Battle Begins
June 11, 2008
In my haste to rid my garden of the evil Striped Cucumber Beetle, I bought two different kinds of insecticidal dust containing Rotenone from a local hardware store. I never used it, especially after calling my favourite organic gardening centre and finding out that they don’t carry products with Rotenone as it’s been linked to Alzheimer’s. Yikes! They suggested a couple of different products so I headed out there after work last night.
I was all ready to buy Safer’s Trounce until the horticulturalist told me about End-All II, a concentrated product by the same company that is a miticide/insecticide/acaricide. It controls all stages of aphids, whitefly, scale, spider mites, and mealybugs on houseplants; and aphids, caterpillars, beetles and other listed insects on fruit trees, landscape trees, ornamentals, flowers, shrubs and vegetables. It’s a better product than Trounce as it contains an oil that is more effective against pests. It also said I could reapply it again in 10 – 14 days if the pests return, it could be used up until the day before harvest and I should wash my vegetables before consumption. I felt pretty confident about the product so I bought it, even though it was a bit pricey and way more than I needed:
I mixed it with water in a sprayer and headed out side.
Apparently striped cucumber beetles are more active during the evening and early morning, hiding out in cracks and crevasses in the soil during the heat of mid-day. So I was waging war at a good time. I sprayed the crap out of each damaged leaf in my garden, on top and underneath, all the way down to the stem as well as the newly germinated tray of replacement cucurbits that I thought I had tucked safely away in the house (I had found two beetles inside my house and immediately smooshed them).
I checked the leaves this morning and didn’t see any sign of any beetles. The day before I had seen about 4 or 5, but none this morning. Success!
Then I took the spray bottle and sprayed my Asiatic lilies (infested with red lily beetles) and gifted brugmansia (infested with spider mites) for good measure.
I’m crossing my fingers and hoping it works!
Infested!
June 10, 2008
Ahhhh! My garden has been infested with striped cucumber beetles! Here’s a picture of the damned bug:
I noticed them last night when I was inspecting my garden. There was a lot of leaf damage on all of my curcubits and I was trying to figure out what had done it. I scooped up two that were mating, took them to work and found out (to my dismay) that they are striped cucumber beetles. 
Here’s just a small sample of their destruction:
I read up on these little buggers and started to lose hope. After mating, females lay their eggs in the soil at the base of the plant. The larvae hatch in a week and begin feeding on the roots and stems of the plant. After two months they pupate and the adults start feeding on the vines, foliage, flowers and fruit of the plant. Not only that, these little f%@&#%* spread bacterial wilt to cucumbers and muskmelons. Prevention and non-chemical control involves rotating cucurbit crops each year, covering with floating row covers, applying a heavy mulch or picking them off by hand (difficult as these guys fly). The chemical option is to use Rotenone, something that I am loathe to do.
It’s looking like I’m going to have to rip these plants out and not have any fresh zucchini, cucumber or melons at my home garden this year.
UPDATE
I called a local organic gardening centre and they said to use Safer’s Trounce or to plant radishes near the area. I mentioned Rotenone and they said they don’t carry it anymore as it was linked to Alzheimer’s. So, Trounce it is!
Square Foot Gardening Update
June 20, 2007
I have now filled 7 spaces in my 8′ x 16′ garden with two bush tomatoes that I got from a plant exchange, one eggplant, two dill plants and two zucchini plants that I bought from a nursery. I have 20 more spaces to go and I think I’ll fill that up with 4 types of carrots, turnips, bush beans and spinach for a late harvest.
PLANT MURDER
I’m now down two spaces because of some unknown marauder who killed my Sensation zucchini and Suyo Long cucumber. Something just lopped off the top of my zucchini plant, leaving two leaves:
You can see the chopped off leaves above and to the right of the zucchini plant. Sadly, this plant sent up a huge flower and little baby leaves so it seems like it is still valiantly trying to grow. I’m not sure I have the heart to dig it up since it’s been trying to hard.
My prized Suyo Long cucumber plant which was decimated:
I had been looking forward to trellising this heirloom cucumber and now that dream has died. I may try to get a plant from my sister or my mom, both of whom had taken many of my extra cucumber plants.
ANTS
While I was weeding I noticed a number of ant hills in the garden, not too many though definitely more than I had noticed in previous years. Looking under the plastic grids that I had made out of mini-blinds I saw an ant highway with ant hill condos on either sides of the mini-blind with new developments on the way. I realized that the mini-blinds were creating a shelter for the ant hills from rain and my infrequent waterings. I pulled off the three grids that I had painstakingly made, roughed up the soil around each ant hill and flooded the garden with water.
They may have invaded my lawn but they will not invade my vegetable garden. It’s ant war.
