2023 Gardens

[LPS]

Just showed this to the wife as she walked by.  I guess I will be cleaning those lights.  lol   I will plug the holes with some caulk. I suppose I should spray some wasp killer in the hole first.  ???

[Steve-o]

Hard to know which came first.  Did the woodpeckers make those holes to get at the wasps, or did the wasps build their house where the woodpeckers made holes?   

Either way, the woodpeckers won't make holes unless they are after some sort of insect they hear rooting around under there.  I'd definitely spray a bunch of bug killer in there, let it dry and then try to plug the holes.  There may be more than one entrance.

[LPS]

At least they don't seem to be getting in the house yet.

[Dotch]

Worked about dark on cleaning up the ground fall pears under the tree. The damn bald-faced hornets have been into those too so waited until then to avoid a confrontation. Fixed their assets. Dumped a couple 5 gallon pails of pears over the fence to the sheep. Now I need to pick the rest off the tree so they can be ripened and/or shared with friends. 

[glenn57]

What kind of bug is this??? have a bunch flying around under many big maple tree  the last few days.

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[Dotch]

A couple of moths mating, possibly one of the cutworm species. How big are they?

[glenn57]

That's 2 there. Maybe 3/4 to and inch long

[Dotch]

The size is right but it's a little tough to ID them as the pic is pretty blurry, sorta like this recent photo of sasquatch in my yard...

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[glenn57]

  and here I thought only leech has pictures of him 

[LPS]

I bet he does.   

[Dotch]

Snapped that one just before I caught him stealing my pears!  Luckily I've got a bunch picked already. Should be another bucket to pick yet.

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[KEN W]

What variety is it? Need a Polinator?

[Steve-o]

Snapped that one just before I caught him stealing my pears! 

Sasquatch gotta eat! 

[Dotch]

What variety is it? Need a Polinator?

The variety in the bucket is Parker. It should have a pollinator variety or it won't bear consistently. The pollinator we have is Patten which was the recommended pollinator for Parker at the time. The Patten tree has set very few pears since we've had them even though it flowers profusely. The fruit is large when it does set a few pears. Need to quiz some of my connections as I'm wondering if adding another pear variety or varieties to the mix might help that one. 

https://extension.umn.edu/fruit/growing-pears#selecting-plants-667860

https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/123172/1/MR211.pdf

[KEN W]

I live on the northern edge of Zone 4......None recommended in that article would probably survive here except the small one. Guess not.

[Dotch]

Bummer. I think the Ure variety might work but as you say, the pears may be on the small size. There are some folks who have a Golden Spice tree south of town. They make a good pollinator & are tasty but are small & get overripe quickly. 

[roony]

Our 3 pears are Luscious, Gourmet, and Parker. The Luscious are the best.

[Dotch]

Your Parker must be the pollinator tree unless you have neighbors with pear trees nearby. You have all the good pears...

Spied a relatively large moth on the wall last nite so sent a photo to my friend the Boy Entomologist. It's a catacola or underwing, in this case a red-underwing. Left it alone until this a.m. when Poppy was chasing it around the house. Let her out & caught the moth so I could turn it loose outside. On the wall it looked like a large brown moth. Flying around, could see it had the red underwing. The bottom photo is a stock photo, not from the moth in the top picture.

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[mike89]

just seen one of them the other day, laying dead on the sidewalk... 

[roony]

Your Parker must be the pollinator tree unless you have neighbors with pear trees nearby. You have all the good pears...

Spied a relatively large moth on the wall last nite so sent a photo to my friend the Boy Entomologist. It's a catacola or underwing, in this case a red-underwing. Left it alone until this a.m. when Poppy was chasing it around the house. Let her out & caught the moth so I could turn it loose outside. On the wall it looked like a large brown moth. Flying around, could see it had the red underwing. The bottom photo is a stock photo, not from the moth in the top picture.

We were getting pears on the Luscious before I started the Parker. A neighbor has a Parker tree nearly a mile away. Apparently that's close enough.

[glenn57]

iget my pears in a 10 lb box!!!!!!!

after today my garden will be absent carrots. then it'll be just Kalabari and 7 mater plants.  3 campori's and 4 lucky tigers. but dang nabit there slow to ripen!!!!

by mid next week all my other maters will be devoured......then withdrawals!!!!!!

[Gunner55]

             

[Dotch]

Your Parker must be the pollinator tree unless you have neighbors with pear trees nearby. You have all the good pears...

Spied a relatively large moth on the wall last nite so sent a photo to my friend the Boy Entomologist. It's a catacola or underwing, in this case a red-underwing. Left it alone until this a.m. when Poppy was chasing it around the house. Let her out & caught the moth so I could turn it loose outside. On the wall it looked like a large brown moth. Flying around, could see it had the red underwing. The bottom photo is a stock photo, not from the moth in the top picture.

We were getting pears on the Luscious before I started the Parker. A neighbor has a Parker tree nearly a mile away. Apparently that's close enough.

The guy west of town only has one tree and had pears on it last year. There is a tree about a mile from him. Closest pear trees I know of anywhere near us are up by Otisco. Looks like I might have to get 2 pear trees, a Luscious and possibly a Summercrisp if I want to increase the potential on the Patten. They appear to be the varieties that might fit our scenario the best. The whole pear tree pollination process is interesting given the lack of large numbers of bees when they flower in these parts. There are usually a lot of flies around though that are attracted to the flowers. Not sure how efficient they are at pollinating as there is little mention of them in the reading I've done.   

[glenn57]

           

[glenn57]

after reviewing the forecast......looks like sunday i'll be pulling the 7 mater plants, then garden will be done.

think mine was in longer then that Roony guy!!!!!!!!

[mike89]

I'll bet he still has produce in the garden!!!   

[LPS]

We could have dumped out earth boxes last week when they were dry.  Now they will be heavy as heck to deal with. 

[glenn57]

We could have dumped out earth boxes last week when they were dry.  Now they will be heavy as heck to deal with.

are you like my wife LPS  why do it today when you can wait till tomorrow. 

The ultimate procrastinator.

[KEN W]

Pulled half my tomato plants today will get the rest hopefully tomorrow if it isn't raining. Still have cauliflower and broccoli in the ground. Will cover them this weekend.

Will start digging potatoes next week. Waiting for a frost before digging carrots,

[Dotch]

Completed the vine crop harvest. Took longer than anticipated. Lots of deer poop. Had to watch my step. A lot more gourds than I would've guessed. Pile freaked Poppy out. Much growling & barking.


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