Many insects and worms are edible and are a good source of protein. We know that worms and maggots of various sorts were eaten by ancient man and are still consumed today in some countries. Various types of worms, locusts, and ants, though disgusting to most westerners, are prepared in special ways to make them delicacies in some countries. However some insects, most notably certain caterpillars, have a bitter flavor and a few tropical kinds are poisonous. Cherry worms are not poisonous and don’t seem to have a bitter flavor, nor do they harm humans who ingest them since many people say they’ve eaten them by mistake without realizing what they had done and they had no ill effects. The main problem is when the worms consume the insides of the cherry and render the fruit itself unpalatable. Also, we have to face the fact that the cherry, once consumed by a worm contains what has gone through the insides of a worm and come out the other end. If you picked the cherries early while they are still in good shape I think it’s okay to cook them, but if later in the season the cherries themselves will be spoiled and won’t taste good in pie. High heat necessary to cook a pie, will sterilized the damaged fruit, but I can’t guarantee that the flavor or texture or look of the pie will come out right. My suggestion: try it and see. A few worms won’t hurt but masses of them might.

Next year plant mildew-resistant varieties of squash from seeds. Nursery transplants are usually not disease-resistant hybrids, and squash is easy to grow from seeds.

Disease-resistant roses fight off mildew. The best ones need no spraying even in coastal zones. Many people want to grow ‘Double Delight’ for example. It has a heavenly fragrance, but it always succumbs to mildew along the coast and sometimes even inland. Check the qualities and characteristics of David Austins when growing those, and plant the most disease-resistant ones. It goes without saying that roses and vegetables need full sun but sometimes people try to grow them with fewer hours of sunshine than that. This always leads to problems.

I recently made a short video on the subject of mildew and it will soon be posted on my blog.

In one case I do know of a large Monterey Cypress tree that stands on a bank and the trunk of this large tree is about three feet from the southwest corner of a house. In this case, a drainage ditch had been dug about forty years ago surrounding the house, a bank behind the house was covered with concrete, and drainage pipes had been installed by professionals, then next to the foundations of the house the area above the drainage pipe was filled with concrete and sloped like a gutter. As a result of this extensive and very expensive drainage work, done at least forty years ago, no rainfall could sink into the ground at that spot, thus no tree roots invaded it. The tree is now very large—over fifty years old, and the trunk slopes away from the house. It has never damaged the foundations of the house, but this is an unusual case and the drainage job was done early in the life of the tree. In most cases the best solution is to bite the bullet, cut the tree down and plant another in a better location. Trees that are too close to homes with branches extending over roofs also present a fire hazard.

The temperatures at which specific seeds will and will not germinate will have a direct influence on what can be grown and when in Panama. Mountainous areas of Panama have a cooler climate than lower elevations. I suggest you begin now studying the climate and the night and day temperatures at various times of year at Kalu Yala, where you hope to be living and farming. Making a chart of the year and mark down the average night and day temperatures for every day of the year. Doing this year-round would help you to compare gardening here or in other climates in the United States with gardening there and if your location is mountainous, to think of such things as winter-protection for crops and what plants are adapted to cool nights and hot days.