SHELBINA, Mo. — The weather has been more fall than summer the first part of September. Hopefully we won’t have a hard freeze until late October or better mid-November. So the fall gardens you planted will have a longer growing season.
I had a question about why it is taking green tomatoes so long to ripen the past few weeks. It might be a problem with all the rain we had in late June to early July. This hurts the way plants can retain and use the nutrients in the soils.
Squash bugs have been bad the past few weeks. Spraying with Neem Oil has helped. To fight them for next year, here are somethings we can do now.
Squash bugs can overwinter in the dead plants, leaf debris and the soil. Burn all infested plants and debris. Till the soil deeply to destroy adults and their eggs, so they don’t survive to come back in the spring.
The cool weather we have had and will have helps to kills the squash bug nymphs so they don’t become adults. This way they can’t lay eggs and over winter to come back next year.
As your vegetable plants start to die off, you need to do a thorough cleanup of your infested plants. I pull them and spray them with Neem Oil. I then rake up all the leaves, stems and other debris on the ground putting it all in a pile to burn.
Don’t put any of the infested plants in a compost pile. The heat it creates doesn’t kill the squash bugs in any stage of life. Only healthy plants need to go into a compost pile.
Then spray the ground with Neem Oil. Neem Oil kills the squash bugs in all stages of its life. After a few days I will deep till the garden soil. Deep tilling will help kill squash bugs plus other insects and their eggs. You need to till at least six inches down to make sure no insects survive.
Pull and destroy any weeds that you didn’t till under in your garden or around the edges of your garden. Squash bugs and other insects can survive winter by living in weeds.
Next year you can grow resistant varieties of vegetables that aren’t hurt by insects and diseases as much.
Write down on your garden plans where you have planted all your vegetables this year so you can rotate your vegetables next year. This will make it harder for insects that harmed your vegetables this year to harm them next year.
Build up your garden soil fertility to help fight squash bugs. You can do this by adding compost, manure and other types of amendments. Like lime and sand. This will help your vegetables get off to a great start next year.
By doing some of these things you should be able to prevent some of the squash bugs from harming your vegetables next year.
Now you need to be thinking about dividing up your Iris plants and moving them to other flowerbeds or give them away. You will need to make sure to have enough loose soil to get in around the roots of the plants. Water them so the roots will take hold.
Fall is the best time to be planting your spring flowering bulbs. You should have several weeks to do this. You should arrange the flowering bulbs in groups too.
You need to be able to dig a hole at least six inches deep to allow the bulbs to get a good start growing. So you can plant your bulbs up until the ground freezes to at least six inches down.
You should keep on watering your garden as we still have several weeks of growing weather.
I appreciate all your questions in the past and look forward to them in the future. So thank you and please keep them coming. Call me at 573-588-2040 at Shelby County Implement, email [email protected] or visit Greenwell’s Greenhouse Group on Facebook. I really enjoy visiting with people about horticulture topics anytime I can. So just ask me anytime you see me.
Enjoy your garden harvest and this issue of The Hort. Report.
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