Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Folly's place]

So true!

 

[Dreamzchaser]

Happy 4th Everyone!
From these little four!

Hope you are all enjoying your family and friends and of course also your animals,lol

Can't sleep well worrying about the chicken run smelling like chicken nuggets,lol So up early and was out before the auto door opened. Weeded around the tomatoes and peppers and put more straw and grass clippings. Was done by 733am to the noise of Lil'Mama and checked and she had them all out. They scratch, the dusted,and Pitbull and Baby'Mama was with them. I kept watch and they accepted the chicks and it was nice. I took them back out to give mama and babies their space. However, they are all by the division wanting to be together. Just need to make sure they will be fine.

@troyer very sad. I left a beautiful set of planters out last winter that I wanted by the coop in the shape of boots and they broke. Hope to glue them somehow one day,lol

Well, time to shower and try to get some sleep. Long day ahead tomorrow.

Love you all!
~Hugs~and~Kisses~

 

[Sally PB]

I went out with the watering can to wet down the dirt in the chicken run. The chickens ran for the coop, because it Was So Scary. Silly chickens. I made sure to dampen their favorite lounging spots, so they'd be cooler.

The 1/4" of rain we got last night was greatly appreciated. I'd appreciate some more... hint hint, Mother Nature...

 

[aart]

The 1/4" of rain we got last night was greatly appreciated.

Bummer.
We got .9" here.
My buddy a bit farther south got 1.78"

Garage flooded due to most that total falling within an hour or so.
My drains can just not handle that rate.

Rain not really appreciated by me personally what with the tractor mower being down,
not to mention the leap in humidity that feelslikeshit.

 

[Folly's place]

We had 0.7" last night, very needed. More rain would be good, not 3" though!
It's just too hot/ humid to do much of anything outside today, again.
Mary

 

[troyer]

We got a bit over 3" of rain. The ground is thoroughly saturated. We really needed it, the creek was down by a good 10" and everywhere on high ground that didn't get irrigation was quickly turning brown and crackly. It must be something about the rain that released these beetles, there’s hundreds of them in the pasture area. They are approximately 3/4” long.

 

[saysfaa]

...It must be something about the rain that released these beetles, there’s hundreds of them in the pasture area. They are approximately 3/4” long.

I'm glad you got the rain you needed!

But For the beetles. That is a Japanese beetle. We had thousands of them for the last two years. We picked them off plants at the rate of over a hundred per picking session - three to many sessions per day.

They are an invasive species (nothing native in the US will keep them in check naturally).

After the first year, I found a few references to four o'clock flowers as a control. They are supposed to taste better to the beetles than many garden plants and, although they don't dent the numbers the first year, they cause some sort of disruption so there are fewer of the beetles the next year. It is too early to tell yet.

Just this morning, I read that a geranium attracts them, they will eat it, and it kills them. The book listed a certain geranium cross but didn't say the others don't work. I'll look up which cross when I get home tomorrow.

 

[Sally PB]

It is officially Japanese Beetle hunting season now. I will be going out every afternoon and catching as many as I can, and feeding them to the chickens. They've just started coming out, so my harvest is only about 40. I'll get more than 100/day in about a week.

I have a personal vendetta against JBs. They killed my hazelnut trees about 10 years ago. And the larvae chomp on roots underground, so they are horrid in all phases of their life.

 

[Sally PB]

Today I got only about 30 JBs. I think the weather is the reason. It was cooler, cloudy, and fairly breezy. Yesterday was sunny, less breeze, and warmer.

Last year I caught gobs of them on the wild grapevine that grows out in the field. The vines are smaller now than they were at this time last year (dry weather?) and I'm not finding as many JBs on them.

 

[saysfaa]

...Just this morning, I read that a geranium attracts them, they will eat it, and it kills them. The book listed a certain geranium cross but didn't say the others don't work. I'll look up which cross when I get home tomorrow.

Pelargonium x hortorum