There are no ants. It was the poor egg tree that had them the worst. It wasn't even housed with the confederate rose. I used neem oil first. It didn't do much. It still took three applications of Safer to kill them. I thought aphids were white? They are black too? I'm no bug pro. The only one I know for sure is white flies. They love my crapes.
Fireside chat... Part 4 Dreaming of spring...
I just took a look at aphids in the bug files and they are definately not aphids. You can't see the legs of these bugs. They remind me of miniscule lady bugs only in black/dark gray. I mean they are the size of a really small freckle.
A nice warm GH is a heaven for the bugs. Noticed that my tropical hibiscus have aphids on their tips with ants. Have not found any scale in there yet. I hate chemicals but may be forced to get the spray cranked up and go on a killing spree.
My many different types of EE's are not dormant so will have a good head start for spring. The tropical hibiscus are getting tall and lanky but always trim back a good bit and try to root the cuttings. The hydrangea cuttings are doing well, as are the brugs.
Wishing for spring and getting things out of the bug hotel.
D
I don't have a gh but I use the shop/shed to put my plants in for the winter. I have noticed an increase in bug population also and ready for spring. We got some grow lights for the shop lights this year and it seems to have really helped. I still have begonias blooming. I have only lost a couple of plants so far and they weren't looking too good before moving them in. The only pain is the watering, the drip pans are causing gnats, etc. I think I will use a fogger in there when I move the plants out, or maybe before.
You can kill aphids with a concoction of soap, ammonia, rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle. I use about 1 good squirt of liquid dish soap, 1 capful of ammonia, 1 cap full of rubbing alcohol, and the rest water in my squirt bottle. It works very well. You can also add a bit of liquid molasses to the mixture for extra 'ooph'.
Crank up that fire!! It's cold here today!
Sheila, try putting out little saucers of apple cider vinegar with a drop or 2 of liquid dish soap. This attracts the gnats. They get a sip and die from the soap and vinegar combo. I've also used the tops of pill bottles and lids from butter tubs and the like.
When I moved this past summer I discovered a couple of generic kalanchoes in a flower bed. Just little fellas but healthy. I dug them up and stuck them in a couple of pots and there they have stayed. They are in the wagon w/other indoor plants I keep outside during the summer and are blooming a beautiful dark pink. My question is do kalanchoes like shade, part shade or what? I would like to go ahead and plant these pretty soon but I don't know what conditions they favor. Thanks in advance for your answers.
Ann
They like SUN and lots of it! They're also kin to cactus and succulents, so don't overwater them. They are extremely easy to root from the leaves or any other part; just poke it in some soil and you'll soon have another plant.
I keep my pots out on the deck in pretty much full sun. In fact the ones that get more sun are healthier and bloom more. They like water, but don't like to sit in it. I agressively trim them back when they get lanky.
Stephanie....Thanks for the tip, I will try that this week.
oops....cross posted!
This message was edited Jan 27, 2009 8:07 AM
Thanks, y'all!! Like I said, they were hidden in there and surviving and healthy but definitely on the tiny side altho they have good thick stems. I'm going to get those things in the front (southeast facing) bed today if possible. I take it they like the cool weather but what happens in the hot weather? Do they die back or what?
Ann
They LOVE the hot weather! I'd leave them inside until a bit later on.
OK, thanks. There are some people (like me, for instance) who should never be let lose w/a plant. I don't know how those plants got in the other flower bed or anything. Glad I asked before doing anything. Thanks, stephanietx!!
Ann
Sounds like you still have them outside in a bed? Down in your area they may survive, but up here they would die when we had a hard freeze. We have to pot them and bring them inside up here.
They are still in their little pots and they are brought into the garage when we are due for a freeze or thereabouts.
Thanks.
Ann
LOL Lynnea! I have this image of one of those sticky fly traps stuck onto your head!
I have some little plants in the windowsill above my sink and I put the little pill bottle thing out frequently. It works when you bring home fruit flies from the grocery store, too.
Blkraven,
I think you better get busy making those wonderful crafts, because you are going to get lots of trade offers. You better bring a truck or trailer because you will take home lots of plants. I am looking forward to meeting you. Welcome to our group of planters nuts.
