pests – High Country Living

2020 GARDEN SEASON

November 20, 2020

by Laurie

2020 OUTDOOR GARDEN SEASON

THE 2020 OUTDOOR GARDEN SEASON is now wrapped up. Snow and below zero temps began Sunday, October 25. All remaining plants were removed from the garden during the prior week, including carrots, potatoes, parsnips, leeks, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower & kale. Most beds have been covered with compost & hay mulch, so they can rest throughout the winter months. (Without enough compost to cover all beds, a few beds remain–waiting for compost & mulch later.) The greenhouse continues year-round, keeps me busy, and provides fresh produce that doesn’t store as well as many of the things grown outside.

“EVERY YEAR IS DIFFERENT” is my new theme, and this year may have been the craziest of all! It was the most unique year we’ve had so far, in many ways. Here is a wrap-up of 2020 Outdoor Garden highlights.

LATE & EARLY WEATHER EVENTS

This year we experienced a late snow storm June 9 along with an early snow storm September 9. This was by far the shortest summer season we’ve had since I’ve been recording weather stats in 2015. The chart shows 2020 alongside the previous years with the number of days between a low of 32° and number of days between snow storms.

Rainfall and temperatures were pretty close to average throughout the summer, with the exception of September, which was colder. We did not have much hail this year. The hail we did have was small and did not cause damage, thanks to our shade cloth protection.

MENTIONABLE PESTS

This year we saw almost no bugs. Just a few of the grubs we normally see, a few leaf miners and very few aphids.

This was the first year we had noticeable damage from rodents: mice & pack rats. Other folks in the area have complained of the same dilemma (I’ve heard of quite a few pack rat nests & damage in local cars.)

For us, the mice ate small seedlings in the garden; particularly the broccoli, cauliflower & cabbage seedlings. The pack rats came a bit later on, demolishing full-grown bean plants, carrot tops, potato plants & onions. Near the end of the summer Tim made some bait stations large enough to let the pack rats in and keep the cat & dog out. They seemed to be quite effective, so next year we’ll plan to get the bait stations out early in the season and stay ahead of the game.

NEW VEGETABLES GROWN IN 2020

2020's NEW VARIETIES

I tried a few new varieties of veggies I’ve grown before. For more detailed information, please see the individual pages for each vegetable.

CAULIFLOWER: I did not have much success with growing either Charming Snow or a Self-Blanching variety of cauliflower in the past. This year I had some great success with Snow Crown F1.

BROCCOLINI: Head broccoli has done well here, but this was the first year I’ve grown broccolini, first in the greenhouse, then in the outdoor garden. Aspabroc F1 did very well in both locations, kept me supplied with a great amount of broccolini, and I will definitely continue growing this delight.

WINTER SQUASH: My new successful trial was Small Wonder F1, a smaller-sized, short-season spaghetti squash. It was quite prolific and produced several nice sized squashes for the two of us, both outdoors & in the greenhouse. One nice thing about it was an abundance of male flowers I could use to pollinate all my other squash.
I also tried the Butterbush F1 variety in both the greenhouse and outdoor gardens. These were not successful in either location. I had trouble getting it to sprout & grow early enough in the greenhouse, and the outdoor plant did not produce squashes in time for them to mature before the first freeze.

PEAS: I tried an old variety, new to me, PLS 560. They probably grew as expected, but they were short, odd little plants than got all twangled up around each other, making it difficult to pick the peas. They were interesting, but I will probably not grow them again. I also grew snow peas for the first time, Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Pea, and they were a hit, to be planned again for next year.

NOTABLE HARVESTS

THE VEGETABLES GROWN this year will be updated for 2020 the “What We Grow” pages, but harvests of note were:

ONIONS: This year I purchased onion plants from Dixondale Farms, rather than starting my own from seed. I need a good head start on them prior to planting for this short season climate, and I just haven’t been able to do that with my greenhouse space limitations. This was the BEST ONION HARVEST I’ve had in this garden. Onions were attacked quite a bit by the pack rats, but continued to grow and produced nice bulbs for storage. I will definitely do this again in the future. I bought the Intermediate Day Sampler, with Candy, Superstar & Red Candy onions.
GARLIC did very well this year: Siberian Hardneck, purple stripe type. I tried growing Elephant Garlic, which had grown well in 2018, but this winter must have been too cold. None of the elephant garlic survived–it all turned to mush.
CARROTS: Although attacked by the pack rats, the carrots did reach a decent size for harvest, although smaller than previous years for the same varieties. Napoli, Mokum & Purplesnax.
POTATOES: Potatoes (Desiree, Pioneer Russet) did not do well at all this year. I was disappointed. I did not weigh them, but there may not have been more than 10-15 lbs. (Last year’s harvest was about 75 lbs in the same amount of space.) I suspect the reason was because there was the snow/cold in June just after the plants had begun to grow. Even though I’d covered them with frost cloth, they suffered some frost damage. Later on, several of the plant tops were gnawed off by the pack rats.

