Skeletonizers - just in time for Halloween!

Aaaaacckkkk!!!  My beautiful grapevines are being attacked by skeletonizers!  Its a big creepy word, so I assumed that I was searching for a big creepy bug -  something hairy, with fangs and claws, big bulging eyes, and maybe even some blood-sucking tentacles...  So what do I find as I brave the damp dark underbelly of my grape arbor in search of said creature?  A teeny-tiny, itty-bitty, teensy-weensy caterpillar!

To show how tiny this caterpillar is, I photographed it next to a fork.
It would be nearly impossible to search for these in your garden!

Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer - Scientific name: Harrisina brillians
Photo from The World of Insects

How could this cute little critter and his many pals wreak that much havoc? Here is how - pale yellow or whitish capsule-shaped eggs are laid in clusters on the underside of grape leaves. After hatching, the larvae (see above photo) line up like armies and feed side-by-side on the leaf underside! From what I've heard over the years from other gardeners is that it only takes a matter of days before these little terrors destroy all of the vines!  So today I brought out the big guns - my Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT for short) and my 1 gallon pump sprayer.  It only takes 4 teaspoons of BT to one gallon of water.  We'll be sure to thoroughly spray the undersides and tops of ALL of the grape leaves, early in the morning or in the early evening.  You don't want to spray when its sunny out, the water drops act as a magnifying glass and burn the leaves.  BT is a naturally occurring bacterium that is safe to use in the garden.  It becomes harmful to the insects only after they ingest it.  They will stop eating leaves right away, then die in a few days.  For the next month we'll be spraying weekly, wherever we see signs of skeletonizers

or cut-worms and tomato worms.  So far we've seen signs of pest damage on our tree collards, purple hyacinth bean, okra, tomatoes, pumpkin vines, and the grape vines.

Found this morning just chomping away
on my poor grape leaves!

So BEWARE!  It's a scary time of year out in the ol' pumpkin-patch - be on the lookout for creepy crawly skeletonizers, cut-worms, tomato hornworms and ghoulish green monster-sized grasshoppers (which you will have to catch by hand).

Not pictured is my hard-working, bug-killing brother, looking like a ghost-buster out in the arbor with mask, gloves, goggles, and tank strapped to his back!  I will have the pleasure of watching this spectacle once a week, all the way up to Halloween ;-) .  Oh the things a sister enjoys! What can I say?

Goodbye Wild Sunflowers!

And hello tree collards, garlic chives, lavender, aloe, yerba mansa, and more!

 

 BEFORE

AFTER

Lesser Goldfinch giving me the stink-eye for pulling out his wild sunflowers!

 

 

 

Baby Praying Mantis were everywhere!

 So we saved all the sunflower branches and put them under
the fruit trees to disperse the little bitty praying mantis' all
throughout the yard.

The wild sunflowers served as shade all summer for my tree collards and garlic chives!

The yerba mansa was secretly taking over the garden bed
hidden by the towering sunflowers.

They also gave shelter to my busy little peanut-planting squirrels!
Everywhere we turn there are peanut plants popping up.
I'm so proud of my little squirrel-farmers!

A squirrel-farmer's day is never done!

 

The stalks on these wild sunflowers are huge!  Garlic chive blossoms
 in foreground show scale.

I missed out on seeing the greek oregano flower, these
are the remaining seed buds.

Quite a few baby lizards scurried out of the
garden bed once the chopping started.

The bees were so busy working in the garlic chive flowers,
I don't think they even noticed all the plant carnage
going on, they just worked around us :-)

The hummingbirds will miss the thin flower branches
to perch on with their tiny feet.

All photos taken by Peggy Thomas, in cooperation with the plants,
squirrels, birds, lizards and bugs in my yard here in Mesa, AZ.

Planting My New Aravaipa Avocado (a.k.a. Arizona Avocado)

Sometimes even after all of your best efforts a newly transplanted tree does not survive, as was the case with my Aravaipa Avocado.  It looked a bit droopy right after bringing it home, so we watered it and put it in a cool and shady part of the yard.  The next day it drooped a little more so I thought it would fare better if it was out of its little hot black plastic pot, and put down into my nice cool worm filled earth.  The chosen location was a well protected area of the yard, shaded by a 30ft. bottle tree and 20ft. oleanders, surrounded by cool rye grass, and only receiving morning sun.

