Seem to be a target of small, stealthy pests, which is tough when there are so few leaves
Some seeds are just sprouting now, as late as mid-July
Pests!
Pocket gophers… how do you deal?
Japanese beetles
If you’re hand-picking, watch for the tiny white eggs near their heads. This is a good sign that Tachinid flies (a family of native parasitic flies) have targeted them. These eggs will hatch into fly larvae which will eat the beetles from the inside out. Hopefully before they get a chance to breed. Consider saving the beetles with those eggs on them.
The damage looks like laced leaves
They seem to be slower/easier to capture in the morning
Raspberry cane borers kill the tips of new canes by chewing a very straight line across the stem
Looks like it was cut by clippers
To get rid of them, you’re supposed to cut a few inches below the damage to be sure you’ve got them out
Squash vine borers
While the moths are fucking cool-looking, they’re laying eggs on your squash stems, and the larva will eat those stems
Apparently, you can bury other parts of your squash stems so they root in different spots, mitigating the borer damage. Anyone tried this?
Resources
We’ve spoken a bit about stool layering, and our very own Lally Luck just put out a very informative video on the BECKY system to encourage layering using recycled nursery pots
