2020 How does your garden grow

[Carbon 6]

Rotation is no solution to blight.

Blight is caused by an oomycete, (water mold) that travels airborne(most readily in damp humid conditions) from plant to plant, field to field and garden to garden and effects mostly potatoes and tomatoes. When one garden in a given area becomes infected it is a sure bet that every other farm and garden in the area will suffer unless immediate spraying begins and is kept up through harvest.

A few years back farmers and gardeners in this are suffered a huge costly outbreak that was attributed to seedlings sold at a local Walmart that were infected. So no, rotation will not cut it.

The only measure you can take against it it to spray fungicides as a prophylactic. I have found the only way to mitigate it is to spray with Daconil religiously every two weeks and especially additionally after each rain.

The map on this site shows how it spreads throughout the country(it will also give you a heads up if it is reported in your locality). Lots of good info on identifying it and combating it too.

https://usablight.org/?q=map
Every year it starts in the south, as a hard freeze kills it, and then travels north mostly along the eastern seaboard, but outbreaks in the Great Lakes area and the Northwest are not uncommon.

Thanks for the info, Guess i must be doing something else right then because I've never had it .
I'm very picky on where I buy plant starts, usually I do my own seed starts.

 

[TNGhost]

Thanks for the info, Guess i must be doing something else right then because I've never had it .
I'm very picky on where I buy plant starts, usually I do my own seed starts.

If you have any other gardeners in the area or there are any farmers growing potatoes or tomatoes within a few miles, what you do won't matter.

You had better hope they are all as detail oriented. If they are not, one damp foggy night can wipe you out.

 

[Carbon 6]

If you have any other gardeners in the area or there are any farmers growing potatoes or tomatoes within a few miles, what you do won't matter.

You had better hope they are all as detail oriented. If they are not, one damp foggy night can wipe you out.

Guess I'm safe then .

 

[Zonie]

What's a damp foggy night?

 

[TNGhost]

Something we contend with during the summer up here near the arctic circle.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Something new this year on my potatoes. Have never seen these guys before, however a quick spray has nipped things in the bud.

 

[SDSmlf]

Something new this year on my potatoes. Have never seen these guys before, however a quick spray has nipped things in the bud.
View attachment 35206

Potato beetles. If they show up next year use a different spray, as they seem to build up immunity after repeated use of the same insecticide.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Potato beetles. If they show up next year use a different spray, as they seem to build up immunity after repeated use of the same insecticide.

Thanks for the info.

Tell me this potato bug creature is not the spitting image of Predator..

 

[TNGhost]

Something new this year on my potatoes. Have never seen these guys before, however a quick spray has nipped things in the bud.
View attachment 35206

Have had those same bugs on my tomatoes the last couple of years, and a quick spray has always taken care of them, they are easy to kill and slow to spread as far as I can tell.

Now cucumber beetles are another issue and have wreaked havoc with my cukes and squash plantings in the past. Then I found out about Spinosad and it has proven to control them for me.

Bonide sells it under the brand name of Capt. Jack's Dead Bug Brew. It contains compounds based on a bacteria that was found in sugar can mills and is very effective against beetles and other pests. I have found it very persistent as well for an organic lasting through a light rain or two even.

Generally I will rotate Spinosad, Sevin and Malathion depending on the pest and severity of the problem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinosad

 

[Cattman]

we dont have many bugs in this high dry country. a couple of times i had a tiny green worm on my goosberries, spray took care of them and they didnot come back none this year though. we can get tent catipillars on the chokecherries, i either spray or just cut them out and put in a pile and burn them. the rest of you plant dont seem to be bothered by anything. rabbits, and deer are the bad guys hate those critters. a deer was brave and brazed enough this spring to even come on our deck and nibble at my wife/s flowers. i want to pepper its butt with bidshot. lots of hail around us, we pray alot about our yard and such. no hail here. when you are container gardening and on straw bales you cannot negelect watering. containers will dry out fast, straw not so fast. the tomato plants roots will get 6 ft. long if planted on a large straw bale. pole beans on the straw bales are the best ive ever had, going nuts.

 

[Carbon 6]

Bonide sells it under the brand name of Capt. Jack's Dead Bug Brew. It contains compounds based on a bacteria that was found in sugar can mills and is very effective against beetles and other pests. I have found it very persistent as well for an organic lasting through a light rain or two even.

Probably (BT) Bacillus thuringiensis. I am surrounded by Bt corn and use Bt mosquito dunks in my irrigation water tank. I have no problem at all with potato beetles.

 

[TNGhost]

Bacillus thuringiensis, or BT is a different entity than Spinosad. In the case of BT you are actually using the spores of the bacteria, and in the case of GM BT corn a gene from the bacteria is spliced into the corn to get it to produce the insecticidal toxin that would normally be created by the bacteria. A number of strains of BT have been developed since its discovery in silk worms, to keep ahead of resistance developed by insects.

In the case of Spinosad, it comes from the bacteria Saccharopolyspora spinosa which was discovered in sugar (hence the scientific name) cane mills, the insecticidal toxic compounds made by the bacteria are synthesized, and those compounds are then sprayed on the crops, more like a traditional insecticide.

Spinosad is also a much more recent discovery, in 1985 as opposed to the discovery of BT which was in the early 20th century, and BT has been in use much longer for insect control than Spinosad.

They also target different pests, BT working best for caterpillars/larva of moths etc that feed on plant foliage while Spinosad works on a wider range of insects including beetles and thrips as well as caterpillars, and it kills them much more quickly.

Every location is unique when it comes to disease and insects. There are a lot of potato fields and broccoli fields in my area and it is often cool and damp even in summer and especially in fall. Hence late blight( and some downy mildew), potato beetles and cabbage worms/moths are my main nemesis along with the aforementioned cucumber beetles. The cuke beetles and the blight being by far the most destructive and hard to control.

 

[Eterry]

Something new this year on my potatoes. Have never seen these guys before, however a quick spray has nipped things in the bud.
View attachment 35206

Anyone from the SOUTH should know what a Tator bug is! They used to be bad here, not so much now. Sevin dust maybe?

 

[Eterry]

Thanks for the info.

Tell me this potato bug creature is not the spitting image of Predator..

View attachment 35213

If that shows up in my garden I'm getting my shotgun!!

 

[Cattman]

my garden at 4000 ft. is growing like nuts. good year if i can keep praying the hail away. my neighbors even ask me to pray for their crops to feed their cattle. God answers. so far hail goes around us but never on us. thank you Father God.

 

[Cobra6]

Tell me this potato bug creature is not the spitting image of Predator..

Are you sure that thing is not a Walnut Beetle, for cracking Walnuts.


Cobra 6

 

[nhmoose]

Milky spore [nematodes] works against the tater bugs and jap beetles. Though said not good for your corn crops

 

[Carbon 6]

Something new this year on my potatoes. Have never seen these guys before, however a quick spray has nipped things in the bud.
View attachment 35206

Looked at mine this afternoon, and discovered the same thing.

 

[Carbon 6]

Just sprayed my potatoes, boy those beetles work fast, I'll report back later on how effective it was.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Just sprayed my potatoes, boy those beetles work fast, I'll report back later on how effective it was.

Yes they are fast. Hungry little buggers. Capt. Jack's Dead bug seems effective.