Charlene
Hi Charlene....OK you made me look..LOL!! Where is Blackraven and the crafts???
Sheila, here is where I meant to post that message. Leave it to me to get crossed up. LOL
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/945176/
Hehehe....I figured it was another thread. I had a lot of catching up to do on that one. Thanks.
Well, here we are 21 degrees this morning and frozen solid, another boring day.
Hopefully it will thaw by this afternoon.
Josephine,
I popped my head out and snapped this just now. Not going to be getting out anytime soon! Crunchy ice pellets and freezing rain has covered everything.
Yes, one good thing is the sun is shining, so it won't be so dreary!!!
Wow! It didn't get this far thankfully. Never dropped to freezing just 1/4 inch of cold rain. Looking at that ice, I suspect you will help keep the fire going today! Good thing the wood is stacked near the door. 8 ) Have a good one...
Yep, I am just now seeing it too!! Hopefully it will melt some of this before too many people venture out.
I went to the Stock Show Rodeo one year not expecting anything but a cold rain, and when we came out it had coated the parking lot with 1/4" of ice. It was a nightmare trying to get off of the parking lot alone. I am sure that is what happened to a lot of folks last night.
Yeah, Pod you need to start another fire for us!!
This message was edited Jan 28, 2009 8:10 AM
No freeze here. I'm not sure what the temps reached last night, but it's very cool out this morning, thermometer now shows mid 30's, but it feels warmer than that to me. I've refilled all the bird feeders and they are swarming them this morning. I've had the woodpeckers at a peanut butter log. They seem to prefer regular peanut butter over the suet cakes I've got out. Nothing much touching the suet, other than squirrels.
That ice looks tough. I'm glad I'm not in it. I hope you all stay warm and snug today and that everyone with GH's had the heat set just right last night.
Crow
We have ice all over the sheets I spread on the flower beds....in the high 20's. Rain turned to ice around midnight. DH called from Illinois this morning, where it's currently -1, to tell me NOT to go out in the car until the roads clear.... Well gosh...don't know if that's sweet or controlling!
No exageration , there must be at least 100 finch directly outside my window. We have 3 finch feeders and 3 song bird feeders. They are in all six of them and more in the tree and bushes. Wish I knew where they go at night. Have a mix of Northern Cardinal and Pyrrhuloxia sometimes called Western Cardinal. So beautiful in the ice covered Banksia rose and the sun on them. Dove and Dark eyed Junco on the ground. Tufted titmouse and black-capped chickadee. Occassionally a couple of Blue Jays at the fountain. And of course, the wrens. They all seem to be very satisfied to let others eat at the same table. That is except for the finch and they will fight each other.
That is really wonderful Christi, I wish I could say the same, but we stopped setting out birdseed when it started to get too expensive, now we let them eat the fruits and seeds on the plants in the yard, although I miss the big show.
You wondered where they go at night, probably to some clump of evergreens for shelter.
If you have a live oak or Cherry laurels or any evergreen they are probably there.
We planted an area in our yard by the compost pile in evergreens and it serves as a great shelter for them.
Josephine.
The neighbors behind us have a row of cherry laurel and I have 3 yaupon holly and a photinia that we trained into a tree. All of them have very dense foliage. Just now watching a mockingbird have breakfast on the yaupon holly tree on the deck. Love it, love it. Just as long as he/she doesn't run off my other birds.
Christi
Good to know you have shelter for them, they need that too.
Just a little ice here this morning.
Sheila_FW, Love that yard/garden view. Is the out building a pottery workshop by any chance?
Jerry
I just went out to feed the birds and put trash out. I walked across the St. Aug. grass and it was still crunchy under my feet. The plants all are coated with a wet icy glaze so I know they will be fine when everything warms up. A wet freeze is always better on them than a dry one.
I went to the shop to get the seeds and opened the door and my two cats were snuggled up to the radiant heater one on each side! LOL! They have company I think we have seen several stray cats in our yard the last few days. I don't mind as long as they don't try to run ours off. But when it gets warmer, I will be catching them and taking them to a shelter. Mine never leave the backyard and are old, but I don't want more.
