Ironite Questions?

[zxcvbob]

I don't know about the white flies, but I'm pretty sure it WON'T work against spider mites.

Oil spray would help with that if the weather is not too hot.

Bob

[zxcvbob]

Drip irrigation might work well there. The best garden I ever had was in central Texas in 100+ degree heat and thin poor soil. I'd been struggling to garden there for several years, and finally I set up an inexpensive drip irrigation system and mulched everything that wasn't leafy enough to thoroughly shade the ground itself. The garden just exploded (in a good way.)

Bob

[Jangchub]

The thing I find which works best is to spray with a relatively hard force under the leaves of any plant which is prone to spider mites. I have Brugmansia's and they are spider mite magnets. Also, spider mites do not like the way seaweed tastes or they are somehow repelled by it. Same thing with whitefly.

The best natural, certified organic pesticide is orange oil. It will kill anything. I hate to suggest it because killingis not my thing, but if people are going to stockpile illegal pesticides like diazinon because they think that's the only thing which works, try using orange oil. I bought a quart of pure orange oil for 13.99 and I use t for everything, including cleaning my house and disinfecting bathrooms, etc. As with anything follow the label directions and do not use it on plastics, plexiglass, etc.

[Billy]

I didn't hear a whine. I heard a gardener talking about gardening experiences. But when you came in, the cheese was loud and clear.

You should chat up the Purulent Primrose since you both seem to enjoy gratuitous sarcasm and misstatements.

[Marie Dodge]

Agreed! I use as little as possible and only when nothing else works.

Fortunately nothing has bothered our pear tree.

It was the only Iron I could find that wasn't a liquid.

[Marie Dodge]

Nothing was wrong with it. I didn't say anything was "wrong" with it.

I'm joking that I'm retired on a limited income? Why would I joke about it?

Yes! The store must be in my driveway. ;-)

Haven't we been through this before? If someone dies and leaves me an inheritance I'll buy expensive stuff and have it shipped.

It means we can't afford expensive supplements plus shipping.

I have no way to get to Eric's business so why call him? Would he trade me some soil amendments for some boxes of left over yard sale stuff?

The Soil Test Report didn't list Iron this time so I don't know. The soil PH is 7 and that was good. The Report says to add 5 lbs Ammonium Nitrate per

1000 sq. ft before planting (my fall garden).

I don't know who "heaped" it on, do you? 1 lb is "heaping" it on? You're WRONG about Magnesium. It's 64+ so not recommended I add more.

WRONG!!!! I am not to add Magnesium. Only nitrogen was low as I suspected.

[Marie Dodge]

It called "droughty" because it doesn't hold moisture unless loads and loads of organic matter are incorporated, which we do before using a spot for gardening. It's a fine clay that's like powder. When dry it's like concrete. It's really crappy soil. But once organic matter is incorporated and it's fertilized, the plants grow like crazy if given enough moisture.

[Marie Dodge]

I'm talking about *ALL* the organic stuff I would need for *ALL* of our the gardens.

[Marie Dodge]

Right! The plants would have died faster and I would have saved some money, better spent elsewhere. Meanwhile they would have been nurseries for the breeding of resistant WFs and SPs to spread to nearby farms and crops.

What would I need something for caterpillars when the pests are spider mites and white-fly? ??? What organic product kills these 2 resistant pests? They've already wiped out one entire garden.

[Marie Dodge]

Oil sprays do not work against either of these pests. I used Neem Oil and Organicide. Both were 100% useless. Organicide did drive them off for a day or so the FIRST time I sprayed, but they're back heavier than ever now. The spray drips off the plants and they walk right through it like it's rain water. Zero knock-down, zero residual, zero improvement.

[Marie Dodge]

You're another frothing fanatic who doesn't "get it." All our gardens are loaded with organic matter. Lying by YOU to further your "organic" agenda wont change that fact. Stop using me as an excuse to get on your anti-chemical soap box. Organic matter in the soil has no effect on crop pests and plant disease.

