Backyard Gardening

A place to discuss health and fitness, including healthy diets, etc.
User avatar
Ayu
Global Moderator
Posts: 13244
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:25 am
Location: Europe

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by Ayu »

treehuggingoctopus wrote:Drats, them aphids again. This year they are munching on my spindletree and the newly planted sycamore. Does anybody know how to convince the buggers to relocate? I will not kill them but the plants do need to see them gone.
I'm afraid there is only one choice: the aphids or the plant. (This is a continous source of bad karma for me - if anyone found a better solution than killing or let the plant die, please share!)

Sometimes, if a tree is big and the climate is not perfect for the aphids the tree survives somehow.
To support the decline of the aphids, ladybugs are very helpful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccinellidae
One of them eats 200 aphids per day.
User avatar
treehuggingoctopus
Posts: 2506
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:26 pm
Location: EU

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

Ayu wrote:
treehuggingoctopus wrote:Drats, them aphids again. This year they are munching on my spindletree and the newly planted sycamore. Does anybody know how to convince the buggers to relocate? I will not kill them but the plants do need to see them gone.
I'm afraid there is only one choice: the aphids or the plant. (This is a continous source of bad karma for me - if anyone found a better solution than killing or let the plant die, please share!)

Sometimes, if a tree is big and the climate is not perfect for the aphids the tree survives somehow.
To support the decline of the aphids, ladybugs are very helpful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccinellidae
One of them eats 200 aphids per day.
Yes, ladybugs are truly murderous beings - plenty of them in my willows, but I feel relocating a few to the sycamore is no different from me killing the aphids with garlic. Do you think hosing them off would kill them?
Générosité de l’invisible.
Notre gratitude est infinie.
Le critère est l’hospitalité.

Edmond Jabès
User avatar
Ayu
Global Moderator
Posts: 13244
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:25 am
Location: Europe

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by Ayu »

I think, if you want to take care of them, you have to offer the plant. :shrug:

Or you can cut off the afflicted branches and bring them to a place far away.
User avatar
treehuggingoctopus
Posts: 2506
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:26 pm
Location: EU

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

Alas, the sycamore is far too young for pruning. I am afraid I will have to go for the gory option and use the ladybugs, and come March start spraying the plants with mint oil, well before any aphids try reappearing.
Générosité de l’invisible.
Notre gratitude est infinie.
Le critère est l’hospitalité.

Edmond Jabès
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by Malcolm »

treehuggingoctopus wrote:Alas, the sycamore is far too young for pruning. I am afraid I will have to go for the gory option and use the ladybugs, and come March start spraying the plants with mint oil, well before any aphids try reappearing.
Neem oil is more effective...
User avatar
Ayu
Global Moderator
Posts: 13244
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:25 am
Location: Europe

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by Ayu »

treehuggingoctopus wrote:Alas, the sycamore is far too young for pruning. I am afraid I will have to go for the gory option and use the ladybugs, and come March start spraying the plants with mint oil, well before any aphids try reappearing.
Maybe you can think about how the ladybugs are bound to die, if they do not eat. Noone can make them vegetarians.
I think, it is helpful to think in wider circles. That's the wheel of life.
User avatar
treehuggingoctopus
Posts: 2506
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:26 pm
Location: EU

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

Malcolm wrote:
treehuggingoctopus wrote:Alas, the sycamore is far too young for pruning. I am afraid I will have to go for the gory option and use the ladybugs, and come March start spraying the plants with mint oil, well before any aphids try reappearing.
Neem oil is more effective...
It sounds truly gruesome: http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
Ayu wrote:
treehuggingoctopus wrote:Alas, the sycamore is far too young for pruning. I am afraid I will have to go for the gory option and use the ladybugs, and come March start spraying the plants with mint oil, well before any aphids try reappearing.
Maybe you can think about how the ladybugs are bound to die, if they do not eat. Noone can make them vegetarians.
I think, it is helpful to think in wider circles. That's the wheel of life.
Well... the idea was not to feed the poor starving ladybugs (which do have plenty to eat where they are right now, i.e. in my willows) but to save the sycamore -- which means getting rid of the aphids with the help of the aforementioned ladybugs. So while everything is very much what you refer to as the wheel of life, no easy way out for me here, I am afraid.
Last edited by treehuggingoctopus on Mon May 18, 2015 5:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Générosité de l’invisible.
Notre gratitude est infinie.
Le critère est l’hospitalité.