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, this unique year was quite successful despite its challenges. I look forward to the next, and the next, and the next…..

2020 SUMMER NEMESES

November 1, 2020

by Laurie with One Comment Garden

In the past we haven’t had many problems with pests. We thought our garden was pretty much pest-proof. We were pretty sure no deer, bunnies or squirrels could get in. This year we have experienced two new nemeses that kept us busy trying to get rid of them. First, mice. Then their larger cousin, the pack rat. Yeesh! What a year.

MICE
Early in May, we began to see evidence of chewing on some of the freshly transplanted seedlings, particularly things like the broccoli, cabbage & cauliflower planted in the beds around the perimeter. We’d always known mice would be able to fit in through the stucco netting which surrounds the garden perimeter beds, but we hadn’t experienced problems with them previously. This year they came with a vengeance. We put out bait stations as well as snap traps, and began catching 1-4 mice each night. Eventually there weren’t as many caught, and after the plants were larger, the mice didn’t seem to gnaw on them as much. But, almost nightly we reset the traps and each morning went out to check them, unsnap them, and retrieve any dead mice.

See the damage on this broccoli plant from May 5 after it was damaged, then as it grew back, then close to harvest, July 26.

BROCCOLI 5/5

BROCCOLI 5/26

BROCCOLI 7/26

We got the Tomcat mouse traps, which are a lot easier to set and also to release the dead mice than the traditional wood + spring type trap. You can also purchase some attractant, which makes baiting the traps a bit easier than peanut butter. In addition to the bait and traps, we cut out the bottoms out of several plastic bottles and placed them over the small seedlings to keep the mice out. That worked pretty well, but was an extra chore to place on the plants each night and remove in the morning. In addition to the traps & bottles, we began putting out mouse bait. We no longer cared about how the mice were removed, we just wanted them gone.

Tomcat Mouse Trap

Bottles

PACK RATS
The first inkling that we may have pack rats was May 30th, when I discovered this neatly laid pile of onions next to the onion bed, and these potato stems and cabbage leaves dismembered from their plants. (Fortunately these plants all survived!) I didn’t think that the mice would be able to do this, and the only thing I could think of was that it may be pack rats, known to be in our area. Below are photos of some of the damage found that day.

ONIONS 5/30

POTATOES 5/30

CABBAGE 5/30

Sometime in mid-August we realized that something had been on our deck several nights, and guessed that it was probably pack rats leaving behind bits of weeds and pack rat scat. We heard some noises at night like scratching under one of our windows. It turned out that it had squeezed into a spot between the deck and the greenhouse roof and was building a nest. Tim plugged the hole it had used to get in and we got a rat-sized trap. We caught one, but after that we would find the trap sprung with no critter in it. After the hole was plugged and traps were placed, I guess it needed a new place, and found our garden.

The morning of August 28 I was shocked to find damage all around the garden… As seen below, SEVERAL plants were damaged!

In addition to the damaged plants, the four bait stations we’d left out for the mice were gone! Not just the bait, the whole plastic bait station. Gone! Clearly, this had to be a pack rat family.

We were quite disheartened by the damage, but as I keep reminding myself, “every year is different”. I’m also getting better at laughing at some of the things that happen, with an attitude of, “isn’t that interesting?” Everything is never perfect, and every year brings new learning experiences.

Eventually, Tim found a DIY rat bait station idea online. He made a couple of these, put them out, and the first night the PR’s got into them and ate all 5 blocks of the bait out of each one. It’s large enough for the pack rats to get in, but not the cat, dog, or ducks. The bait blocks are suspended from the top on a rod or wire, each one falling to the bottom as the bottom one is eaten. After the first two were successful, Tim made about four more, and they are scattered all around out property. At this point, we seem to have taken care of the problem.

What about the cat, you ask? She does catch mice, but is locked inside each night (either the RV or a shed) to keep her from becoming coyote bait. We had been keeping her in our RV at night to keep the mice away, and it worked great….until she got bored and started tearing up the edge of the sofa. Now she’s in the shed at night. After moving the cat out of the RV, the pack rats found a new cozy home inside. We discovered they’d gotten in to the kitchen cabinets under the sink. After cleaning it all up & removing all the kitchen wares, Tim put another big trap out by the side of the RV, and they haven’t been in there since. Or else, they’re really neat and don’t poop or leave weeds laying around.

