Green thumb is itching, anyone else?

[rancher hicks]

I seem to recall something about running a wire up the inside of the vine to kill the larve and I tried that but it didn't work. Perhaps it was piercing the area where the borer is? Mine has a split in the vine and I tried sticking the wire into that area but it was hard.

If I can find some pea seed or beans I may just rip out the pepper plants. Not sense wasting water and time.

 

[galanie]

You can also split open the vine lengthwise with a sharp knife and kill the worm, then cover that spot with mulch. But then the damage is already done and I feel like it's not worth the bother.

 

[rbynnbird]

Thanks queen chick! i will keep that in mind! is there anything else i can do about the borers? i know there is nothing i can do about it this year but my garden isn't all that big so i don't think i can move them far enough away from the affected area.

 

[rbynnbird]

gelanie, i didn't know that they would sprout more roots if you buried part of the vine! very interesting! Thanks for the info everyone!

 

[galanie]

Yeah, so long as it's the long running vines they will. I mulch heavily with organic mulches so mine pretty much end up covered here and there with mulch. Right now I am getting my second crop of cantaloupes from "rerooted" vines lol.

 

[rancher hicks]

Galanie, do you or someone you know in the houston area sell eggs?

DD and hers live in the Woodlands area and are looking to buy pastured or organic eggs from a local farm.

 

[rbynnbird]

Ahh!!!!! i just plucked 5 hornworms off my tomato plant!!! i am soo afraid there are more but i can't do any more searching until the storm passes!!! Nasty evil creatures!

 

[rancher hicks]

I haven't seen a horn worm in years here on my tomatoes. I wonder if Sevin would be good for those. Or just some plain DE.

I did put some pepper plants yesterday and will do the rest. To much nitrogen so I've read. I will have to figure out how to even things out with the chicken manure being so high in nitrogen.

The nitrogen is good for greens like lettuce and it doesn't seem to have harmed the tomatoes any.

Oh and I do need to add some peat moss to the beds too.

 

[Kassaundra]

I have only found one hornworm this year, very unusual for my area.

 

[albert w]

I guess the only good thing about my drought-stricken garden is that the pests, like hornworm, didn't even bother with my garden. Those things really, truly gross me out. In California there was a bug called a Jarusalem cricket (I think) and those were also big and nasty.