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[Ridgerunner]

I have seen both tomato hornworms and tobacco hornworms with those parasites. Occasionally I've found just the dry husk left after the parasites sucked them dry.

I don't know how much good it does for me to leave the worms with parasites alone. I typically find them in the garden before they do that much damage and long before the parasites kill them. Most of the ones I find don't have the parasites anyway, those parasites are pretty rare.

But those worms will live on certain weeds I don't monitor, weeds just growing wild. And it goes against the grain to kill the worms and not let the parasites complete their life cycle. Maybe they do help some in keeping the overall numbers down so I leave the infested ones alone.

 

[Finding God in the garden]

[QUOTE="Finding God in the garden, post: 328724, member: 6703"

Bee, did you try to remove any of the wood chips before adding the hay? Also, do you think using hay is sacrificing nutrition content since hay roots are not as deep as tree roots and are not able to get to deeper nutrients?

Nope...they were pretty much mulched down when I applied the hay, hence all the weed infestation last year. No, I don't think it's a sacrifice in nutrients, as the most nutritious part of the tree are the green tips of the branches and the leaves...and hay is ALL green, so full of nutrition. And quicker to get to the soil than the wood chips, less nitrogen leaching due to no heavy carbonaceous pieces of the more dense wood chips.

**************************************************************************

Got 50 FREE bales of hay today!!!!!

And it's not even mulch hay, but last year's first cut that's been stored in a barn all year. Very clean, very nice, fresh smelling. God is so very good!!!!!

He knew exactly when I needed the hay and then provided it....pressed down and running over.

Do y'all know how rare it is to get this kind of hay for free...or ANY hay for free at this time of year?? This fella just needed it gone quickly so he could put his new hay in the barn before it rains. I'm feeling so very blessed right now.[/QUOTE]


Do you feel like the soil gets compressed when you walk on it wet, at least any more than the wood chips?

 

[Beekissed]

Do you feel like the soil gets compressed when you walk on it wet, at least any more than the wood chips?

Nope. The hay has MUCH more cushion to it than the wood chips ever did, it actually springs you upward as you take each step. Another good feature of it compared to the chips...when you dig a hole to put a plant into, the hay stays where it's supposed to stay, whereas the chips keep sliding into the hole from either side of where you are digging. This puts wood in the hole where your roots will be mining for nutrients, where the wood will be attaching to any available nitrogen that will bind with all that carbon. Then the plant doesn't get as much.

 

[Finding God in the garden]

Well, given the cucumber beetle invasion I elected to go ahead and pull up all my potato plants. My results were as follows: Desiree potatoes 5 lbs. 9 oz., German Butterball 0 lbs, Yukon Gem 6 lbs. 6 oz. I probably planted about 6 lbs. of seed potatoes, but spent about $54 total on seed potatoes. I'm pretty happy with it considering all the pest & disease problems they encountered this year and it's my first real garden year.

I'm still hoping for the best with my one tomato plant that sprouted. It is really getting large and starting to put out lots of little green tomatoes. Not really sure what variety it is but I'm guessing they are one of the cherry tomato varieties I planted based on the size.

 

[canesisters]

I'm probably the only person ever who is disappointed every afternoon when I go hunting for hornworms.
I put the tomatoes right next to the chickens' yard for the purpose of tossing worms to them. The last garden I had was INFESTED. Every day I search.. not a single thing to toss to them, so I get my little bucket of water and go hunting beetles on the roses instead.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm probably the only person ever who is disappointed every afternoon when I go hunting for hornworms.
I put the tomatoes right next to the chickens' yard for the purpose of tossing worms to them. The last garden I had was INFESTED. Every day I search.. not a single thing to toss to them, so I get my little bucket of water and go hunting beetles on the roses instead.

I'm not disappointed a bit to not be finding any right now, but I did have a good bit of fun feeding them to the chickens this year.

 

[Finding God in the garden]

I'm probably the only person ever who is disappointed every afternoon when I go hunting for hornworms.
I put the tomatoes right next to the chickens' yard for the purpose of tossing worms to them. The last garden I had was INFESTED. Every day I search.. not a single thing to toss to them, so I get my little bucket of water and go hunting beetles on the roses instead.

Do you have wood chips or hay or something else on your garden?

 

[canesisters]

Currently there is a thick layer of sawdust. Eventually there will be woodchips or old hay. Gotta work with what you have, right?

 

[ninnymary]

I'm probably the only person ever who is disappointed every afternoon when I go hunting for hornworms.
I put the tomatoes right next to the chickens' yard for the purpose of tossing worms to them. The last garden I had was INFESTED. Every day I search.. not a single thing to toss to them, so I get my little bucket of water and go hunting beetles on the roses instead.

Me too! Years ago I found one. I thought it was kind of pretty being so big and fat, haha. But nothing ever since. But then I also go hunting for weeds and seldom find one. When I do I get soooo excited! haha

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Me too! Years ago I found one. I thought it was kind of pretty being so big and fat, haha. But nothing ever since. But then I also go hunting for weeds and seldom find one. When I do I get soooo excited! haha

Mary

I drove past many, many gardens this weekend as I drove across the state that would have made you wet your pants with glee. And these were gardens that are normally kept neat is a pin...guess those folks are having trouble keeping the weeds down when it rains too much to run the tiller through the rows.

That's one reason I went to no till...this heavy clay soil seals up tighter than a frogs butt after a rain and then drying, so pulling weeds from it normally is an Olympic event, which is why most folks just run a tiller through the rows to till those weeds under.

I can pull a well established weed or clump of grass so easy now it's laughable...and the soil coming up on the roots is rich and black, not grey/yellow/red clay colored. I share your excitement when pulling a weed now as it's just so satisfying to do and there are so few to pull.