I finally got around to spraying the Brussels sprouts with soap again. The broccoli needed spraying too. The aphids are taking over slowly. I find soap works OK if you cover every tiny part of the plant and spray regularly. I probably ought to look up how long it takes for eggs to hatch and aphids to reproduce to make sure I'm not getting multiple generations not being sprayed, but I've never done that. I try to spray once a week, but in reality it tends to be more like every two which isn't enough to keep them down.
But as long as my little Brussels sprouts stay aphid free I'll be happy. It sure does seem like a lot of work though. Especially this week. We are getting a heat wave that is lasting over a week. I'm a true heat wimp. I've been known to faint in the heat. Needless to say, I do all my work in the early morning during weeks like this.
Other bad news is that I saw my first wilted leaf. I never got wilt in the cucumbers at my last house. We had cucumber beetles, but they didn't seem to spread it. Here we get it ever year like clockwork. I've learned to use a row cover early and only let them out after they have started to run. It delays the inevitable. It is too bad the wilt has started as I'm trying to learn how to make fermented dills and I could use more cukes for experimenting. But it will take it a while for the wilt to take them down. Probably weeks. The bacteria starts with one leaf and it travels very slowly up and down the stem and the leaves die one by one. Hopefully it will be a while still before it gets transferred to all the other cukes. I'm trying Lemon cucumbers for the first time and they haven't even set any cukes yet.
But there isn't all bad news in the garden. I sowed some lettuce last weekend. It is up even with the heat. I'm using this as a little nursery row. I'll transplant them to better spacing when they get bigger - and all the other lettuce has bolted.
I've been working in the garden before breakfast to try and beat the heat. A front is supposed to go through tonight and give us a bit of relief, if you call temps in the high 80F range relief! Bacterial wilt is often a problem in our area too, if spider mites don't get the plants first. I'm not up for spraying every cucumber leaf to control them either. Your sprout plants are looking good!
ReplyDeleteThe heat and humidity are really limiting what I do in the garden. Today I added more trellis for the pole beans, and that was IT.
ReplyDeleteHope your plants outrun the wilt!
Looks like you will be getting some sprouts this year! Hopefully you are able to keep the aphids at bay. I haven't had wilt yet, but each year it's the powdery mildew that takes down both the squash and the cucumbers. I have sprayed them with a milk spray in the past as a preventative measure - not sure how well that works - but this year, I'm just too busy to bother.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I enjoy about gardening blogs is seeing how differently things are done in other growing zones. You have brussels sprouts already and we're still weeks away from even planting ours!
ReplyDeleteWe've had an exceptionally cool summer so far with lots of rain (and our "monsoons" aren't even here yet) which has me worried for our tomatoes. Add to the lack of productivity in the garden the incredibly prolific squash bugs and I'm not quite sure where this is all going to go. Though I am also hopeful for Brussels sprouts! And so it goes, right? We sow our seeds, take good care of them to the best of our ability, and release the outcome to the powers that be.
ReplyDeleteI just potted up my brussels sprouts seedlings yesterday, along with a few other fall/winter brassicas. And there's some lettuce seedlings on the way too. I'm still searching for lettuce varieties that will take some heat, our warmest time of year will be starting just about when the lettuce should be sizing up.
ReplyDeleteIf it's not one thing, it's another! I hope you manage to get those Brussels sprouts to maturity because I know you have been wanting them for quite a while.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the wilt. I keep checking the cucumbers worried that it has started. But the PM has definitely arrived, some small spots on the squash, so I'm spraying GreenCure for that now. These hot, humid days sure don't help.
ReplyDeleteWe are getting heat now too and could use some more rain. I just planted lemon cucumbers for the first time. They are barely up. Not sure if I will like them or not. Nancy
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