It’s summer, so naturally the June beetles are out at night in full force. What do they do at night? Feed on your plants of course! And they have a few insect pals that also come out at night to do their damage under the cover of darkness.
Earwigs chew on plant parts and they will also feast on slower moving insects. Insecticides are not as practical for these guys, but trapping can be. Earwigs can’t resist a rolled-up damp newspaper to call home! Place a few around areas where you have seen them or suspect their presence. In the morning, in one swift move, place the paper inside a plastic bag. Then shake it out inside the bag to see if you have caught any. Continue to trap until they are gone.
If you find no earwigs in the paper, it may be other night chewers. Cutworms are also out at night as well as their slimy friends the slugs! Many types of cutworms crawl up plants and feast on leaves, as well as strangle them at the stem. The adult squash vine borer is a night flying moth, laying eggs on squash plants (which include pumpkins).
Start visiting the garden with flashlight in hand about 30 minutes after dark and take a look for those insect pests. A salt shaker sprinkled on slugs is very effective. For severe infestations, look for a product to drench your soil with to eliminate problem insects at the soft bodied stages, like June beetle larvae that live in the soil. The majority of moths in the garden are up to nothing good. As you work the garden in the day, you may scare up some of these night flyers that are sleeping under plant foliage. When disturbed, they will fly off to another plant to hide. They usually do not go far; chase them down! Rabbits may be getting some of the blame for the insect pests.
Rain has been plentiful, and you literally can hear the weeds growing in the garden. Don’t let them win! Be careful when weeding near young plants. Pull weeds a few at a time near young plants and not big handfuls. Pulling big handfuls near young plants risks pulling out the good plants with it as their root systems can be tangled together. I’ve learned that lesson a few times.
If weeds are out of control, once your garden dries out, you can always mow (or carefully weed whip) around and in between rows if the mower fits. Why not? Who says the mower is just for the yard? My garden walkways that once were barked, are now simply packed soil. After three years of looking barky beautiful, enough bark had decayed and become perfect media for weed growth. So it was raked off and tossed where it didn’t matter if more weed seeds sprouted. The walkways get the flame torch treatment about every 2 weeks. This has worked well to keep them under control. Burn them when they are tiny, not two feet tall. Out of control weeds is likely at the very top of the “why I gave up gardening” list.
Here’s a topic no one can agree on – to prune or not to prune tomato plants. You can check out the YouTube channel to see 5,732 methods and ways to unnecessarily prune these tasty backyard fruits. Yes, tomatoes are a fruit. What do I do you may wonder? Not much and here is why. The leaves on the plant make the food for the plant, that can’t be disputed. Now, knowing that, why would I want to cut off part of the food making machine?
AI states that tomato leaves create more energy than they use per leaf. That extra energy is distributed throughout the plant like most veggies. Removing lower leaves to lessen the chance of soil splash spreading disease makes sense. The only other time I may prune is late fall so the plant can concentrate its energy on ripening the fruits on the vine versus supporting new growth. Other than that, I pruneth not! I have way more pressing things to do in the garden than contemplate which leaf is a sucker or not as they all photosynthesize. Think of those leaves as your back-up generator; they might save your plant under stress or if you have to remove lots of yellowed leaves or if plants are damaged in a storm.
Way back in my “listened to someone else” days, I pruned so many leaves my tomatoes all had sun scorch from lack of leafy shade. I admit I don’t spend a lot of time babying my plants or tying up each wandering stem. I get what I get.
The outdoor Mankato Farmers’ Market is open every Saturday at 8 a.m. until noon. It is located at the Best Buy parking lot on Adams Street. Stop by and see me at “Market Bakery” for all your fresh baked goods! We have nearly 50 vendors with a wide variety of goods and food items, produce, honey, flowers, plants, eggs and local meat!
Diane Dunham is a retired horticulture instructor and is the owner of Market Bakery.