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Post by chrysanthemum on Jun 24, 2023 5:38:22 GMT -6
That’s excellent news about the rain, Hedgeapple. Big and happy plants are such a cheerful sight.
Japanese beetles and squash bugs are two pests that I definitely don’t miss here in Texas.
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Post by hedgeapple on Jun 24, 2023 11:37:28 GMT -6
Well, the early warnings of Japanese beetles were accurate. They swarmed my place today and found stout resistance. LOL
They haven’t touched my okra yet. Seems roses, echinacea, and wild black raspberries are their preferred food source at this point, but as things heat up and get drier the war will be on to save my okra leaves. Fortunately they are slow moving.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 24, 2023 14:35:16 GMT -6
Hedgeapple,
I sure hate to hear you've got Japanese Beetles over your way. Those things are terribly destructive!
I've not seen any J.B. this year yet. But in years past we've had them come here in swarms without end. They'll strip okra leaves to the bare bones in a jiffy!
I've had really good luck trapping them in years past, using Japanese Beetle hormone traps. I'll post a link below. I buy mine at Lowe's.
www.lowes.com/pd/Spectracide-Bag-A-Bug-Beetle-Repellent/3120407?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-lwn-_-ggl-_-LIA_LWN_241_Chemicals-_-3120407-_-local-_-0-_-0&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqNqkBhDlARIsAFaxvwxCf0U58lJjfuTQXaEgG9ZdhBkB-d38vkW9yLFoLqcXbuF0vSBDBogaAmPcEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
I've noticed that sometimes, those beetles are so determined to get to the bait that they will hit the plastic cross baffle on the traps with enough force to bounce off and fly away.
After I figured out what was going on there, I started placing one of those cheap, round, plastic, Dollar Store, snow sleds directly below each of my traps. Then, I'd fill each sled with soapy water. (Anything that's bigger than the trap would probably work). I just happened to have those old sleds handy.
The beetles that bounce off the traps will oftentimes fall into the soapy water below and drown. The soap breaks the surface tension of the water, so the beetles don't escape quite so easily. There were times when I caught nearly as many beetles in the soapy water below the traps as I caught in the traps themselves.
I also found it helpful to place a small stone about the size of a golf ball into the bottom of each bag, to help weigh it down some, so the wind doesn't blow it around. That also helps to keep the throat of the bag open, so the beetles fall more readily into the bottom of the trap.
Some people say they snip a corner on their traps and hang them up for their chickens to peck, but I never wanted to chance any of the beetles escaping, so I always submerged my bug-filled bags in a 5-gallon bucket of water to drown them before offering any to the chickens.
My chickens are not big fans of dead beetles, so I usually buried mine in the garden for fertilizer. sometimes, in Winter, I'll happen onto one of those burial spots and marvel at the number of beetle wings all in one place.
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Post by hedgeapple on Jun 26, 2023 12:17:19 GMT -6
Hedgeapple,
I sure hate to hear you've got Japanese Beetles over your way. Those things are terribly destructive!
I've not seen any J.B. this year yet. But in years past we've had them come here in swarms without end. They'll strip okra leaves to the bare bones in a jiffy!
I've had really good luck trapping them in years past, using Japanese Beetle hormone traps. I'll post a link below. I buy mine at Lowe's.
www.lowes.com/pd/Spectracide-Bag-A-Bug-Beetle-Repellent/3120407?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-lwn-_-ggl-_-LIA_LWN_241_Chemicals-_-3120407-_-local-_-0-_-0&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqNqkBhDlARIsAFaxvwxCf0U58lJjfuTQXaEgG9ZdhBkB-d38vkW9yLFoLqcXbuF0vSBDBogaAmPcEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
I've noticed that sometimes, those beetles are so determined to get to the bait that they will hit the plastic cross baffle on the traps with enough force to bounce off and fly away.
After I figured out what was going on there, I started placing one of those cheap, round, plastic, Dollar Store, snow sleds directly below each of my traps. Then, I'd fill each sled with soapy water. (Anything that's bigger than the trap would probably work). I just happened to have those old sleds handy.