Confusion Sets In
May 11, 2007
Last night I went to a free City of Ottawa seminar on organic lawn care. This is what I learned:
Compost for Your Lawn
The city has municipal compost for sale at their Trail Waste Facility. The prices seem pretty good and the compost is okay to use as it has gone through five stages of high heat that has killed off any potential weeds. I’m thinking of picking some up.
You can also use manure on the lawn as long as it has been aged and pasteurized so that the nitrogen doesn’t burn the grass.
Used coffee grinds are also a good fertilizing treatment for your lawn. It has an NPK rating of 4-1-3 and you can call your local coffee shop to pick them up in bulk. They may even have a waiting list that the shop cycles through each day.
Core-Aeration
If your grass is growing, you don’t need to core-aerate.
If you core-aerate in spring, it’s best to do it in early May. Be sure to rake up the cores of you will have a lumpy lawn. You will need to top-dress the lawn with compost ASAP so that the grass roots don’t dry out. Make sure the layer of compost is no thicker than your little finger or you’ll suffocate the grass.
It’s better to core-aerate in the fall when the days are warm and the nights are cool. This way, you can wait a weekend before you top-dress.
Grass seeding
Grass seeds like to germinate when the days are warm and the nights are cool, so preferably in fall. If you have to put it down earlier, do it in spring. Buy premium grass seed and check to see if there is a weed count (1% or more is no good). After you’ve spread the grass seed, press it down into the lawn with a board to ensure good contact between the seed and the soil or you can use a roller. Grass seed takes three weeks to grow.
Rye grass germinates quicker than Kentucky Bluegrass. Kentucky Bluegrass is actually from Mongolia and turns blue as it goes dormant.
Don’t over-seed a healthy lawn.
For deep watering in the spring and fall, water the grass 1″ once a week. Use a soaker hose spread horizontally halfway down your lawn from your house. Turn the hose on a low flow at night before you go to bed and remember to turn it off in the morning. Be sure that no water has drained off the end of your property – if it has, reduce the flow of water. Using a trowel, dig down into the end of your property to see if the lawn has been watered at least 1″. Adjust your low-flow accordingly.
In the summer, use an oscillating sprinkler at the highest heat of the day and water 1/8″ to ¼” to drop the temperature of the grass blades so the grass won’t go dormant.
The shorter you cut the grass, the shorter the grass roots will be.
Corn Gluten Meal
Corn gluten meal (CGM) is both a pre-emergent herbicide and a natural source of nitrogen fertilizer. It inhibits the germination of ALL seeds so it’s not a good idea to apply it when you are trying to grow grass. CGM comes in a fine yellow powder or a golden pelleted product. The pellets are better as they are easier to apply and are effective up to 6 weeks.
Apply CGM three times a year: from mid-April to mid-May to control the germination of weed seeds from the previous fall, in mid-August to mid-September to control the weed seeds that blow in late May and in mid-September to late October to prevent weed root systems from establishing before winter.
There’s a lot of references out there that says you should not use CGM after the forsythia blooms, however, only use this guide if you are trying to control crab grass. You can still use CGM until mid-May to control dandelions. It is better to get the CGM down on your lawn sooner as it becomes more effective as is decomposes. CGM depletes phosphorous in the upper layer of grass and the protein stops root growth.
Turf Maize is the patented CGM supply in Canada, however, it is the same product as you would get at any coop or feed store. It’s also cheaper.
Mulch
Don’t buy pine bark nuggets as your mulch for the garden as all the nooks and crannies provide the perfect shelter for earwigs and slugs. Composted pine mulch is much better.
Nematodes
The nematodes that you get at garden centres are used to kill insects, like white grubs, in your lawn. These are microscopic worms that attack and kill insects by entering the insects’ body and releasing bacteria, which kill the host in several days. They then feed on the body and reproduce inside of it. There are two kinds of nematodes in the package that you get from the garden centre: steinernema and heterorhabditis. Steinernema is an “ambush” nematode and waits in one spot for suitable insects to move close to it. They like a soil temperature of a minimum of 15° C. Heterorhabditis nematodes are “cruiser” killers that go in search of insects and are really effective against sedentary white grubs. They like a soil temperature of 18 – 20° C.
Keep in mind that the white grub damage that you see in spring actually started last fall.
Here’s how to handle and apply nematodes to your lawn:
- Buy nematodes from a garden centre. They will be located in a sponge in a bag in the fridge.
- Open the bag and take a whiff. A bad smell means that they’re decaying and no good.
- Take them directly home and put them in your fridge.
- Remove thick thatch from your lawn and ensure there is no high nitrogen, herbicide or fungicide has been applied recently
- Ensure the soil is moist, not wet.
- Open the bag and put the sponge in water. Don’t let the sponge sit in water for more than 2 hours or you will drown the nematodes.