So that’s our pests saga for 2020. This year we found that the deer ate the rhubarb, which they haven’t done before. Other than that, it’s just another garden year with more experience under our belts. Next year, we will be proactive early in the spring with our DIY bait stations to keep the mice from the garden, house, sheds, barn, you name it.

LATE AUGUST PROGRESS: 2017

August 28, 2017

by Laurie with No Comment Garden Greenhouse

It’s time to update the progress in the garden, which I have been putting off because:

I’m too busy working in the garden to spend time writing, and choosing & editing photos.
I’ve thought that what anyone wants to see is results. Results won’t fully be in until the end of the season.
It’s a big project and somewhat overwhelming.

But, I have several observations to share near the end of our first season of high-altitude gardening. Some things have gone well, others have not. I realize that even when I am a “seasoned” high-elevation gardener, every year will be different and will bring different results.

WEATHER

This summer, after some very hot days the latter part of June and early July, we have since had an extraordinary amount of rain and generally cooler weather. And I mean “extra-ordinary”; it has rained almost daily. We had 25 days with rain the month of July, and all but 4 days so far in August have had rain. We’ve had a total of 10.6” during the months June-August, which is a lot for our location. Last year we had 1.8” during that same time period. Some days are sunny and quite warm in the morning, then cooler and cloudy/rainy in the afternoon. Some days we’ve had close to 1” of rain in a day, occasionally with small hail. Other days are just a few spits. Needless to say, I have not had to water the garden much. This photo was taken just after a thunderstorm, showing the typical dark sky and that lush green pasture we have this year.

SHADE CLOTH

The garden beds are almost always covered with shade cloth. The sun is so intense at 9,000 feet, we felt it was important to provide protection. Think “sunscreen” for plants. One concern about the shade cloth would be, “can the pollinators get in?” Yes, the ends of each bed are open, and they should be able to get in and out easily. The birds certainly have figured that out! No worries about the plants getting enough rain, either. The rain still gets through and the hail does not. Some of the hail will sit on top, and as it melts, it drips through to the beds. The shade cloth has been a great addition, and the plants are certainly not suffering from lack of sunshine.

UNIQUE HIGH ELEVATION TIMING

To some extent, I don’t know if we’re “on track” regarding timing. I think that most things are maturing much more slowly than they would in a warmer climate. I’m not yet sure if things will ripen before the temperatures dive in September. This is a photo of our tomatoes today. I just noticed that these had begun to turn orange yesterday. As an example of our timing here, this is a Glacier tomato, with days to maturity listed as 55. This is my first tomato with any color, shown 74 days after transplanting outside. I was already picking ripe tomatoes at this time where we used to live, although the bulk of them didn’t ripen until September. The only winter squashes I have on the vines are roughly the size of a golfball. At this point, I’m not thinking they will mature before the frosts begin in September. Just about everything is a month behind here, which makes sense, as our last frost date is also a month behind. For the most part I have chosen varieties that should mature as quickly as possible.

PESTS

The only pests I have had any trouble with have been grubs, aphids, and a few cabbage worms. Not bad!

The grubs showed up in the soil in probably the thousands. As I was digging through one of the unplanted beds one day I began finding them. The more I dug the more I found. I counted as I removed them, and estimated 4-500 in the top 5-6” of just one bed. I threw them all in a bucket and fed them to the ducks a couple of handfuls at a time, and at least they liked them. Although I didn’t observe any obvious plant damage, I was concerned that all these grubs might become some kind of beetles that I wouldn’t want around (beetles that would lay eggs which would become more grubs next season and then more beetles). I wasn’t sure if they would eventually damage the veggies, or not. My best guess is that beetles laid their eggs in our pile of horse manure that had been aging for a couple of years—apparently they love that stuff, and I found that the remainder of that pile was also full of grubs. To get them under control I got some beneficial nematodes, and within a couple of weeks they were largely gone. There are still a few here and there, but they are no longer bothersome.

Just the other day I noticed a beetle buzzing by me, and remembered that during my grub research I had seen photos of a “Bumble Flower Beetle” that looked like this photo. I now think that the grubs may be these beetle larvae, and more beneficial than damaging. There were so many of the grubs, it’s probably just as well that they are under control, but it just may be that they never were that much of a threat.

Aphids have found us and have been eating lettuces, kale and spinach. Not too badly, but they are there and laying eggs. I have sprayed them intermittently with neem and insecticidal soap, which seem to help. I had some calendula planted in a couple of spots, which I removed because they had gotten too big for their locations. When I pulled them up, I discovered that they were covered with aphids, so they may have acted as a “trap” for them, keeping them away from the vegetables to some extent. Off to the compost pile.

