Gardening During the Winter in Guerneville, California

In Guerneville, gardening during a rainy winter is a pain in the, well, you know! Right now we are having a very wet and soggy December here at the Russian River in Sonoma County.

At my house, even though I have planted a few varieties if kale and Champion collards, they are sitting in soil that is waterlogged and supersaturated. It is very muddy out there. So my garden right now is in a kind of almost underwater stasis. I am sure that nothing is growing very much at all. 

This is a time of year to clean up and organize the garden. On sunny days during the winter, I try to move forward on outside projects: building retaining walls, creating a walkway, making repairs on my house and, of course, constantly making compost. My compost never heats up by the way. I just let time work for me to keep everything moving forward. I do however toss in a tablespoon or two of bone meal and blood meal onto each layer of the compost as I build the pile. I never turn it and the new stuff goes into a heavy duty trash can that I drilled air holes into the sides and covered with 1/4” hardware cloth to keep local critters ( rats, mice, possums, cats and dogs) out of the can. These animals cannot take the lids off of my cans. After the compost reduces in the first can, I fork it over into a second can that I have configured in the same way as the first one.

This is the Brute Trash Can I use...

And, here is a link to the site that told me I can compost a lot of things: http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm

One of the best books I have ever seen about making compost is this one: “The Complete Compost Gardening Guide: Banner batches, grow heaps, comforter compost, and other amazing techniques for saving time and money, and ... most flavorful, nutritious vegetables ever” at Amazon.com.

Fruit Trees

I have always wanted to have an orchard, but at my house in Guerneville and living on a hillside, that is not possible. My house is also surrounded by 8 redwood trees. So my fruit trees would have to compete with roving redwood tree roots and too much shade in most parts of the garden. In addition I am reducing the size of my garden and I do not want fruit tree roots competing with the roots of my my vegetable garden. So how do I fulfill this dream? Maybe planting miniature trees in oak wine barrels?

Here is a great article I found on the internet entitled: “How to Choose Miniature and Dwarf Fruit Trees.”   I have to say that this article gave me a lot hope and gave some good information as to how I might get started and to control the growth of even a standard size fruit tree. And the author of this article at Square Foot Abundance, highly recommends that we get a copy of American Horticultural Society Pruning and Training. I recommend this pruning book also. It is incredibly informative and I have my own hardback  personal copy in my gardening library. This article at SF Gate.com was very informative too: The Best Dwarf Fruit Trees.

Another great book to check out: McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers.

My Serious Whitefly Problem, Part 4

Things seem to be improving with my whitefly problem on my veggies and other plants. So, there is hope that you can get things under control. Do not give up!

I have been going out just about every other day and spraying with my Dawn dishwashing liquid solution. This should be done early in the morning, just before the sun gets too high in the sky. The whiteflies are also kind of lethargic and you can get a few more of them.

It is depressing to see that there are still quite a few of these critters, but the population has diminished. Leaf damage by these sucking insects is still around and I am cutting those leaves off and throwing them into the green waste recycling bin to get them out of here.

One of my San Marzano tomatoes is looking weak and I am fearful it may not make it, but it does seem to be hanging on. I shake each plant and some insects come flying out. Most do not head for the yellow sticky traps. They just head for another plant to try to hide out. Others, still lethargic from overnight cooling, are grouped on the underside of leaves and can be hit hard with the Dawn solution. This was the particular case with the underside of my zucchini leaves which are huge right now. Each leaf is more than a foot across - and a great hiding place for this awful pest.

I want to address some of the remedies I found on the internet that I mentioned in Part 3. 

The sticky traps work, but only very minimally, in my opinion. The traps have got to be virtually next to the plant and you have to do some shaking of the plant to get those whiteflies to take flight. Do not expect these traps to solve your problem. Oh, another thing, those traps catch a lot of other bugs and I have seen a ladybug or two stuck to them. Ouch! I have seen what I believe to be a lacewing too, a common predator of the whitefly. Double Ouch!!! Now, we are repeatedly told to do everything we can to introduce or attract predators of various pests. And I have read that the plants themselves are sending out distress calls in some way to attract predators. But for me, it is probably too late to take steps to get a large amount of ladybugs and lacewings into the garden to eat my swarms of whiteflies. One or two of these beneficial insects is not going to help either, even more so if those have taken a wrong turn onto a sticky trap. I am not feeling too guilty for the traps because I have not seen one live ladybug or lacewing on the tomatoes or my squash eating whiteflies. Ladybugs are notorious for not staying in your garden anyway when you try to introduce them yourself. Finally, there is no way I am going to wait for a plant SOS to get out into nature when you consider the reproduction rate of whiteflies. According to the Ventura County, CA Master Gardener website, “whiteflies may mature from the egg stage to an adult (ready to lay more eggs) in as few as 16 days.”

Another thing that bothered me about the solutions to this problem is that it is recommended that you put in plants that have a strong scent. I have spearmint in a pot near two of my tomatoes and that has not helped at all. In fact, I have found whiteflies flying off some of my herbs. The scented plant deterrent is a bust. Another solution is to have nasturtiums and marigolds scattered around your garden. I have both and this obviously did not work for me either. When I shook those plants, the swarms of whiteflies that flew out was just incredible.

The bottom line for me is that you have to take a direct approach yourself using a commercial insecticidal soap or use your own homemade version.

My Serious Whitefly Problem, Part 3

Whiteflies transmit a lot of viral plant diseases and costs agriculture hundreds of millions of dollars around the world. All I want is to get rid of this pest from my own garden and stop the destruction of my vegetable garden.

