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I must be off that committee. The candidate is supposed to defend on Monday and I haven't been asked to sign anything. Either way, it feels good not to worry about it.
It cost $30 to fill up my tank yesterday. I have mixed feelings. Is the world coming to an end? That would be bad. On the other hand, we could turn into France, who has never had much oil. The French were paying this much for gasoline decades ago. We could see real public transportation in our cities, restoration of the country's rail systems, and the demise of the "Walmart" economy. Imagine a little market every few blocks. It could be wonderful!
All my zucchinis died. And so did all of my neighbors', all up and down the street. Tiny little worms burrowed into the stalk and destroyed the vines. I thought they were squash borers, but they look too small. Should I try to kill the worms next year? My local greenhouse says to dust the young plants with sevin, but won't that kill the mantises, too? On the bright side, I have lots of cucumbers and tomatoes.
Summer is ending. I feel cheated. Rather than getting lots of writing done, I agonized over bad theses and departmental politics.
7 comments:
Re: bullet 2: the problem is that it isn't that easy. Before we get to the stage where there are cute shops on every corner and good public transportation, we go through a period of total chaos where we have food and energy shortages, massive unemployment, and people die in the winter because there's not enough heating oil.
We've been talking about this stuff for months at The Oil Drum. Don't worry, we're very professional and academic about it. Come on over.
AP, you might want to check out this wonderful site: What's That Bug.
My mom, a Master Gardener, says it would help to know what region of the country you're in (but of course your local greenhouse already knows that). Her MG materials don't have a lot of information on pesticides, because they discourage their use, although they can be one element of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan.
For squash (including zucchini), if you must poison, do so at night, in late afternoon, or maybe very early morning, to avoid killing bees, because squash are entirely dependent on bees for pollination. If the bug is known to be a butterfly or moth larva, BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) may be effective - and it is specific (preserves your mantises).
AP,
Mom found something on sevin:
Broad-spectrum contact insecticide. Controls most chewing insects, but is not effective against many sucking types. In fact it often increases problems with the latter by destroying natural predators. Registered for use on edible crops; highly toxic to honey bees, fish, and earthworms.
Thanks Carl. How about rotenone?
What a relief about the committee. As for the zucchinis, if it makes you feel any better all my potted herbs died, too. (Even worse, I don't much care!) Also, I feel the same way about summer ending and I, too, spent over $30 to fill up my small car. Too bad my uni is 60 miles away!
Your bug does sound like squash vine borer. One preventative measure is beginning early in the season spray the vines with pyrethrins or another organic control, such as Diatect (OMRI certified) available from Johnnys. Once the borers are in the vines, look for frass and slice teh stem and remoe the borer, then cover the sliced area with dirt. You can also purchase nematodes and inject those into the stem to attack the borer. Borers start of small and grow over the course of a couple of weeks.
I have removed several from both my summer and winter squash plants this season.
Rotenone has been possibly linked to the development of Parkinson's disease.
Thanks Kerry - unfortunately the pyrethrins are toxic to the bees. I was talking to a lady at the farmers' market last weekend and she said she lost about 20% of her squash crop to borers. To maintain "organicity," she just let them go. Doesn't seem like a good plan to me, but if I had 100 squash vines, I can't see myself digging out borers all day either.
I saw something on the web about someone at some extension office (Nebraska, maybe?) working on a hybrid summer squash incorporating the Hubbard squash's good resistence to borers. It might be available now. Or I could plant Hubbards next year.
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