Garden pix

[Raven]

Originally Posted by saltwaterhabits

With all this rain I've got a bumper crop of slugs. The've chomped on green bean leaves , lettuce and decapitated my carrots.
I use diatamaceous powder to combat...any other suggestions ? thanks, Mike

=========================================
yep! slugs love beer ,,,, so buy the cheapest beer and leave some out there for them to drown in...

also you can lay old planks ,boards even card board raised up a half inch with sticks so they slugs can crawl under them... (on your paths) to easily trap them....use an old spatula to pop them off into a bucket of rock salt.
when you sprinkle salt on them they turn to foamy goo!

the very best defense though is a Muscovy duck usually quack-less
and they will eat every single one.

other than that, you have to go out at dark with a flashlight and salt them as you see them

diatomacious earth has silicon spears from dead marine life that is good for puncturing flies , but i don't think it's that good for slugs.

[saltwaterhabits]

Originally Posted by Raven

=========================================
yep! slugs love beer ,,,, so buy the cheapest beer and leave some out there for them to drown in...

also you can lay old planks ,boards even card board raised up a half inch with sticks so they slugs can crawl under them... (on your paths) to easily trap them....use an old spatula to pop them off into a bucket of rock salt.
when you sprinkle salt on them they turn to foamy goo!

the very best defense though is a Muscovy duck usually quack-less
and they will eat every single one.

other than that, you have to go out at dark with a flashlight and salt them as you see them

diatomacious earth has silicon spears from dead marine life that is good for puncturing flies , but i don't think it's that good for slugs.

Will set-up the beer traps tomorrow. Had not planed on going the salt routine but went out today and found ALL my emerging corn plants wiped out.
I'm taking this personal....SALT

[bloocrab]

Professor, I may have asked you this in the past but I couldn't find it using the search engine...but with the black raspberry plants, will last years branches still produce, and will the new strong ones that have sprouted up...produce this year?

I have a white raspberry plant that outgrew the black raspberry plant, 2fold... this thing had very long branches that I *allowed to touch the ground (*did not maintain it properly ) only to realize that at the spot where the branch touched, a new plant started growing. The interesting thing is that sometime real late fall, I trimmed the plant and cleaned up my mulch, but apparently I didn't do a good enough job because now I have about 12 plants out there. None of the old branches have sprouted, do I remove those completely? How do you maintain your plants?

Thanks in advance ~


The check is in the mail.

[ProfessorM]

Originally Posted by bloocrab

Professor, I may have asked you this in the past but I couldn't find it using the search engine...but with the black raspberry plants, will last years branches still produce, and will the new strong ones that have sprouted up...produce this year?

I have a white raspberry plant that outgrew the black raspberry plant, 2fold... this thing had very long branches that I *allowed to touch the ground (*did not maintain it properly ) only to realize that at the spot where the branch touched, a new plant started growing. The interesting thing is that sometime real late fall, I trimmed the plant and cleaned up my mulch, but apparently I didn't do a good enough job because now I have about 12 plants out there. None of the old branches have sprouted, do I remove those completely? How do you maintain your plants?

Thanks in advance ~


The check is in the mail.

This years canes, as they are called, will produce next year's fruit. After the canes from last year produce fruit you should cut them down to make room for this years canes and to keep a clean area so you won't have any fungus and pest problems. Usually when the new canes get about 4 feet high I snip them. This will cause the cane to send out side shoots along the cane. This is where you will get your fruit to form. The longer the side shoots the more flowers, fruit you will get.

Tip rooting is a great way to increase your plants. In spring they will be well rooted so just cut the thing off, dig up, and transplant where you want them. Like I said above if you cut new canes at about 4 feet you will not have the problem of the tips touching the ground , unless you want them too. I already have enough and have given away many over the years so I try to keep after them. You should have a 2 wire trellis set up to keep them off the ground and organized for picking.

Here is the post I think you are referring too

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...ghlight=fruits

[ProfessorM]

Here are some pics to show you the new growth this year. It will produce next year. The canes with the berries this year are cut to ground in fall or even after the harvest if you wish. The new canes shown are over 7 feet high because of all the rain we had. I will snip them today at about 4 feet high. That will make side branches come out along cane and that is where you get your berries. If I leave the canes so long they will hit the ground and root, which I don't want. I need to cut them at 4 feet and stuff them back into the double wire trellis I have supporting the berries this year. The new canes are smooth and green, pretty hard not to notice which is new and which is old. Hope this helps. P.