Each morning and afternoon, i hand pick small caterpillar off the leaves of the brug. Now, most of the brugs have buds. what i do not understand is... in the afternoon, i see the buds fresh and looking good. the following morning, when i check to pick up or remove caterpillars, i see part of the bud's stem cut off and all dried up. in a heart beat, the bud drop off. can someone pls. tell me what is wrong with this picture? appreciate whatever help i can get.
it couldn't be the heat, cause i water morning and afternoon. most of the brugs are planted on the ground. i do mist the brugs, to allow the caterpillar to surface, otherwise, it is so difficult to find them.
this afternoon, i tried spraying water mix with alcohol and a tiny drop of Palmolive dish soap. will observe again what happens in the morning. TIA... ma vie
What causes buds to dry and fall off
A few of my brug buds fall off too. Don't know why. I just this morning picked off the finished flowers from my Dr. Seuss....it had a flush of 137 blooms this time, but they only lasted for 5 days in the full sun.
Owen
thanks for responding Owen. somehow the water/alcohol/soap combination helped. this morning all the buds i saw last night were intact. caterpillars were dead as i pick them.
i inquired from somebody prior to posting. he/she didn't know what to tell me either. he/she suggested i post this inquiry, so someone in the know can/will help understand this mystery.
MaVie, the caterpillars do it. There is one kind that seems to hatch out of the buds, causing them to turn brown.
Thanks Cala. the caterpillar i see around here are so small, about 1/2" long, very thin like a needle. they are so hard to see. unlike the caterpillar on the tomatoes are gigantic in comparison.
i will just continue spraying the water/alcohol/soap combination. somehow it seems to help some. some of the caterpillar were dead when i picked them this morning. a few were alive, but i deal with it, so long as i see them with my naked eye.
the Eric White u shared with me is now nearly 6' tall. no sign of buds, but has multiple Y on Y's. thanks u so much for sharing.
Why don't you try BT, MA Vie? it is specific to caterpillars. I just sprayed my top of the brug that was getting eaten alive and they stopped!!!
I leave BT in a hand sprayer all mixed up and then it is ready to go on a moments notice and I just spray where I see damage on my petunias or whatever.........
Kelley,
i live in an isolated area, where things aren't available most of the time. i have tried several times to find BT locally, no one even heard of it. often times when i try to find something around here, people at the store looks at me as though i've lost it LOL!!! afar from looking oriental, probably they think i am out of my mind. oh well :).
btw... enjoy the Vietnamese festival in ur neighborhood. good eats!!!! u definitely will stick out cause most Asian do love to pamper their visitors. i hope ur hungry when u visit. enjoy!!! one of my favorite Vietnamese dish is PHO - a noodle soup to die for.
I love Vietnamese(and Thai) cooking!! I go with a friend to a local restaurant.
Ma Vie-I will send you some BT. I just bought an extra bottle at the discount table at HD, it is very small. I think I paid $3. I ran across some of the amaryllis belladonna bulbs today so I picked them up for you also so you do not have to wait till mine stop flowering.............. I guess I will get another package off to you.......... did any of the brugs I send die? I can resend .............
Well Cala, you should live here! We have a huge Vietnamese and Thai population and some great restaurants! In fact we have large populations of just about everything! Makes for the best restaurants!
Ma Vie, I just love pho........... and noodle bowls. I have been trying to figure out how they make that sweet sauce for the bar be que chicken and pork. I have tried recipes from the web but just can't get it right!
We had Chinese last night, not the good kind(it was buffet) but they have lots of seafood. Jody took us to one in Md last year, it was yummy!! Real food!!
does BT go bad? I have a bottle from about 2-3 years ago. I think this is one reason I don't have more flowers than I do. I've found quite a few fallen tiny buds.
Kelley,
the tops dried off, but i made cuttings off the bottom of all the cuttings u sent me. planted them the log style [2 nodes to each cutting, buried it about 1" deep. hopefully they will pick up. the CG is doing great! the rest i do not know. am keeping my fingers crossed though. Monday i will send reinbursement for the BT and postage. thanks a lot.
so far the best barbecue sauce i've made is Japanese style. take about 2 tbsp Tamari soy sauce, 4 slivers of fresh ginger, 1 tbsp honey. marinate overnight. broil ur chicken the usual way. once chicken is almost done, brush the marinate on the cooked chicken. i will have to find some of my recipe, and send them to u on email.
i have to ask my son the name of the restaurant he takes me to for Dimsum in San Leandro. they are good. whenever i go to Menlo Park, we usually go there on Sundays. soon as i find out i will let u know. it is around the shopping mall where Costco is located. i will get back with u on that.
