Cover Crops • mulching (mentioned) • Organic Pest Control • Soil Improvement and/or preparation • Tomatoes

Two Posts Edited – I’ve added additional information

August 20, 2014

I wanted to make sure that everyone saw the additional information that I’ve added to two posts.

FIRST EDIT

Don, friend and reader, wrote to me after my recent post Soil Preparation – Letting Nature Dig the Ground

He made me realize that the post had not made it clear that this bed was still in the process of being prepared. I went immediately to the comment area of the post and shared his concerns and my answer with everyone.

Tonight August 19, 2013, I have added the following at the end of the post just to make sure that new readers of the post (especially if they don’t read the comment area) get all the information they need to understand what I’m doing with the new bed.

IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND:
This bed is in the process of “long term preparation” by nature.

When you let nature prepare a bed you have to be willing to wait a few years for her to finish the job.
When soil preparation is done well (either over time by nature or by you more quickly) the better your success with vegetables will be.

I took a chance by planting these tomatoes in this “not-yet-finished” bed. Although tomatoes like new soil, they also love deep preparation and lots of organic matter — which of course that bed could not yet supply. But, because of adequate rains and “new” soil, they did just fine.

SECOND EDIT

Something new has come up in the garden since I posted Organic Pest Control – More Help from the Braconid wasp on Russian Kale on July 25, 2014.

I added the following at the end of the post:

August 19, 2014 – IMPORTANT UPDATE – Wrong Conclusion?

I put this post up July 25th. After that my Kale made a strong comeback. It really looked great, lush and full with no bug eaten leaves.

Then about mid August, things took a turn for the worse. Within a matter days I had lots of the worms on the back of Kale leaves. All plants at various places throughout the garden were quickly eaten. They were far worse than they were earlier in the season.

It seems to me that if in fact those pictures in the post were of cocoons of Braconid Wasp, I would not have had this sudden invasion of worms (caterpillars).

If they were eggs of a one of the moths that lays eggs on back side of Kale leaves, that would certainly account for what happened.

I did about 30 minutes of looking around online. Didn’t find the information I was hoping to find to give me something definite. Even the pictures I found that were suppose to be the eggs of the cabbage moth did not look like what was on my kale leaves.

If I don’t come up with more information by next spring, I’ll have to rethink whether or not I’m going to allow these (cocoons or eggs?) to remain on the Kale. Or maybe I’ll just remove all the Kale from the garden when the invasion starts. (Not what I want to do!)

I even thought about taking one of the Kale leaves (next spring), putting it in a jar (cover the top with cheese cloth), and see what results.

If you know of anyone knowledgeable about this, I hope you’ll ask and let me know what answers you get. Anything we can find out, will help us all to make a decision next year. If they really are the braconid wasp cocoons, I sure don’t want to dispose of them.

If you have any questions about ANY of my posts, always feel free to ask me.
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2 Comments

  • One of the very few websites where the author is bothered to go back to previous posts to make clarifications and edits to help her readers!! THIS is something else that sets you apart, Theresa. It is why your content is gold standard. My gratitude to you for all the work and time you put into TMG. It is a treasure, really.

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