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July 1, 2009 Newsletter
"Green Shoots"
Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke uses the term "green shoots" to describe how the US economy is "bouncing back" and the "worst is over." Does anyone reading this know why he calls it "green shoots"? Am I the only one who thinks this term is worthless (kinda like our fiat currency)? I must say that when the power eltes of this country come up with a good propaganda phrase they come up with doozies. Examples: "winning hearts and minds of the Iraqi people," to justify war there for six or seven years (must be a very long courtship!); "fighting terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them over here," (actually, they would prefer we didn't "fight them over here," because we would be fighting THEM instead of a bunch of Arabs); "change we can believe in," (meaning we can believe that Obama really is trying to institute socialism)... "Green Shoots." These destroyers of our economy really do know how to coin a phrase! But I got news for them: around here, we really do have "green shoots."
But instead of a "war on drugs," or a "war on poverty," we have a "war on grasshoppers". A couple of weeks ago, we noticed little tiny speck things jumping from plant to plant in our garden, particularly in the area of the turnips and radishes as well as the mustard greens. Then to my beloved pinto beans and okra. Then the squash and chard. They left the corn alone, as well as the bok choy (which really surprised me) and did minimum damage to the peas (which is a first for us...we've never done peas before. This is an experiment, I think. Peas are one of my least favorite veggies.) I figured, well, what else can be expected for early June? But it was when I started to realize that these few timy jumping critters were perhaps hundreds in number and they were getting bigger and eating more and more and the latest rows of beans were in stage one of annihilation that we started going out every hour or so and "shewing" the grasshoppers off the plants, killing the ones we could catch with fingers. But you can only do so much of that, knowing the beasties will eventually make it back onto the plants. Aesop knew all about grasshoppers, which really do think the "world owes" them "a living."
This was all occuring around the same time we took the jars off the seedlings and the temperatures started getting hot. Hot weather, perhaps, increases the metabolism of grasshoppers who then want to eat more, and thus makes them bigger, needing to eat more. Having the beans covered, too, was not good. The leaves, closely bound by hot glass in the sun, were getting yellow, and some of the bean plants dried up. Glass, of course, brings on the heat and traps it so that if it is hot and sunny all day the plants wither. In case you didn't know, June is the hottest month in far west Texas, and May and June are also generally the driest.
So two weeks ago, and losing bean plants, on the verge of losing one very large turnip plant, and several smaller radishes and mustard greens and others, we were getting desperate going out into the hot sun and shewing the things just about every hour from 9 am to 8 pm (settling down as it got darker and cooler). Well, at this rate, if we went to town or the freshwater cold spring swimming pool at Balmorhea State Park (folks, this place is a MUST-GO-TO if you happen to be traveling on I-10 between El Paso and Fort Stockton!) at some point, when we got back our garden just might have been decimated by then! And who knew when those nymphs might metamorph into adults! You know, the "pull their heads off" size!
We had sent out daughter to work as a junior counselor at the local Girl Scout Camp, and my husband was off for a whole week; at the end of the week, starting to conclude there was no hope whatsoever except use insecticide chemicals on our plants, I suudenly remembered that a few years ago my husband put what he called "grasshopper spores" on the plants and the ground underneath them. It didn't work too well because it seemed like whenever he used it, it proceeded to rain, which ruined the stuff. He mixed it with some grainy substance, wheat flakes or wheat flour or something, and the grasshoppers would eat it and eventually die.
The generic name for this biological insecticide is "NOSEMA LOCUSTAE" and it comes with its own brand names (Google "nosema locustae" and hopefully it'll come up with some brand name lables you can buy at your local organic nursery or over the Internet. We are using a brand called NOLO BAIT, but there are others.). The "nosema locustae" is a protozoan disease bearer that infects grasshoppers, makes them lethargic and want to eat less, until basically they become so lethargic they can barely move--at which time other grasshoppers, grasshoppers being cannibals, think they are dying and proceed to eat them--at which time they get the disease, and so on. And what if a bird eats the infected grashopper? Nothing. This stuff has no effect on any other living creature but grasshoppers. In fact, our mother cat--the one that just had three kittens--started eating the stuff when I was putting it out, and no problem (except I have to make sure she doesn't eat what I intend for the grasshoppers to eat!) Nor will this stuff hurt helpful insects like ladybugs and preying mantises. Cost is about $20 for a pound. When not in use it must be stored in the frig. If you are keeping it over the winter for use in your soil next spring, store in the freezer.
Newly hatched hoppers die instantly on eating the stuff, which is why it is a good idea to put this stuff into your soil in mid-spring before they hatch. Grasshoppers that are half and inch or three-fourths an inch long will likely die within a week. Bigger ones will die or be cannibalized sonner or later. DO NOT WAIT for them to be adult sized! Get 'em while they are nymphs! You likely won't kill off (with this stuff) every single grasshopper that comes into your garden. What you want is control. The few who do become adults can be dealt with by decapitation. Oh, and, BTW, not to get politically correct here, but the EPA does approve this stuff for organic gardening. Maybe that's because it works. In fact, I bought the stuff last Wednesday when I was in Alpine, at the organic nursery. I put it out in the evening. By the morning, there was already a noticable difference in the number of active grasshoppers.
You can put it on the ground or even the plants, but if it rains the stuff isn't as effective when wet. The spore doesn't get damaged, but the wheat flakes that hold it become soggy and thus will not attract grasshoppers. So one way to keep it from getting wet--which would also include when you water the garden--is to place the stuff inside metal cans open at both ends. You can use old coffee cans, juice cans, canned veggie cans, whatever you can scrape up (besides all those jars I use to cover plants so the birds won't eat them, we also have a store of old, and sometimes rusted, coffee cans). Use a can opener to take the bottom base off so it is open at both ends allowing grasshoppers to enter at both ends. Place about a tablespoon of the stuff along the "bottom" of the "trap," and place the cans at the outer edges of the garden or along walk-pathways and just allow the grasshoppers to eat their fill. If you are shewing the hoppers off plants, shew them in the direction of the traps. Place the traps in areas close to where the worst infestations are. If they are close by where you will be watering, you might want to move the traps before you water and then put them back afterwards. I think the most effective places are where there are also clumps of grass. The clumps attract "incoming" grasshoppers as well as "outgoing." Know your grasshooper migration patterns and put the traps accordingly.
Suffice it to say that if grasshoppers have already done major damage to individual plants, you might want to "jar" the plants until they can come back on their own. You might have to do this to mostly eaten plants that are still viable, which are usually plants on the outer edge of a garden plot, where grasshoppers attack first. Plants that are already mature or starting to go to seed might also be "worked" by grasshoppers but the damage will be minimal. Many of our radishes which ought to be picked now have little green left on them, but the radish in the ground won't mind it. In any case, having worried we wouldn't have a garden this year, it looks as if through the wisdon God put in our brains, the garden will do fine after all. Now those are the "green shoots" I can understand!
I now close with this video. As a response to the "House o' Representin'" voting for the Cap and Trade Bill (HR 2424), this guy makes a pretty ranty video. "House o' Representin'" comes from the movie "Idiocracy" starring Luke Wilson. But there are times I feel like we are living in this movie.
Don't forget, if you have a comment on this or other posts, e-mail me with your comment, and put the name of the article in the subject line.