Edmond Jabès
User avatar
Ayu
Global Moderator
Posts: 13244
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:25 am
Location: Europe

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by Ayu »

I see. You're right, there seems to be no easy way, for me neither.
User avatar
treehuggingoctopus
Posts: 2506
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:26 pm
Location: EU

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

Ayu wrote:the ladybugs are bound to die, if they do not eat. Noone can make them vegetarians.
Come on, Ayu ;-) If it has worked with lions, ladybugs are going to be a piece of cake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkR2XEYEFgk
Générosité de l’invisible.
Notre gratitude est infinie.
Le critère est l’hospitalité.

Edmond Jabès
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by Malcolm »

treehuggingoctopus wrote:
Malcolm wrote:
treehuggingoctopus wrote:Alas, the sycamore is far too young for pruning. I am afraid I will have to go for the gory option and use the ladybugs, and come March start spraying the plants with mint oil, well before any aphids try reappearing.
Neem oil is more effective...
It sounds truly gruesome: http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
Ayu wrote:
treehuggingoctopus wrote:Alas, the sycamore is far too young for pruning. I am afraid I will have to go for the gory option and use the ladybugs, and come March start spraying the plants with mint oil, well before any aphids try reappearing.
Maybe you can think about how the ladybugs are bound to die, if they do not eat. Noone can make them vegetarians.
I think, it is helpful to think in wider circles. That's the wheel of life.
Well... the idea was not to feed the poor starving ladybugs (which do have plenty to eat where they are right now, i.e. in my willows) but to save the sycamore -- which means getting rid of the aphids with the help of the aforementioned ladybugs. So while everything is very much what you refer to as the wheel of life, no easy way out for me here, I am afraid.
It is like giving them heroin. Not like gassing them with Sarin, or setting the dogs on them (ladybugs).
User avatar
treehuggingoctopus
Posts: 2506
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:26 pm
Location: EU

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

Thanks, Malcolm. Neem oil it is going to be then. I would rather be a drug dealer than a mass murderer.
Générosité de l’invisible.
Notre gratitude est infinie.
Le critère est l’hospitalité.

Edmond Jabès
Norwegian
Posts: 2632
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 7:36 pm

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by Norwegian »

treehuggingoctopus wrote:I would rather be a drug dealer than a mass murderer.
Image
User avatar
明安 Myoan
Former staff member
Posts: 2855
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 7:11 am
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by 明安 Myoan »

You can also hose the majority of them off first, sparing some. Make sure to do the appropriate mantras or some kind of practice for them as you treat the tree... it's an opportunity for everyone.
Namu Amida Butsu
User avatar
treehuggingoctopus
Posts: 2506
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:26 pm
Location: EU

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

Monlam Tharchin wrote:You can also hose the majority of them off first, sparing some. Make sure to do the appropriate mantras or some kind of practice for them as you treat the tree... it's an opportunity for everyone.
I have tried hosing, no noticeable effect. It seems the spindletree is already past any help, and I am desperate enough to start spraying the sycamore with neem oil tomorrow. Thanks for help!

An entirely unrelated question to the gardeners here: could you recommend any website that would help me identify a few (probably rather popular, at least in Central European gardens) conifers? Some time ago we got a dozen from the wife's parents -- an obviously very well meant but ultimately troublesome gift, as they are perfectly clueless with respect to what the plants actually are. Some seem to be thujas, one is probably some sort of false cypress, another a creeping juniper or somesuch -- the problem is, since I do not know what they really are, I have no idea about the space they neeed in the garden. And the garden, alas, is small.
Générosité de l’invisible.
Notre gratitude est infinie.
Le critère est l’hospitalité.

Edmond Jabès
User avatar
treehuggingoctopus
Posts: 2506
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:26 pm
Location: EU

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

Malcolm wrote:
treehuggingoctopus wrote:Alas, the sycamore is far too young for pruning. I am afraid I will have to go for the gory option and use the ladybugs, and come March start spraying the plants with mint oil, well before any aphids try reappearing.
Neem oil is more effective...
The thing is a miracle. Five sprayings altogether, and the aphids are mostly gone. Plants seem to like it, too (with the possible exception of one acer palmatum, whose sudden demise I blame on other presently mysterious factors, though): the spindletree was so badly infested I thought there was no hope, yet here it is, not just alive but positively thriving.

Once again, thanks!
Générosité de l’invisible.
Notre gratitude est infinie.
Le critère est l’hospitalité.

Edmond Jabès
User avatar
treehuggingoctopus
Posts: 2506
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:26 pm
Location: EU

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

Help needed again. This time three young trees -- a Prunus cerasifera, a Cercis canadensis and a Cercidiphyllum japonicum -- are stricken with some kind of fungal infection. Or so I suspect.

There are dark brown patches on the bark -- especially around the places where I did some pruning last year (a clean knife, sunny and dry weather plus some ointment that was supposed to keep fungi away) -- which in the darkest spots has started to crack. I have been trying to get to the healthy green tissue, but I am scratching, and scratching, and scratching, and it is still brown and not green...

