking though.

verbena

And the pests rear their ugly little heads. They hit the verbena a few days ago and I just let it go b/c it was only a few leaves. My advice, don't be as lazy as i was. You can see the repercussions of my lack of action in the picture. They will strip a plant to the stem in no time. The verbena took serious leaf damage. I moved the pot to a table so hopefully they will have to go find it again and it'll be safe for a little while.
The tomatoes got hit too. The very first tomato as a matter of fact. I searched all 3 of the tomato plants i had twice today and didn't see the crawly little jerk. Looked for droppings, but didn't see any pronounced ones so maybe it's still a tiny little crawlie... that or I really suck at Where's Waldo. Either way, the birds are totally slacking on their jobs. Yeah, blame it on the birds.

On a more positive note tho, the Convolvulus and Cosmos I planted came up already. what's it been, only a few days? super. I don't know how their going to fair in a container and I always plant them way too close but it'll be a learning experience. The nasturtium do look wonderful in hanging baskets though. I don't think I would ever plant them in the ground after seeing them in a basket.

Oh, and the okra has started to come up like the little champs they are. If you live in the South, okra will never let you down. I'll snap a pic when they get a little bigger.

strawberry leaves in morning

marigold

Speaking of the pretties... I can't help posting pictures of things when they flower.

freesia again

The morning dew looked so pretty on the leaf b/c it all rolled to the edges. It was neat to see in the morning. :)




And while I went to go take pictures today kept running into our natural wildlife... Bob is the one that loves to sleep in my flower beds. But you can't hate him when he looks at you like that

Bob

Bailey on the roof

What do I do when I should be studying for a test in the spring? I run around planting stuff to procrastinate, that's what.

Planted the yellow and blue ones in a few pots together. They're cosmos and convolvulus, neither of which i've grown before. They've been sitting in my seed box for a while now and they're complimentary colors so i'm hoping they go well together and flower around the same time.

The top one i planted around my birdbath, in situ. Its a relative of the hibiscus family and is called abelmochus moschatus, according the lady who gave them to me. They are said to flower from May to November, if planted at the right time and should survive our mild winters.

Also planted some butterfly weed (currassavica) and some 4-o'clocks around a tree from seed in situ as well. Its semi-shady so I donno how well that's gonna work out...roots of butterfly weed are long taproots so i dont really wanna have to try to dig um up if they're unsuccessful, but i have a ton more seed so its no loss really.

Orange Jasmine (murraya paniculata) and Bird of Paradise seed (strelitzia reginae) will be next but the seeds are huge so i'm gonna start them in little pots. Except for all my school exams, I love spring.