Hi,
Kyle came today and took a look at the brugs. It could be a couple of things: 1. Might have a worm that is eating the wood around the trunk at the soil line. 2. My soil is holding too much water. The ground out around the brugs is even looking a little green.
Kyle suggest that I scratch up the soil around the trunk, apply a fungicide, and I will also put some diazinon around the area. Will hold back on watering until they look like they are starving for water. Now I wish I had not used the watersorb crystals, but since they are down low, and I didn't use a huge amount of them, I know they aren't the water retention problem. Kyle took cuttings of several of the brugs, so if I lose them, I'll have him to fall back on for some of them. I'm going to take my own cuttings when the temps. lower a bit too. Also am going to spray BT for the cats. We found one plant that had several on it, just munching away.
Okay, I know you are all wondering......YES, I did fix lunch for him. I don't generally cook at noon, but he got a good meal today. Fixed a pork roast, potatoes, carrots, and cabbage around it. Also fixed a big pot of beans from the garden and had some tomatoes and coleslaw. Don't know what all he ate, but at least it was better than last time. Heck, anything would be better than a Pepsi.
Thanks so much Kyle for coming down to help ease the tension I have been under. Also for IDing all my Dr. Suess plants. Didn't have any idea I had so many of them. Hope you got home okay. Now, go get that grocery shopping done. :-)
Kyle's visit.
Ms Brugie, i hope that clears everything up. i'm glad eclipse came to your rescue. and i hope you have left overs tonight, don't be cooking again!!!!! in a way it seems to me kind of lucky that your soil holds water, mine holds water jut like beach sand and has just about as many nutrients i think. maybe next year you can do a raised bed for your brugs and treat the soil around it with something bad.
i have been putting my cats on frosty pinks... i have so many butterflies. someone laid a million eggs on my milkweed too. i love the zebra long wing and the fritllaries. and every kind of butterfly i think is laying eggs on my brugs now.
No way am I cooking again tonight. May have to call our nephew and his son to come help eat the leftovers. Can't really do much this afternoon since it is so hot. Will work tonight, but do have to go out and see if I can do something about the fire ants Kyle's friend found while they were here. Always something to create more work for me.
so glad he is close enough to come help! but you didn't take a picture of you two!!!!
lunch sounds like it was wonderful!!!!!
Glad, that Kyle came to help you! Hmmmm, reading about the meal watered my mouth. Now I am going to bed, tasting but no having.
S.
How far does Kyle live from you? That was super of him to come to your house and check out your problem....super nice guy.
Ed & me will help with the leftovers. Would just love a tomato!
Hope this helped put your mind at rest, now you know what I just went through, with heat, spidermites and chemical spray, killing 7 of my precious brugs. I am better now, hope you are also!
no pun intended on what happened to ur brugs Shirley. sharing ur experience to everyone just prove what a great Family we have in DG Forums!!! Kyle coming over to give a helping hand, made it even better, and everyone joining in to give their own thoughts on the matter. Everyone pulling together, just goes to prove u are not alone. WHAT A GREAT FAMILY DG MEMBERS MAKE!!!!
hope everything goes well for u Shirley!!!
Thanks you all. Glory, Kyle lives about 40-45 miles from me. Sure glad he is around when I need him. All of you have been so helpful too. MVR, you are right. Everyone here pulls together just like family. Don't know what I would do with Daves.......Have to give Dave and Trish a lot of credit for what we all have gained from being here.
Even if I lose more brugs, I am hopeful that I'll have them covered by having cuttings. Won't help much for giving them away this fall, but one day I will have good named cuttings to trade to people who want to get started. Right now, and until I'm sure the plants have healthy material, I'd hate to send anything to anyone. Even if it isn't a disease, I'm just wanting to be safe.
Thanks for going through this with me. Helped to have you giving me words of encouragement.
Brugie...people are supposed to help each other...its our purpose.We all pull together when we need to.Just the way things are. Thanks again for a great time..lunch was great too! I loved the cole slaw..secret recipe?? :-)
Hope she sent you home with a people bag eclipse. It's a good thing you did.
Kyle, actually it is my secret recipe, but next time you are down I'll send some home with you or at the least will mail you the recipe. Pretty simple though.
We are having a storm here just south of us. That really tall Dr. Suess went over. I probably should have left it right where it was, but moved it to a safer location. Now, the way my luck has been running, the top will pop off of it.
Thanks again for coming down. Really appreciate you.
(((Hugs)))
brugie, is it the same thing that happened to the others, or did it fall over/?????
Brugie..the salsa is great..I'm busy working on it right now!YUM!The wind came thru here a while ago and knocked over all my plants too..[profanity removed] weather!! :-)
Brugie, you are too funny and too good! I am glad you told us what you fed Kyle. Here amidst your crisis you went to
the kitchen and cooked. I am impressed! You know I am pulling for your brugs! Thank God for a good friend like Eclipse.
Brugie . . Life is good and sometimes bad things happen and we realize even more how many loving and good people there are. If you need anything at all, I will be glad to help you in any way just as so many others are willing to help. I am so glad that Kyle lives relatively close and took time to come out and help you. What a wonderful guy he is!
Thanks you all, and he is a good friend, just as you all are.
tiG, the whole plant went over in the wind. It was in a pot. Only broke a few leaves. They can be pretty sturdy plants when conditions are right.
Kell, I couldn't do anything else with my time, so why not cook. Food always makes me feel better. Jim just said that the meal was to heavy for him for lunch. I agree, but couldn't NOT fix something for Kyle this trip.
Jeanne, the next meal will be a sandwich. Had to have our great nephew out last night to help eat the leftovers. Still threw stuff away and we had roast pork sandwiches for lunch today. More of it left, but the dog loves pork.
Frannie, I know you will be there if I need you. Hopefully, all the cuttings I took this morning will root and I'll be okay.
Kyle, hope you didn't have much damage. We lucked out here, must have just been that one big gust of wind that took the Dr. over on his side. Glad you like the salsa. I need to be making more of it today, but have 5 more quarts of blackberries from a friend to get cleaned up right now and into the freezer. I'm heading out right now to put some pot anchors into the ground. Can't have all those pots going over when they are full of bloom.
Have a good one everyone. I'll be thinking of you while I'm mowing the yard. Rest??? I don't think so. I'm almost ready to move to a small place with just enough room to plant my brugs and other flowers. Maybe a postage stamp patch of grass, and I'd be happy.
Brugie,
After we had this discussion on your post I had my brother come over and turn up soil in one of my beds where he had originally planted 3 brugs. I had him come back over about 6 weeks later as these were the only brugs not doing well. I potted those up and they then just took off.
We placed a sheet on the grass and he started digging and tossing the soil on the sheet. At a dept of about 1 foot the soil (clay)was sopping wet and yet the soil close to the surface was extremely dry. No wonder the plants were listless as their roots were continually wet and I was watering according to the condition of the soil on the surface. In addition the neigbour's cat uses this spot as litter.
I had a bag of vermiculite that I bought to try to root some small cuttings in. My brother dug another 6 inches and he mixed in the vermiculite. We've had so much rain the past week that the water just pools where he dug. I'll have to buy lots of sand and keep amending the soil before he puts the topsoil back.
clay and sand make bricks. add compost and/or peat moss.
TiG,
I added lots of sand to my back garden beds to break up the clay. The sand is necessary for drainage before you add either peat moss or compost. I do have a huge 40 gallon tub of vermicompost that is now ready so I can use it in that front bed. My brother came tonight and is staying over and promised to do some digging again tomorrow.