If anyone were able to help, I would be more than happy. I have got some photos but they are too big to be uploaded here.
Générosité de l’invisible.
Notre gratitude est infinie.
Le critère est l’hospitalité.

Edmond Jabès
User avatar
Ayu
Global Moderator
Posts: 13244
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:25 am
Location: Europe

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by Ayu »

User avatar
treehuggingoctopus
Posts: 2506
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:26 pm
Location: EU

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

Not at all.

Drats, for some reason I cannot upload any photos. :shrug:

Ayu, if you do not mind, I will send you the link via PM.
Générosité de l’invisible.
Notre gratitude est infinie.
Le critère est l’hospitalité.

Edmond Jabès
User avatar
Ayu
Global Moderator
Posts: 13244
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:25 am
Location: Europe

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by Ayu »

I see. Maybe you can provide that photo-link to the public also. Or you can try to upload them in a smaller size, for example from this provider: http://picr.de . Maybe other people could recognize it as something that I don't know.

As far as I can perceive, it must be this moniliana-desease:
http://www.ent.uga.edu/peach/peachhbk/f ... ownrot.pdf
At least this is very common for plum and cherry trees.

The problem is: there is no real helpful remedy. Nothing to spay once to finish the problem. You can try it with an anti-funghi chemical pesticide, but this might not be very ecological and also not effective. You have to look, what kind of stuff is available.
All you can do is trying to strengthen the tree and observe how he is doing. To cut of the infected branches might be a valid measure, but the funghi is inside. Nevertheless, I know a cherrytree that improved by persistent caretaking - and two trees improved just by better weather after some years.
Possible ecological measures:
Cutting off sick branches,
Spray with a fresh or fermented tea from Equisetum arvense, diluted with water 1:10. This strengthens especially leaves.
After spraying throw some "rock flour"* on the leaves and affected areas.
(* I don't find the word in English. It is some milled grey stone, used as mineral fertilizer in ecological gardening.)

In our retreatplace there is a big walnut tree, and it seemed to be dying. It was too big for me to cut it. I'm not so courageous to climb any tree of any heighth. So, since I was taking care of the offerings on the altar when we held Nyung Me ritual there, I watered that tree with the safran water from the offering bowls, for four days. Next year the tree looked much better.
Sometimes those trees can manage improving with the help of their own self-regulating forces and by other positive outside conditions.
I saw one cherry tree improving by nothing. Only some people making music near to it regularily. :shrug:

:( But if the sickness grows mighty and the stem doesn't provide any stability anymore, maybe you have to cut it down. But until then one can give the trees some time and observe them.
Last edited by Ayu on Sat Jun 25, 2016 10:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
treehuggingoctopus
Posts: 2506
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:26 pm
Location: EU

Re: Backyard Gardening

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

Thank you, Ayu! Do you think the katsura tree and the eastern redbud are suffering from the same fungus that has infected the cherry plum?

Smaller photos below:

Cercidyphyllum japonicum (aka katsura tree):

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/FoLm6 ... EKstQ=s190
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/DPMhX ... QVTqQ=s190
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/MXYCx ... 3fOrw=s190
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nSx3l ... UtV7A=s190
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ZLAyl ... 2dh7A=s190
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_ufWf ... gfD9A=s190
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/giLNd ... QRR7A=s190

Cercis canadensis (aka eastern redbud):

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/L7jS4 ... DkAIw=s190
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Hiw6 ... Ui_jg=s190
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/Np4dr ... 94r1A=s190
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/kmGCK ... n2okg=s190
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/k6YqJ ... nBn6w=s190
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ladaH ... Wx7WA=s190
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/T86-l ... XrrTw=s190

Prunus cerasifera (aka cherry plum):

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/eZbJs ... wwAQw=s190
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/siIrE ... 5_D2w=s190
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/NnoSk ... X6qsQ=s190
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BmcEh ... fRzDA=s190
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_SF3g ... qN27w=s190
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/NBQiT ... E8X0w=s190
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/NBQiT ... E8X0w=s190
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/X8kLF ... 18cWA=s190
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a_Hyo ... B3bEA=s190
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/1xWQ9 ... gqAjw=s190
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/7uVCX ... UuHUw=s190
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ZgK29 ... wsp0w=s190
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/XNEgw ... Z2U1g=s190
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/FHhCP ... 1GZpQ=s190
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/RYsgn ... yx-Ww=s190
Générosité de l’invisible.
Notre gratitude est infinie.
Le critère est l’hospitalité.

Edmond Jabès
Post Reply

Return to “Wellness, Diet and Fitness”