Gopher Wars Continued

More from Teri: I like to wear suspenders AND a belt, so I’m thinking of using a combination of 1/2″ hardware cloth AND 6″ of rock at the bottom of my 20″ raised beds. Mostly the rock would be to take up space and provide more...

Releasing Lacewings and Good Results with Worm Castings Against Ants

Question from Dave: A couple of observations to share: Lacewings from Gardens Alive arrived in a tiny container – like the one that contains salsa with your take out taco’s. Hard to believe there’s 10,000 lacewing larvae in there. They...

Something eating Aeoniums

Question from Trinidad: Would you know what creature is eating the Aeonium heads? There is nothing apparent. I think it is a grass hopper coming in the night and flying away….but it is hard to tell. There is no damage elsewhere, so it cannot be an animal...

Citrus Leaf Miners

Question from Dave: Thank you very much for writing your books – I read and refer to them every week. I’m trying to shift from conventional to organic gardening. All of my citrus trees have citrus leaf miner – some worse than others....

Slugs

Question from Annelise: Hats off to you, you are a genius! I live in Dallas and had been noticing a few chewed up coleus and other plants in my garden so I checked your book and the 1/2 grapefruit shell trap for snails has been the solution and then some!!!...

Shrimp Shell Meal

Question from George: I’m having problems finding the shrimp shell meal you talked about at the fairgrounds the other day, the only place I can find it is on line and its a 50lb bag. If I bought the 50lb bag how long can I store it and it still...

Iceland poppies

Q. I planted a beautiful bed of Iceland poppies and the first week everything was fine. I started noticing that the new buds were mysteriously disappearing before they opened? The stems are fine but the buds are cleanly removed from the top of the stem?...

Gophers and Fruit Trees

Question from Rachel: About 4 months ago I took your advice and planted a lovely 5ft. tall Bearss lime tree in our backyard. As promised, it has been extraordinarily productive and we love it. A week ago I noticed that it was listing to the side, which...

Budworms on Geraniums and Mildew Resistant Zinnias

Question from Bob: Well, I picked off 175 budworms from 16 geraniums over 4 weeks, and then gave up – they didnt seem to abate at all. Only as this last generation completed their cycle and the weather turned colder, did my geraniums finally recover....

Artichoke Plant and gophers

Question from Kerry: I had this beautiful artichoke plant that I found almost completely wilted tonight. I believe gophers have attacked the root of the plant. Can it be saved? Should I dig it up and try to revive it? I appreciate your help. Answer...

Ants

Question from Robin: ANTS, the demons on all levels. I told my husband our property would implode if the ants left. They completely destroyed my strawberry bed the year before no matter what I tried. Moved the bed and again within two months they destroyed...

Raccoons in the Vegetable Garden

Question from Deedee: I live in Palos Verdes where I haunt our local farmers’ market and wish I could grow my own organic crops. My dog seems to have shooed off the ground squirrels but can’t control raccoons which are not afraid of anything....

Caterpillars

From Bob: I went out again with my flashlight tonight at midnight and guess what – I caught a 5/8″ budworm *in flagrante*. Positive id, caught in the act, sucking on a bud. I put him in a jar, capped it and continued searching, but found none...

Beneficial Wasps

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if indeed wasps or yellow jackets were controlling the budworms before they have time to hatch and bore into the flowers? This could be the case and is another good reason for being an organic gardener. In the absence of...