The cabbage worms have been present, but not in too many numbers. The same spray has been helpful to keep them at bay. I found one on my corn the other day, but none over there since then.

GREENHOUSE PLANS

Our current project is building a greenhouse. I’ll add another post on that at a later date. Tim’s been working hard to plan and has begun to build our winter oasis. The greenhouse will be attached to the southern side of our house, under and out from the deck. It will have approximately 110 sq.ft. of bed space, and an area for starting seedlings. It will be heated with radiant heat in the concrete floor, and will have a pond inside for thermal storage and for fish–I’ll be able to use the fish’s water to water the plants. It should be enclosed (we think) in about 4-5 weeks, with the heating in the floor to come later . Therefore, I’m already starting some seedlings indoors that will be planted out as soon as I can. Wow! Can’t wait!

IT’S BEEN 74 DAYS: HOW ARE THE VEGETABLES DOING?

It is now 74 days after “last frost”, when most plants were planted outside, give or take a day or two.

The cold-hardy vegetables have all done very well up to this point (brassicas such as kale, cauliflower, mustard; lettuces, spinach, beets, radishes, onions). I’ve started a second batch of all of these to extend into the fall, with covered beds as needed.

Some other vegetables that I expected to do well haven’t met my expectations, such as peas & beans. The peas are there, but not in the numbers I had in our previous garden. The beans have lots of blossoms but very few beans.

The warm-season vegetables that I’m experimenting with are still questionable, such as corn, squashes, and tomatoes. Tomatoes have just begun to turn yellow and orange, the corn has ears that are small and don’t feel like they have much inside, the squashes are small and I doubt they will ripen in time.

Perennials in their first year of growth are (I think) slowly growing, as to be expected. These are asparagus, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries.

At the end of the summer I’ll post all my observations of everything I’ve planted, I’ll do a page for each vegetable or vegetable group to keep it a bit organized. Hopefully the information will help anyone interested.

APRIL 2017 GARDEN PREPARATION

April 19, 2017

by Laurie with No Comment Garden

It’s springtime, and although there is certainly more snow to come, the garden process has begun! Tim is busy clearing the area where we will have our raised-bed fenced garden, and Laurie is busy planning and starting seedlings indoors, under grow lights. It’s a big, exciting year for us, and we look forward to planting, tending & harvesting!

FIRST THINGS FIRST

For the past couple of months, I (Laurie) have been planning what to grow, where to put it, and when to start each plant. For the past few years I have been using the Garden Planner found on GrowVeg.com, which has been a handy tool for planning where I will put each plant each year. After several revisions, our garden plot will look something like this. Some beds will remain empty until mid-summer when we will plant for fall. One of the beds will be filled with cover crop plants, some of which will go to the compost pile. We’re going to call this a “learning year” and try not to go overboard. 🙂

RAISED BEDS

The raised beds will be about 26-28” tall, . Because we need to fence out deer, rabbits, and other roaming critters, the garden will include an additional 4-6′ of fencing starting at the top edge of the perimeter bed and extending upward. Since the garden will be filled with the high, raised beds, we don’t feel we need a terribly tall fence, as the deer won’t want to jump over into a place with such unsure footing.

Each bed will be lined at the bottom with a layer of rocks and gravel (which we have a lot of here in these “rocky” mountains). We believe that this will not only provide some good drainage under the soil, but should also keep these prolific ground squirrels from burrowing up into the beds. They are everywhere around here: digging, burrowing, running across the roads. Some folks call them “picket pens” or “pocket gophers”, we just call them squirrels. We have observed that the squirrels are absent from the area behind our house where there is a lot of this rocky/gravelly stuff, and our assumption is that it’s just too heavy and thick for them to get through. At least, we haven’t seen evidence of them burrowing through it. Our second line of defense against these guys will be a layer of stucco netting, which is a LOT cheaper than the hardware cloth which is often recommended as protection from ground squirrels. Any long roots should still be able to penetrate both the stucco netting and the rocky bottom. Additionally, just to the inside of the perimeter beds, there will be a layer of plastic lining the walkway, to keep both the weeds and the squirrels out.