[zxcvbob]

IIRC, horticultural oil will take care of both of those.

Insecticides do not work very well on spider mites because they are not insects. Kelthane is a miticide that works OK, but I don't know if it's on the market right now. It was taken off for a while because it contained traces of DDT from the manufacturing process (maybe that's why it worked so well), but I think it's back.

Wife's miniature roses had spider mites this year -- like every year. I sprayed them with water (mites hate that), but what I did that really helped was fertilized the plants. They were stressed because they were nitrogen deficient. I mixed a generous pint of piss in enough water to make 2 gallons (the capacity of the sprinkling can) and watered them with that. Did that twice in one week. It must have been a little strong because it burned a few of the leaves, but the plants took off growing and once they were healthy the mites left. Don't tell my wife that I peed on her roses. Later, I scratched a little superphosphate into the soil.

I've been using the same "liquid fertilizer" sparingly in my vegetable garden this year. It's a lot cheaper than fish emulsion, or even

10-10-10 for that matter.

I noticed today that the tomatoes need spraying with a fungicide. Gonna do that tomorrow. One of the "brown bottle" chemicals, because I think Bordeaux mixture (I have that too) will burn tomato plants.

Bob

[Marie Dodge]

OK, I looked and they have a place closer to were I live. About 10 miles from here. I pass there every other week. :-)

No, our out of town company just left about 45 minutes ago. We weren't home most of the day.

Median Income: $126,800.00. Average home $500,000. I'll check out the other place.

Together, the three gardens come to close to 1000 sq. ft. We're enlarging two of them next summer, rock allowing.

Methinks you are using

I'll see what the place closer to me gets.

Yep! The closest one, Co-op, is about 30 miles from here. We have to go there next week for the 5 lbs of Ammonium Nitrate the Soil Test showed was needed. I have no idea how much organic amendments would be the equivalent of 5 lbs of that stuff.

How much Greensand do I need for gardens that come to 1000 sq. ft?

We do! Loads of it but it's never enough. It vanishes into the clay soil like nothing by fall. That's why we're now getting loads from the City mulch site. All the free mulch you can cart away. They grind and shred fallen trees and brush and other plant debris. We already got 2 loads. :-))

Do you

husband has a leaf-vac of the "same brand" (pulled by a large mower) but a different model. He picks up all the fallen leaves and has for years. He had another one before this one, but it was too small. We dump them on the gardens to rot down over the winter with kitchen waste, weeds etc. In spring we start tilling the rotted leaves under. We do it twice and something I do it a third time by hand with a spade shovel. Despite the impression some have here we don't use insecticides unless there is a real problem organics fail to handle... like the WF and SP invasion this year.

[Pat Kiewicz]

I think one of your problems may be you are tilling too much. That alone will lead to increased loss of organic matter in the soil.

never even do any tillage (and for me, that's gentle forking) of the soil without adding organic material.

The only upside of sandy soil is that once broken into cultivation, it's easy to handle afterwards.

I've created enough of an oasis of fertility that we found (when digging for the second row of raspberries a few year back) that a neighbor's tree had managed to send one large root over 50 feet straight for the vegetable garden.

[Pat Kiewicz]

I thought the weather was always safe to talk (or grumble) about....

[Penelope Periwinkle]

Penelope

[Steve Peek]

[jellybean stonerfish]

That was before the weather became political.

[Bill]

The politicals may try to control just about every thing but the best forecast for tomorrow remains today . Yea I know it is a cooler August but I read that the Salt H2o is being diluted and won?t hold solar gain as well. So a cold winter this year. Mad Man told me this too. (Accuweather severe weather gay actuality it was a blog post.)

Bill

[Billy]

And you never will be when talking to one who chooses to be deaf, blind, and dumb.

You probably have seen the reference to greensand in Wikipedia, so let me describe another thought. One pound of iron (shavings would be best but use what you can get) in a plastic bucket, pour one can of cheap soft drink over it and wait 24 hr.. If iron remains, repeat soft drink addition. When iron is dissolved, it will cover 100 sq. ft.