- Apply to the lawn using hose-end sprayers, watering cans or small-pressure sprayers. Make sure you don’t have a small-holed screen on your hose, as the nematodes will be filtered out.
- Apply nematodes in the morning, dusk or on an overcast day as they will be damaged if exposed to UV rays. Increase the rate of application of nematodes if you are trying to combat white grubs and your box of nematodes contains steinernema nematodes. This type of nematodes is ineffective in killing white grubs.
- Once applied, wash the nematodes down into the grass layer with a hose.
Ants in the Lawn
Too many ants in your lawn will damage grass roots and dehydrate the soil. Ants like hot and dry soil so be sure to water the area where they are present as well as put down coffee grounds or organic compost. To get rid of the ants you need to kill the queen. Diatomaceous earth takes a long, long time to be taken into the colony to the point where it may touch the queen. It’s better to use Borax-based baits.
To make Borax-based bait:
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Borax (the stuff you add to your laundry)
Mix together and put in a small plastic container with a lid and small holes on the bottom.
So, Now What?
After talking to the presenters, here is my NEW plan of action:
- Spread corn gluten meal ASAP.
- Weed the dandelions with a digger on an on-going basis, preferably after it has rained.
- Spread coffee grounds and compost to increase the organic matter of the soil.
- Water the lawn 1″ once a week with a soaker hose overnight.
- Spread corn gluten meal in mid-June.
- Water the lawn 1/8″ with a sprinkler at the highest heat of the day.
- Spread corn gluten meal in mid-August. Check to see if the bare patches have grown in with grass.
- If not, at the end of August, top dres the lawn with compost or bagged topsoil.
- Spread grass seed.
- Water the lawn 1″ once a week with a soaker hose overnight.
I got a lot of printed material from last night’s seminar. I plan to go through them over the weekend to see if there’s anything I’m missing for my situation. For more information I can call the Avoid Chemical Pesticides hotline at 613-724-4227. I’ve already left a message in hopes of answering these questions:
- Should I put down compost first and then put down corn gluten meal to help cover up the 10-3-3 fertilizer that I’ve already put down?
- If coffee grounds have an NPK value of 4-1-3, won’t that interfere with the effects of the CGM?
- How ineffective will the CGM be since I’ve already put down 10-3-3 organic fertilizer? Should I put down more CGM for this spring’s application?
When I went to Make It Green, I thought I had a plan. I put down organic garden soil and fertilizer as I was told that I was already past the window of opportunity for CGM. Now I’m told that CGM is still effective now against dandelions and that you need to put it down sooner to fight crabgrass.
See? Confusion. I want to kill those greedy dandelions and also those insufferable ants. Can my two desires work together? I’ll let you know.
The Lawn
May 7, 2007
After further consultation, I have decided against corn gluten meal (CGM) for this spring as I’m past the window of opportunity for spreading it. I plan on using it in the fall before the grass goes dormant. My lawn is in bad shape with many dandelions, ants, patchy areas and clover. After talking to one of the very helpful horticulturalists at Make It Green, I had a plan. Here’s a list of stuff I did get:
- Weed Hound
- Chemfree’s Insectigone ant killer (a powder containing diatomaceous earth)
- four 30 litre bags of organic garden soil
- organic spring lawn fertilizer, NPK rating of 10-3-3
- Eternal Green’s classic grass seed with mycorrhizae
Day 1: I wandered around the lawn dusting any anthills with ant killer. I’d crouch down, send a poofy spray of powder and watch the ants freak out. Diatomaceous earth is a sedimentary rock that is crumbled to a fine, white powder. This powder absorbs lipids from the bodies of ants, causing them to dehydrate. They did react to it once I put it down and there were no ants outside the anthills after a couple of hours.
I also gave my WeedHound a test drive, however, the results were not optimal as the ground was dry. I am now waiting for the first rain to soften the ground to make weeding easier.
Day 2: Checked up on the areas where I had sprayed the ant killer and was surprised to see ants rebuilding their homes. Those little bugs just won’t die.
Day 3: My boyfriend gave the front and back lawn a hard raking while I followed and sprinkled the four bags of organic garden soil. There was a lot of dead grass. We dumped the organic lawn fertilizer into the spreader that we borrowed for free from the garden centre and made two passes over the lawn from side to side and top to bottom.
Upcoming: I decided to wait on spreading the grass seed, as there’s still a chance of frost in my zone. The grass seed I bought is a Canada’s #1 mix (which is a premium mix) with mycorrhizae, an organic fungi. It also has less Kentucky Bluegrass which bugs apparently really like. In a few days I’ll overseed the lawn with the grass seed and water it to encourage growth. I’ll also give it a light raking to help mix the grass seed into the soil.
