Eliot Coleman rigged up some gadget for his farm that goes down a row shaking plants from one side and sucking up Japanese beetles with a shop vacuum from the other. I'd like to see that in operation sometime. My berry plants' leaves got munched on this week by the beetles. I thought they were winding down but they seem to be staging some sort of grand finale. I don't know what sort of establishment they think I'm running but they seem to have grown more amorous as their season nears its end.

They don't look like they're dying -- and your harvest may not be affected by these leaf issues. I've had deer eat all the leaves off my bean plants, and they still sprouted new leaves and produced beans just fine. I do see a wilted leaf in the right of your squash photo -- is that another squash plant? Now THAT one looks like it's in trouble (hopefully it's just a weed you've pulled and let lie!) Wait -- I just looked closer. Is that squash in a pot or in the ground? If it's in a pot, it may be stressed from not enough space (if that is a pot, it looks too small for the plant.)

Hi I am in Palm Springs, California and I just picked and ate the first Kentucky Wonder pole beans of the season. Also I was able to pick and eat the first okra. Got one new cucumber on the one vine that survived the summer. 8 great tomato plants are 12 foot high they are flowering now but no setting. the Sweet 100 tomatos are going great they are green now. Two egg plants survived the summer also. These plant will give us more than we can eat. They are in bloom now but as yet not fruit. Basil is great. One plant. I just got to keep picking it and keeping it from going to seed. I have one potato plant also. All these are planted in Two 8X4 raised beds. The supersweet 100 cherry tomatos are in one 4X4 raised bed. Also in the yard is one tangeringe grafted onto sour orange. A Lemon, Mexican Lime, valencia orange and grapfruit. There is a dwarf plumb tree as well. I think I lost to peach trees and one apple tree. I almost forgot I planted charlston grey watermellons as ground cover. They taste great. Any suggestion on what to plant and at what time would be great. Noeld Here is a link that might be useful: Tai Chi Education and Research Institute

Unfortunately some of what you are now seeing is due to the spray you used. Especially in the last 2 pics. Too often new gardeners tend to over-react to some holes in the leaves - which happen for all sorts of reasons and most of the time are not an issue - and spray something. Leaves on plants can lose up to 1/2 of their leaf surface without any problems so if you spray many times the spray does more damage than whatever made the holes could do. That is just as true for homemade concoctions as it is for commercial ones. Indeed in the hands of the under-informed the home made concoctions can do more damage than commercial ones do. In other words, just because it is made from products you have at home doesn't mean it is safe to use on the plants. I don't see any actual discoloration issues in any of your pics but they are usually nutrient issues rather than pests. The holes in the leaves could be caused by all sort of pests - slugs (have to do nite time patrol to find them) , beetles, tiny caterpillars, even birds. But you have to look carefully for them and ID them first before you spray anything. Most of the time you can find whatever is doing it and just squish it with your fingers. But if you don't see them it doesn't mean you have to spray something. He may already be done and gone and if you do spray the odds are you are just killing good guys that are trying to help. You remove the damage leaves and continue to monitor it and look for the bad guy. So no need to panic and no need to spray unless it is a really really bad infestation and you know exactly what is doing the damage. Then you find the least damaging control for that specific bad guy. So in your pics remove the bad leaves off the cuke and nothing more. Remove the very worst of the leaves off the peppers but leave the ones with only minor damage. Leave the beans alone for now. Put the bottle of oils away as the oil only works if it coats the insect but when it coats the leaves it causes them to burn and blacken and prevents photosynthesis. If you feel you must use a home made spray then I suggest you stick with the soapy water mix of 1 T of mild soap (baby shampoo, Murphy's Oil Soap, liquid Ivory, etc.) in 1 gallon of water, shake well, spray the bugs only and avoid coating the leaves, and only spray in the early AM and never in the bright sun or the heat of the day. Spraying then is almost guaranteed to damage the plants. Hope this helps. Dave