Weeding the Garden

[REDDOGTWO]

We have moved out to the farm for the Summer. Selling season will start Saturday for me with just Peas, Potatoes and Onions. Due to the weather the season is running several weeks behind.

With the cold spring, seeds did not germinate and come up the way they should. This led to the weeds coming up without the crop. Once the crop finally did come up, the weeds were way ahead.

We have been weeding ever since. This is accomplished with a variety of methods.

The potatoes are hilled and cultivated with a one row cultivator while laying down drip line. I was able to cultivate them once more before they started flowering. The weeds in the hills are growing quite nicely.

The corn, once it is up is cultivated using a seven foot cultivator set up for two rows at once based upon the seeder row settings. In previous years, I used this for the row crops such as beets, carrots, etc.

This year, I planted the row crops, two rows about a foot apart with a drip line in between. This means that the two row cultivator will not work this year, not a good year to try a new system.

I use either the five foot or six foot rototiller to till in between the mulch rows and the row crops with the drip line.

 

[BigAl]

Wish I lived closer . I would love to share a cuppa "Joe" and see your set up . Buying fresh veggies would be great !!! Hope you do well !!

 

[REDDOGTWO]

Of course the rows crops with the drip line have to be hand weeded. The same applies to the plastic mulch, both sides have to be weeded as well as the holes that were punched in where the plants have been placed. Yesterday and today all that I could get done was seven mulch rows, about 1400 feet.

Getting fed up with this system, we are now considered organic although we are not certified, I sprayed the areas that are not planted with weed killer as we are getting quite a Field Bind Weed and Canadian Thistle problem in these areas. These two weeds are not controlled very well with hand and mechanical methods alone.

Next year we are going to cover the whole area that is seeded with pre-emergence chemical and will hopefully weed very little.

 

[REDDOGTWO]

This is what everyone has been waiting for, pictures of the equipment.

 

[REDDOGTWO]

Do not know if I have shown this one before, but this is one of the one row cultivator, with the hillers and the drip line attachment.

One drawback of living down at the shed is no cable or internet connection.

 

[REDDOGTWO]

Wish I lived closer . I would love to share a cuppa "Joe" and see your set up . Buying fresh veggies would be great !!! Hope you do well !!

The set up is mind boggling for the amount of work that is involved with the wife and I, and my brother and sister who help out in the mornings.

The larger producers who can afford to hire a lot of help have it a little bit easier.

The is one reason that we are going the chemical route for the weeds.

Considering the cold start we got, the late germination, I do not think that it will be as good as last year which was my first year in the black.

 

[EastTexFrank]

Yea, but you don't tell us how things are growing ... as a whole.

For my part, the tomatoes are going gangbusters. We are eating all we can (wonderful) and my wife is dehydrating the rest in order to turn them into "Tuscany Dried Tomatoes" ... don't ask me, it has something to do with dried tomatoes, rosemary, cilantro and olive oil ... I think????

The peppers (of all kinds) are having a hard time. We've had some but they are small but they are generally not doing too well. Maybe they will come on later in the year.

Eggplants are starting to come on in the last couple of weeks and are starting to do really well both the traditional and the Ikaban.

My wife's herbs are doing GREAT. I don't know why she needs so many variations on a theme but, hey, if it keeps her happy .......??????

All in all, it's been a rather strange year in the garden. I didn't plant too much variety this year but every time I go to the grocery store I wish I'd tilled up another acre.

 

[thcri]

I hope your not having the problems with your potato's like I am. Dang it the stupid Colorado Beetle moved in and I could not find anything to get rid of them. There is about 4 or 5 chemicals out there that you can use safely and not one of them did anything. I know they get immune to the chemicals after a while and you are suppose to change but it did not help. I started going out at night and plucking them off and killing them. After about a week I started to see the fruits of my work. I have about 100 potato plants and the first night of plucking I bet I took 500 off.

Now I don't have the Colorado at all anymore but I got what I thought was a Japanese Beetle. It is about the same size of the Colorado but orange in color with black specs down the side of it's back. Very soft when you pluck them they typically squish right in your hand. No chemical will touch them either. So I am afraid my tators won't be that great this year.

murph

 

[bczoom]

Now I don't have the Colorado at all anymore but I got what I thought was a Japanese Beetle. It is about the same size of the Colorado but orange in color with black specs down the side of it's back. Very soft when you pluck them they typically squish right in your hand. No chemical will touch them either. So I am afraid my tators won't be that great this year.

murph

Murph,

There's a Japanese Beetle trap that's available most anywhere for about $7. It catches them by the hundreds/thousands. I put 3 up to cover a couple acres and they've been working well.

 

[Erik]

there are also a couple of websites, like GardensAlive, that sell nematodes that target the beetle grubs and reproduce in the soil, so an application or 2 is enough for several years worth of coverage.

 

[thcri]

I found my bug, it is the larvae of the Potato Beetle.

Here the SOB's are. I went to Gardens Alive and other places and everything they say to do I have done.


murph

 

[REDDOGTWO]

Yea, but you don't tell us how things are growing ... as a whole.

Everything is two to three weeks behind where it should be.

 

[REDDOGTWO]

I hope your not having the problems with your potato's like I am.

murph

No problems yet with the potatoes.

Hope that you get rid of yours.

 

[bczoom]

I found my bug, it is the larvae of the Potato Beetle.

Well that sure isn't a Japanese beetle. No idea what to do with that critter. Have you tried #8 shot out of the shotgun to blow them off the plants? I tried it on the Japanese beetles on my hostas and the beetles disappeared. Well, so did 30% of the leaves (but they were going to eat that much anyway...).

 

[thcri]

Now I don't have the Colorado at all anymore but I got what I thought was a Japanese Beetle. It is about the same size of the Colorado but orange in color with black specs down the side of it's back. Very soft when you pluck them they typically squish right in your hand. No chemical will touch them either. So I am afraid my tators won't be that great this year.

murph

Well that sure isn't a Japanese beetle.

Yeah I figured out it wasn't a Japanese Beetle. But I still can't get rid of the little larvae pests. They eat faster than the adults. I just also read that when they finish off the potato's they will go after the tomatoes. If they do, I am dead. My wife will kill me.

murph

murph