GARDEN SITE PREP

This is a shot of the garden site, the morning of April 19, 2017. Although we have 40 acres, most of which is pretty flat with no trees, we are placing the garden here, in a protected spot from wind, and where plants may get a little shade in the afternoons. The area gets full sun from the E-SE all morning into early afternoon. We feel this site will be best, to protect them from the full effect of the intense sun at our elevation. It is also relatively close to the water hydrant. Tim has begun clearing the area and is building the raised beds. The garden itself will be 41 x 35 feet in size, a little over 1400 square feet. The actual planting bed space will be 740 square feet. There is some slope on this site, so it will be terraced a bit along that slope. The entrance to the garden will be wide enough for the tractor to fit through, which has been and will continue to be a big help. The beds will be filled with a soil combination of natural soil, well-aged horse manure, used duck bedding, some additional organic matter and compost.

LET THERE BE LIGHT

In addition to planning the physical garden, Tim has put together a potting bench area and grow lights under the house in our crawl space. It’s not real pretty down there, but functional. The sink and potting area are helpful for me to mix and prepare the soil blocks I use to start seedlings. Under these lights, I already have started several things; mostly greens for the cold frame section which will be planted mid-May, onions and a few other things which take a long time to get started. The lights can be raised as the plants grow. If necessary, we have more lights that can be placed on the lower side of this bench. (See more about my soil block approach HERE. Soil blocking supplies can be found at GrowOrganic.com or JohnnySeeds.com.)

WEATHER CONSIDERATIONS

Our official “Last Frost Date” is about June 9. The closest listing is for an area about 500 feet lower and 20 miles away, as the birds fly. Our frost date may be a bit later. In the past couple of years our June lows ranged from 33°F (June 14^th) to 50°F. Our USDA Plant Hardiness Zone is officially 5a, but I don’t believe it. Most locals say that we are at least in the Zone 4 range, and some suggest not planting anything that can’t survive Zone 3. I’m generally considering we are Zone 4, and that if I want to try warmer season plants, they will need considerable care and protection from the cold. Our highest low temperature the past couple of summers was 50 degrees, and only for a couple of days each summer. Yes, I will try to grow tomatoes! They will be covered EVERY NIGHT and will be surrounded with jugs of water to keep them cozy and bricks around the base for added soil warmth. Almost all the beds will have the ability to be covered, and anything that requires more warmth will be covered most nights. It also hails here, so I will be prepared to provide cover leafy plants from those icy pellets which are sure to descend.

VEGGIE VARIETIES

This year I will be planting several things, to see what will grow and what won’t. I’m even planning to try things that may not make it, just to see what happens. I’m sure that cool-season vegetables shouldn’t have a problem. It’s the warm season ones and those that need a longer season that are in question. By starting things indoors ahead of last frost and protecting them against the elements, I am hopeful for success!

Here’s my list: alliums (a variety), beans (bush & pole), beets, brassicas (kale, mustard, cauliflower for now), carrots, herbs (annuals & perennials), corn (a cold-hardy short-season variety), greens (including arugula, lettuces, endive, radicchio, spinach, swiss chard), peas, peppers, rutabagas, squash, tomatoes, asparagus, raspberries, goji berries, and finally, rhubarb, which has been in the ground since late 2014 or early 2015. Later on I may provide a list of the specific varieties I’ve chosen.

Thar’s Voles in my Peppers!

August 12, 2014

by Laurie with No Comment Garden-Wellington

See the trench going under the plant!

I’ve been noticing underground trenches in my pepper bed, starting at one end and on through to the other end. The holes are about 1 1/2-2″ in diameter, and go under the pepper plants, up again, down and up to the end of the row. First off I discovered that 6 or so peppers on my only paprika plant had completely disappeared. Then I found holes and chew marks on some of the anaheims. Each day I inspected, I’d kick the soil back into the holes. I’m amazed that the pepper plants are still living, with the holes going right through their roots.

I began researching on the web to determine what kind of critter might be burrowing like this and eating chile peppers. All I could find was that I should use chile pepper spray to repel them. Ha! These guys seem to LIKE the chiles and at first were leaving the sweet peppers alone. I said, “at first”. Now, I find chew marks, holes, and half-eaten sweet peppers almost daily. They really seem to like the peppers, but so do I! That’s enough.

Yesterday I went out and bought some snappy-type mouse traps and placed them near some of the entrances/exit holes. Before I ever left the area, in maybe 3 minutes, I’d already caught a vole. Mystery solved–it IS voles. Overnight I expected I might catch more, but although a couple of the traps had been snapped, no more catches. I also bought some castor oil, which is supposed to repel them, so I’ll give that a try, too. Perhaps I can keep them out of the peppers, but hopefully by just “repelling” them from the peppers, I won’t be sending them off to the tomatoes nearby.

I took a pic of the dead vole in the snap trap, but I’ll spare you. There’s a nice picture of a cute, fuzzy vole and more information HERE.

Posts tagged: pests