I'm back with some sad looking mint plants that could use help
Art Vandelay
5 years ago
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Comments (19)
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Mint Plants Under Seige by some sort of tick looking bug.
Comments (9)Frankly, you need to have your pests identified before applying anything. It's of little benefit to do this or that or apply something else when you don't know who the enemy is. In the future, please know that toxic pesticides, such as your Sevin and Ortho, should not be used inside unless they are specially labeled to be used in such a manner. Even at that, I'd strongly advise against it. If you google the names of the assorted pests you've heard of here or elsewhere, you can find lots of images for identification. I suspect that your 'green, stationary bugs' are aphids. Mites are so small that they are difficult to see with the naked eye, even if you know what to look for. However, it is highly possible that you have both. As far as the fungus gnats are concerned, I do not see where you mention the presence of any annoying adult gnats flitting around. The adults are usually present when larvae (in the soil) are a problem. Fungus gnat larvae (maggots) are opaque, worm-like critters. You'll also find images of them on line. Novice, you should not use your pure neem oil on your plants. Unless a product has directions for use, you might end up harming the foliage...or doing no good whatsoever. You need to use that neem for whatever purpose you bought it for....See MoreMy plants dont look at home here, I'm sad!
Comments (5)Some things I did when I knew my garden was going to be temporary were: 1. Planted expensive perennials in movable containers 2. To "camoflage" the containers, I planted easy to grow, inexpensive annuals - usually seed paks, around the base of the perennial planters. Check out the Annuals forum for easy things in your zone, some will re-seed too, so you don't really have to treat them as "annuals" since they come back from the seeds they drop on their own. In my dry winter zone 7 a lot of things probably re-seed that might not in your area, but here a list of some of my "aggressive" re-seeders: Alyssum Morning Glory Honesty (Lunaria) Nasturtiums Monarda/Bee Balm Amaranthus (Love-Lies-Bleeding) Hollyhocks Sweet Peas Coreopsis Nigella (Love in a mist) Oregano (the herb) By planting these, you can get some quick color and plants this year around your planters, and if they successfully re-seed, then the plants will keep coming back. If the landlord complains, you could always claim ignorance and say that you only planted annuals thinking they would only be around the year you planted them :P...See MoreLab results are back, could use some help getting lawn into shape.
Comments (7)This is a nice initial soil test. There's some work to be done, but the starting point on this soil is pretty good. EC 6.2: Sandy soil, with a little silt. Plan on testing this soil yearly as it'll shift fast. OM 2.1%: At the lower border of Fair, starting to trend toward Poor. With your lower EC, I'd always feed organically, always mulch mow, mow in all your fall leaves, steal your neighbors' leaves in fall, and so on. While not an emergency or anything, bringing this up will positively impact your lawn quality, raise your EC a little bit, and vastly improve water retention in your soil. pH 7.0: A little high due to excess magnesium in the soil. Sulfur 13: Normal, with tons of margin to play with if I need it. I'll use a little of the margin, but not very much as your soil won't require that much playing. Phosphorus 101: Low but not extreme, this is still negatively impacting your lawn quality. Target in this case will be around 220. I recommended starter fertilizer below. Just choose the cheapest as they'll all target around 1 pound of phosphorus per thousand square feet. Calcium 65.7%: Exactly optimal. The soil shows a tiny deficit of 48 pounds per acre (about 1 pound per thousand) but we can ignore it this year. That's too small to bother with and difficult to correct without going over the top. Given your pH, we definitely don't want to do that. Magnesium 25.0%: Very high, which will tend to give you a tight, impenetrable soil. Avoid all magnesium sources, including dolomitic limestone and Epsom salt. Let's give this a year to leach out normally, by which time you'll probably need calcium anyway--and we can use one step to add a little Ca while abolishing a touch of Mg at that point if needed. Potassium 2.2%: Although OK by the percentage, the numbers are low. Plus I'm a fan of moving K to the upper part of the recommended percentages or even a little beyond. It improves heat and cold resistance, disease resistance, and insect resistance. Most landscape and garden stores will order potassium sulfate (sulfate of potash) for you, or you can get it online. Recommendations below. Minor Elements: Boron is low and I discuss that next. Except for iron, all others are OK. Iron is below boron. Boron 0.38: Low. Boron is used in photosynthesis and cell differentiation, so it's kind of important. We use 20 Mule Team Borax as the boron source, which is available at your local grocery store in the laundry section, plus Milorganite as a carrier. In a wheelbarrow or the like, dump the Milo. Spraying very, very lightly with water (I use a spray bottle like the kind people use to damp their clothes when they iron) will help the boron stick. Add the recommended amount of 20 Mule Team Borax and stir, spraying occasionally to get the stuff to stick to the Milo. Then apply over the recommended area. So if going for bag rate Milorganite (1 bag per 2,500 square feet), you'd add 10 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax. Iron 77: Low. Not deficient, but not going to give you the best color or best photosynthesis in the lawn. Any time you like, apply Milorganite to slowly raise the iron levels in the soil and organic matter levels in the lawn. The boron listed above only goes once, on July 1. The rest of the Milo applications should be with nothing added. Recommendations: Memorial Day Weekend: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. June 15: Apply 2 pounds per thousand square feet of potassium sulfate. July 1: Apply 4 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax in Milorganite. Labor Day: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. September 15: Apply 2 pounds per thousand square feet of potassium sulfate. October 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate....See MoreI'm sad heirloom roses sold to new owners years back.
Comments (23)Sheila - I'm speechless!! Your gardens beautiful!! Here in fla the only way I can grow delphiniums is if I plant them while they're budded & watch them bloom before the summer rains kill them back. I want to pack up & move so bad! I feel I'm being called to do so to start my own flower farming business but I'm stuck here for a long time. My man runs his parents plating company an hour away & I have 4 boys that are now grounded here in this city. We moved 3 years back from st pete which is 2 1/2 hrs away so this is as far away from my home town as I get & sadly it's still in the state of Florida. I'm ready for real country w/real soil that's not full of root knot nematodes, high heat & humidity & summer rains that last a good 3 months non stop Astrantia is one of my favorite flowers & I just can't get them to grow here!! Roses are hard to grow but I manage. Thankyou so much for sharing your pics!!!!!! It made my heart smile!! I have mencopsis seed but I'm scared to try them after reading ab germinating them - yours are gorgeous!!! Sultry ur heirloom rose is beautiful! I just feel they're still over priced but your right they ALWAYS have the best quality roses!! So I guess if it's a rose I truly want - I don't mind paying a little extra but fortuniana grafted roses are the way to go if I'm planting in ground . Strawberry hill is a decent rose for Florida!! She will get some leaf spot but always recovers quickly. A stephanotis is heavenly in full bloom!!! They smell so yummy!! There's stem kits online u can buy to put diamonds, colored stones inside of them. They're for bridal bouquets- but I've bought the kits ( bc they have long "stems") to add stephanotis flowers to bouquets I made for friends & family. They're cheap & it's fun to do. I don't have my stephanotis vines anymore tho. After moving here ( 2 1/2 hrs north) a light frost killed my newly planted stephanotis vines & I never replaced them. I will someday. I love the garden pics Sheila!!! I'm so envious!!❤️...See Moredaninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoArt Vandelay thanked daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)- Art Vandelay thanked daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoArt Vandelay thanked floral_uk z.8/9 SW UKArt Vandelay
5 years agoJean
5 years agoArt Vandelay
5 years agoArt Vandelay
5 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
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daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)