Thanks Kelley :)!!
Dim Sum in San leandro??? Let me know..............
I wonder why the tops dried off? You got htem quick. Did the double white do that also? I can cut you a bigger piece.
Wait to send me $$ until you get package.
tiG, I do not know if it gets old. I would think if you keep the bottle tightly closed and do not dilute it will last along time. I am using a bottle I have had for a long time. I find if I just spray from a hand squeezed spray directly on the problem area instead of using the hose end sprayer, it lasts along time and gets rid of the problem also. It is called focused solutions!!
yes, except the CG. all tops did dry off. next time i think i will do the coke bottle method. the bottom part of the bottle is where i will fill with perlite and peat moss, cover the planted cutting with the top of the bottle to preserve the humidity. i guess the heat here is just too much for the cuttings to take.
ok, i will wait. thanks again Kelley.
oh so they did not come dry but got dry? So where is Hesperia, Ma Vie? Sounds like a name that would be in a Sci fi flick.
Maybe I should root them for you first or at least get knobbies like the CG had.
the cuttings came fresh. if u think it is hot where u are now, how about 110 degrees F., and constant dry winds blowing @ 15- 25 miles/hr. the very reason why i have to water twice a day, and mist the plants close to noon time. this is the 1st yr. we max at 110 deg. our winter goes down to 10 degs. F. very little snow during the months of Feb. - April.
Hesperia is in the Upper Desert of So California. south of Victorville, north of Big Bear along I-15. if u are familiar with Cajon Pass - where I-15 is carved along the mountain side, with scenic view like Rock Candy Mountains. Hesperia if not mistaken is 3 miles south of Cajon Pass. here's mapquest map ... http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?zoom=4&mapdata=jZ2g%2b%2fXW8V%2fPoejxtym%2fbbJJ%2bXFJWtCwSnh0xieSBEWGs5wypE3r1s6fQlfXhMcKdU6maDuCFPV9klVCy3%2fZCPrPi46yF2SmHq2zfJYwy%2fGLoelgFoXunrGuoRJzQvTDlGFlFrD7UjzH1UCgo1Gs3x8aXaxcYHenA6osIfsNx%2bjsa2J64hNug0uNpw6Wbfx%2fcXHVggYKc7zKGRjddMH5GE3tP4RiPN6g309a3fm8JBnv5du%2bx58Jgt%2fbuOMpW8kJXK7HR9ZjAufMLPFBf0colrOMSdlKN5Z97ga08lqpjnY%3d
yeah basing on the surrounding dry desert, u can say it is like a Sci fi scenery LOL! lots of harsh sand and big boulders. lots of rocks around too.
well all I can say is.....WHY OH WHY DO YOU LIVE THERE??? it does NOT sound like a gardeners paradise!!! You are fighting an uphill battle Ma Vie....more courage to you!
PS more than the name sounds like a sci fi now.............
by the map, it looks like you are not that far from Pomona. we were there 3 years ago when our boy was looking at colleges. We were looking at Harvey Mudd. A great, small school. it is part of the Claremont Colleges, the engineering part.
i happen to like Hesperia cause we are smog free. 360 days of sunshine. air is clean, night skies is awesome, stars are so clear, and moon seems to be within arm's reached. got tired of city life. yeah Pomona is on the other side of the mountains, but it is so smoggy down there. Hesperia is 3,897' above sea level.
maybe not a gardener's paradise but with little bit of know how i can surely meet each plant's basic requirements. it doesn't really make any difference, where we are, so long as plant's needs are taken into consideration, plants will grow. :)!
well said Ma Vie...........go for it!!!
i am trying my very best Kelley :). gardening in Los Angeles was a cinch. here it is too challenging, but i won't allow anything to deter me. gardening is my sole consolation these days. after all the trials and tribulations, i've been through, gardening sure helped me to stay afloat... it is my life saver and keep me out of trouble too LOL!!!