I've got a half dozen havahart type live animal traps but so far he's not gone near them. I've baited with lettuce, canteloupe, melon rinds, broccoli, and red beets but the bait goes untouched. I've gotten a few rabbits in the trap but none large enough to do any damage in the garden. I pulled up the chewed lettuce heads, used them for bait but it seems he only bites on a plant once, even in the garden, each time its a new plant that got eaten. I had 300 heads of lettuce, after this week I'm down to about 50 tops, and some of them have damage again now. At this time in the season, as the lettuce bolts, I basically just let it go to seed for next years crop. The problem is he's even chewed off the flowering stalks. I added a wire fence around the roof of the shed on one side today, I increased the overhang on the fence and sprayed the lettuce with some pesticide that I hoped would deter his appetite. I left the garden at 7pm to put some tools away, and came back in less than 5 minutes and four heads of lettuce were chewed down to the ground. The part that gets me is that it can eat that fast. I'm 300lbs and can't eat that much that fast. I gave the remaining plants a good shot of Malathion in hopes the odor deters him. I've grown a garden here for 15 years, this is the first year I've had anything get through the fence. I've had insect issues last year, but never a furry critter getting over the fence. I would have fully expected burrowing rather than climbing, so far, he's not even tried to burrow under the fence. This weekends project will be to install a proper gate or door, I poured a threshold at the point of entry so nothing can dig under, now I need to make an easy to walk through gate or door. The way it is now I have to take down a 6' tall upper gate and remove a fence panel to get in. The plan is to make a screen door from 1/4" rat wire which closes against a cement stop at the bottom and is hung from the adjacent fence post with hinges. I never thought a groundhog would be able to scale a 6' fence, but there's no other way in. Maybe I need to electrify the fence next. There has to be more than one of these things, but the only one on the trail cam was huge. I had to give the game cam back the other day, so I don't have the option to keep it up. I just can't figure how something so small can consume so much so fast, and not even leave any scraps on the ground. The eaten heads look like something just took a huge bite out the middle right down to the ground, leaving only the stump and a few outer leaves standing.

Oh man Bejay! I hear you! We have Poinceana trees in just about every other yard here but I'm partial to the cassia tree (less leaf and seed pod litter). I am in Lee County which is where Ft. Myers is located. I am sure I have a micro climate. I'm less than 3 miles from the coast. Granted I have Sanibel, Captiva and Pine Island as barrier islands in between me and the Gulf but I'm right there on the other side of the intercoastal. This is a brand new house that we built and have only been in for about a year. Last year I got Blueberries and stuck them in pots because I didn't know where I wanted them. I succesfully killed them but not before I saw that Gulfcoast does much better than SharpBlue. I have a spot in mind for them but it looks like I'll have to wait for next winter. :-( So far I have planted 2 gigantic Areca Palms (for a little screening) I have the 3 apple trees, 1 Pom Wonderful and 1 Garden Prince Almond. I recently cleared a spot for an herb garden. I will be planting 2 kinds of basil, sage, rosemary, parsley, oregano and mint this week. I also have spots ready for beans, peas (i'm probably too late) cucs, 4 kinds of peppers and 2 kinds of toms. I already have 8 spots picked out for 4 kinds of oranges, 1 lemon, 1 lime, 1 grapefruit and 1 mandarine. I'm also planning on 3 coconut palms (those suckers take years to fruit! Almost a decade!) The coconut palms are going to be more for the hammocks! Oh and I have 4 passion Fruit and I'm getting ready to get 2 Kiwi (well really one, just one male one female). As soon as hubby gets the pergola up, I'm doing 4 kinds of grapes. When he gets the arbors done over the 2 gates, I was thinking about climbing roses but knowing me it'll probably be an edible instead. I really want to find space for a coffee plant, peanuts and sugar cane! Then I'm done...promise...or so I tell my hubby! ;-) hehehe I'd love bananas but hear they are messy. I wouldn't mind peaches or plums but I don't really have a whole lot of room. I would do plum before peach but hubby says he only likes the dark skin, dark fleshed, sweet plums and I don't know enough yet. I am patiently waiting for the day that I have acreage. I'm hoping it's sooner than later. I recently found 5 acres that is affordable for me but it's in the middle of no where, down a LONG dirt road and I fear that I would no longer have friends visiting me since I am the only person I know with 4x4. :-( Which would you choose...tree or friends? hahahaha I don't plan on jumping ship anytime soon. :-) I love growing things that I can eat. I have a really hard time planting things that don't do double duty as both eye pleasing landscape and also nourish my (hopefully soon to be) growing family. I'm slowly eradicating the grass and I'm loving every bit of it! Except the back breaking part! Ouch! Once I get a managable patch I'm going to plant low, xeriscape ground cover. Then I'm selling the lawn mower! I will certainly share my experiences. If I can get my camera to cooperate tonight, I'll try to take a few pictures of the apples. They are looking so pretty now that they are starting to bloom. Even my coworkers are giong out of their way to drive by my house. I love it! Thanks for the chat time...I needed it...now back to work. :-( Kristiina

They both look like plums of some sort, they are not sweet or sour cherries. Lets go through some of the problems. The little black bugs and yellow eggs are ladybug larvae and eggs. Those are the "good guys" eating the aphids, don't pull them off. The dead looking branches are probably due to brown rot blossom blight. It will feel slippery when wet if its brbb. The holes in the leaves are some form of shot hole. The galls are probably from some kind of mite. Its hard to tell what the long-term chances of the trees are but they need to get on a spray program if you want to keep them. Read up on these diseases/pests and their treatment, ask more questions if you have them! Scott

It's the birds: The birds are eating your blossoms; I had this problem for many years--in some years, the birds ate more than 40% of the blossoms---, therefore, this year I decided to outsmart them. I used mylar foil as a reflective medium to scare the birds away...and it worked--they stopped eating my stone fruits blossoms.