The beetles that bounce off the traps will oftentimes fall into the soapy water below and drown. The soap breaks the surface tension of the water, so the beetles don't escape quite so easily. There were times when I caught nearly as many beetles in the soapy water below the traps as I caught in the traps themselves.
I also found it helpful to place a small stone about the size of a golf ball into the bottom of each bag, to help weigh it down some, so the wind doesn't blow it around. That also helps to keep the throat of the bag open, so the beetles fall more readily into the bottom of the trap.
Some people say they snip a corner on their traps and hang them up for their chickens to peck, but I never wanted to chance any of the beetles escaping, so I always submerged my bug-filled bags in a 5-gallon bucket of water to drown them before offering any to the chickens.
My chickens are not big fans of dead beetles, so I usually buried mine in the garden for fertilizer. sometimes, in Winter, I'll happen onto one of those burial spots and marvel at the number of beetle wings all in one place. Thank you for the detailed advice, Ron. I ordered the trap kits and will be going all out on these little monsters. Hopefully I can put a dent in the JB population around here. They are pretty much focused on my wife’s English roses right now and she is not happy about that!
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Post by hedgeapple on Jul 2, 2023 10:54:58 GMT -6
heavyhitterokra I’ve had my JB bag set up for three days now and it is working as advertised. Also placed a 10gal rubber tub with a few inches of soapy water beneath it and can confirm that some stray beetles are ricocheting into it directly. Stunning how effective these bags are. Have had to empty it once already. There are still a few stray JBs on my okra, roses and other flowers, but nowhere near the plague I’ve seen in years past. Most are detouring to the trap. What I really like about these bags is that they only attract JBs and if they continue to work through summer it means I won’t have to resort to any general pesticides. We’ve got a healthy bee population here and I don’t want to impact them or any other good bugs.
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Post by hedgeapple on Jul 2, 2023 12:15:58 GMT -6
If anyone has ever been curious as to just what sort of okra gene sorting goes on in an F2 generation, you can see it here: The miniature okra on the left and it’s big sister on the right were from the same pod (selfed) last year, sown on the same day, and have developed under identical soil conditions, etc. They are literally just different expressions of the same genes sorting out into recessive and dominant traits and this year I have to pick a few plants which might have the qualities I want next year. The mini-okra probably isn’t it.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jul 2, 2023 14:40:03 GMT -6
That’s pretty amazing, Hedgeapple. Thanks for the photo and explanation.
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Post by hedgeapple on Jul 4, 2023 14:10:36 GMT -6
Alright, alright… my first F2 flower opened this morning. The Okra Days of Summer are here! Meanwhile, my son in Austin just got back from a trip and his varieties have been going for a few weeks:
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 4, 2023 15:40:09 GMT -6
Those okra plant photos remind me of back when we used to breed horses when I was a kid. Two mares bred from the same stud would throw colts with night and day temperaments, and totally opposite builds; one would be short and stocky, while the other looked like a thoroughbred. One would be unmanageable, while the other was a sweetheart.
Years later, after I was grown and married, our kids turned out much the same way. I've got two grown boys weighing in over 250 each, one is 6'4" and pushing 270. My younger son who will be 26 this Fall wouldn't weigh 140 sopping wet, and I've got a 29-year-old daughter who is only 5'2" and weighing about 95 pounds. Recessive family genes will do things like that.
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Post by hedgeapple on Aug 3, 2023 10:23:48 GMT -6
Barring any calamities, I’ve picked out my F2 plant for the year. Of the sixteen ‘WindridgeX’ F2s I planted this year it is by far the most robust and productive of the plants which have retained the look and eating qualities I like. It has four productive branches and is ~6’ tall now. Have some additional hybridization hijinks already in motion but I like this okra so much that I will just keep selecting its traits next year as-is. It is a good okra.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 3, 2023 20:10:01 GMT -6
That looks beautiful, hedgeapple. I can see why you like it.
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Post by hedgeapple on Aug 6, 2023 15:34:26 GMT -6
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Post by hedgeapple on Aug 9, 2023 16:19:01 GMT -6
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