Possible solutions that are organic and do not use any form of pesticide:

• Insecticidal soap purchased in a spray bottle.
• Dishwashing liquid solution - your own homemade version of insecticidal soap.
• Washing the plant with water.
• Yellow sticky traps (One idea was to cover yellow plastic cups with motor oil!!! Other ideas have been to use petroleum jelly as a sticky substance).
• Remove dead or damaged leaves that have infected by whitefles.
• Use a battery operated hand vacuum.
• Attract predators to your garden:  Green lacewings, ladybirds, minute pirate bugs, big-eyed bugs, and damsel bugs, hummingbirds, wasps, lady bugs, spiders, and flies.
• Biopesticides based on microbials.
• Using companion planting - nasturtiums have been found to be helpful and zinnias, hummingbird bush, bee balm and pineapple sage attract predators of whiteflies too.
• Put in scented plants that conceal the scent of your plants and vegetables that are susceptible to whiteflies such as varieties of mints.
• Plant marigolds and nasturtiums.
• Use worm castings as a mulch.
• An epsom salts solution to help plants that have phosphorus and magnesium deficiencies.
• Neem oil.
• Use a mulch to cover bare soil.

By the way, companion planting is a whole universe of issues and Wikipedia, where I got some of the above suggestions, has an extensive list of how to use companion planting at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants. Also, check out: http://www.sgaonline.org.au/companion-planting/.

My Serious Whitefly Problem, Part 2

Whitefly damage on a tomato leaf
(From http://ncsupdicblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/sample-of-week-tomato-triple-whammy.html)

After my last post, I went looking for causes and solutions to my incredible whitefly problem. A few things popped up immediately in my Google search. 

One man suggested via YouTube (see his video link below) using an insecticidal soap-like solution containing merely dishwashing liquid and water. I already had that and have been using it to stop cabbage moth larvae from eating up my brassicas (at this time I have kale and collards in my garden). My soap of choice is original, non-scented, intense blue Dawn liquid. This stuff is great. It is used to clean up birds who get caught in major oil spills. I use it with water for all of my cleaning needs around the house, including  washing my windows. My windows come out gleaming and crystal clear.

I took my spray bottle of Dawn liquid solution and I went out and sprayed all of my vegetables. The main idea is to make sure that you spray under the leaves - the location where the bugs hang out. As I went from plant to plant, I  shook each plant and whiteflies flew out from each one. I have to say that I was alarmed and shocked. I found a suggestion that you should remove all of the leaves from your plants that appear to be dead or infected and remove them from your garden completely. Why? Because whiteflies and their eggs can still be hanging on for dear life. To me this means do not even think of composting this kind of debris. After I tossed into a garbage can all of the poppies that were a whitefly breeding factory mentioned in Part One, I went back to that can and removed the top to additional debris. A swarm of whiteflies flew out into my face. It was like something out of a horror movie. That lid was slammed down so fast to make your head swim. Whitefly zombies?!!! The Flying Dead! What does it take to kill these things?

My research also indicated that too many nearby weeds may be causing and contributing to the problem. And, boy, do I have lots of weeds around! In the space between my neighbor's  garage and the retaining walls that enclose my garden, there are weeds growing so out of control with no water, that you would think I was living next to a reverse Amazon jungle. I got one of my 32 gallon plastic green trash cans and filled it within a matter of minutes. I am going to work to get this under control ASAP!

Here are several links I found helpful to help understand and eradicate whiteflies in your garden:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitefly

2. http://www.almanac.com/content/whiteflies

3. http://ucipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7401.html

4. http://ucanr.edu/sites/VCMG/Controlling_Whiteflies_in_Your_Garden/

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvDYxIu8m2g

My Serious Whitefly Problem!

I was out in my garden this afternoon and I finally realized that I have a major whitefly problem. When I nudged some red flowering poppies near my front gate to cut off some dead leaves, I could not believe the swarm that flew out. I also have pots of marigolds nearby and swarms flew out from them too. I decided to do a quick check of everything in the garden. All you have to do is go to each plant and gently shake the leaves. My strawberries were infected. Each one of my six tomatoes had small infestations too. I already have a those yellow sticky traps on the side of all of my tomato cages and those traps have caught quite a few bugs but not that many white flies.

What on Earth is going on here?

First of all, I am using the sticky yellow traps sold by Seabright Laboratories, located in Emeryville, CA. Only about 80 miles or so from my front door here in Guerneville, CA. They do work and I used them last year by tying one on each my tomato cages. Siince I knew they caught bugs I put them up on the cages as soon as I planted my tomatoes this year. These cages are not too far away from the other plants I mentioned above. I simply do not understand how all of those whiteflies took up residence in my garden. Also, I do not understand  why or how they infested most of my tomatoes? Did they slip in under cover of night like insect versions of Navy Seals or some Black OPS group right out of a Tom Clancy novel? Aren’t they supposed to make a beeline directly to those sticky traps as soon as they see the color yellow? 

Well, I took immediate action to halt my infestation and I installed a new trap within inches of the poppies. After shaking the poppies, a Luftwaffe squad of those little white critters dive-bombed that sticky trap. YES!!!  I also decided to pulled up the poppies and they were tossed into the yard waste bin. Two of my tomato cages got additional traps. And one trap was placed near my cucumbers. Now I have 10 traps that are in an area that is probably less than 100 square feet. Since my garden is in my front yard, the neighbors must be thinking that I am signaling to alien spacecraft. They are probably also waiting for me to start wearing an aluminum garden hat to stop the government from hearing my thoughts and transferring information to those pesky Navy Seal, Black OPS whiteflies that have invaded my garden.