Sorry cross posted Jerry. No the out building is my DH's woodshop and my potting shed. We used to do a lot of woodcrafting and had a booth in Coomers Craft Mall for about 10 years (all before we retired!). We just recently put in the floating deck. I use it for my caterpillars / butterflies in the spring/summer now too. Right now it has grow lights in three of the fixtures and all the outside baskets/pots in there. They are doing fairly well too.
That sure looks nice Sheila.
Thanks, it looks so much better than when you visited last!
We were very fortunate to have missed the ice last night. Our low was 34°. I had the GH heater on. It was a comfy 54° in there. Will have to put it on tonight probably. It's supposed to be colder tonight.
I woke up to a morning glory bloom this morning that just started my day right. It is a new one for me and I had no idea what it would look like.
I have had a fire going in my wood stove since yesterday afternoon. The cold has a bite to it. The sorry part of it all was, we woke up to 60° yesterday morn. I hated to see the temp drop. I was glorying in the 60 temps.
I like your deck Sheila, that is nice.
My birds have been eating heavily all day. Most of mine sleep in the 20 ft tall photinias that line our carport. We hear them at night. They fuss at us when we come home after dark. The wrens will sleep in the carport rafters. I love my wrens. They are so comical. I feed everything, including stray cats. I just enjoy caring for them. I used to work in an animal hospital. Best job I ever had. Hardest job I ever had too. But I love animals and taking care of them was rewarding. Taking care of their parents was too. ^_^
Researched bird houses today. Boy, was that an eye opener. I, too, love the little wrens but it seems they are not the best of the best. They will pierce the eggs of others, roll the little ones out of the nest and even kill them. There all kinds of gadgets to try to steer them away from bluebirds and chickadees. The male builds several nests and tries to get a female to choose one. By the time I got through reading I just decided not get a bird house at all and let them do the natural thing. Did buy another feeder and two more bags of Scott's Song Bird no mess seed. That will make a total of 7 feeders. Also have youpon holly, burford holly, and cherry laurel and photinia for feed.....and a fountain that we keep running all of the time.
My wrens build wherever they want. They have nested in my hanging begonia, kindling bucket, birdhouse and geranium. I have to remove the kindling bucket because it's too low to the ground. A snake got the one and only nest built there. I empty the kindling bucket when they start nesting. I have had only bluebirds build in my bluebird box, than goodness. The chickadees like the wren houses. The wrens don't build in the wren houses. They have built in an old slapped together house with a hole big enough for a bird twice their size. Go figure.
I have 12 feeders and three suet holders. I also have ground feeders that I throw seed on the ground for. I'm nuts for birds and the squirrels that come to feed. When the Orioles migrate through I will have the Oriole feeder out and orange halves and grape jelly. Then when the hummers come I will have three feeders up. I have so many plants for them I don't need all the feeders up for them.
I don't have a fountain for the birds, just three baths that get filled daily. I am rewarded for all the efforts. My grandbaby and I enjoy watching all the birds eat. Right now I have over 25 cardinals and their red is so pretty against the gray sky and bare branches. They brighten the day. I go through a bunch of sunflower seed to say the least, between the cardinals and other birds. The millet is gobbled up pretty quickly too.
I always enjoy reading thru y'alls posts at the end of my day. Fun to hear what is going on around the state. I hope everyone survived the ice safely. I chuckled when I saw the photo of Sheilas' lovely deck. My first confused thought was ~ where'd the ice go? LOL
I only have two large hopper feeders and use black oil seed. The birds are devouring it. I have to fill each one every other day. For the past two weeks, we have gone thru a 50# sack a week. That is a bunch of sunflower seeds! Zillions of tiny birds. DH is just fascinated to sit and watch one feeder that a friend built for us. The hopper is hardware cloth and it is so covered with little birds that you can't see how full it is. Amazing! It surely does get pricey but Tractor Supply is still at 19.95 for 50#. The frenzied feeding season will be short so I'll keep feeding my bird friends.
LouC ~ I gave up on bird houses too. The only ones I've tried fill up with wasps and one had flying squirrels move it. Never a birdy... lol
Crowelli ~ you mentioned a peanut butter log. Purchased or did you make it? I get an occasional ladderback woodpecker at the feeders but would like to provide for them too.
And yes, we have the fire going. I think I'll go sit by it... have a good evening!