We had pre-dug a 2 x 2 x 2 foot square hole a month prior, per the video in my previous post.  We filled it with 1/3 native soil, 1/3 Shamus mix (compost, lava sand, sand), 1/3 Jays compost (super black, alive, fungi growing) plus a shovel full of worm castings, and a tablespoon Mycorrhizae. Then we watered it deeply with rainwater and some fish emulsion, topped it off with a heavy thick layer of dry grass clippings, and kept it watered.  By the time we dug into the soil 4 weeks later, to plant the avocado tree, it was teaming with life - rolly pollies, earthworms, and a nice growth of fungi - see photos.

I thought for sure we had taken every precaution and performed every little trick to make the transplant successful.  We added plant food, and topped the soil with heavy layers of grass clippings and straw.  Then we put cage wire around the trunk to keep the dogs away from it, and built a berm around it using brick.  We gently staked it to hold it up straight and keep it from blowing over in case a strong monsoon suddenly blew in.

The next day the tree still seemed droopy so we built a shade around it using 8ft. stakes, and 30% shade cloth from Arizona Bag Company.  We were careful not to let the shade cloth touch the leaves.

Sadly this did not stop Alice the Avocado Tree from continuing into a death spiral. :-((

As of today, Sept. 16th 2016 I would say its over, she is barely clinging to life, leaves drying, curling, and rotting.  Is Alice just in shock?  Is there any hope of recovery or do I pull the plug on her???

New Arizona-Grown Avocado Tree!

  It was well controlled chaos Saturday morning as eager gardeners met at The Farm at South Mountain to pick up their pre-ordered Aravaipa Avocado Trees from Shamus O'Leary's Tropical Fruit Trees.  Don Olson (a.k.a. Shamus) picked a perfect location in the grassy shaded area next to the farm's parking lot so it was easy loading up these 6 ft. beauties.

All of the trees were gorgeous, in 3 gallon pots, but the trees themselves were as big and sturdy as a 5 gallon tree!  I was a bit nervous about picking out just the right one, they all looked healthy.  I was relieved to see Ruth Brown from Jay Barringer's fruit tree forest in east Mesa, assisting customers purchasing Jay's magical compost.  Ruth came to my rescue and helped in choosing from the very long line of Aravaipa Avocado trees. 

This pup was there having a good time, not sure of what all the fuss was about over just a bunch of trees.  But these aren't just any old tree, or any old avocado tree for that matter.  These "Arizona Avocado" trees originate from a very old, very large (50 ft. wide x 50ft. tall) avocado tree found in Aravaipa Canyon in the Globe/Superior of Arizona.  The hope is that its offspring will be just as hardy and acclimated to Arizona's harsh climate.

I will be posting photos tomorrow of planting Alice the Avocado tree.  For now, here are the basics recommended by Shamus-  Plant using 1/3 native soil, 1/3 Shamus mix (compost, lava sand, sand), 1/3 Jays compost (super black, alive, fungi growing) plus shovel full of worm castings, and a tablespoon Mycorrhizae.  Dig roughly a 2ft. x 2ft. x 2ft. square hole.  See the super-informative videos below by Jake Mace to learn more.

The Farm at South Mountain is an old pecan farm with a few rustic on-site restaurants serving farm fresh fare.  We dined at the Morning Glory Cafe out on their patio.  The food was great but I couldn't really relax, I kept worrying about my precious avocado tree, left unguarded alongside my open van, several yards away.

I felt like a bad plant-mom, abandoning my newly adopted baby Aravaipa Avocado as I dined
nearby at the Morning Glory Cafe.  We had a good talk on the way home, and I named her Alice.

It was a beautiful way to spend the morning, soaking up the warmth and energy from the farm.

I'm thinking this is Purple Hyacinth Bean, forming a hedge between the cafe and the garden.

If you missed out on the pre-sale you still might be able to get one if you go to the FaceBook page for Shamus O'Leary's Tropical Fruit Trees and message Shamus.  If you still need to pick up your pre-ordered tree, they will be available for pick-up next weekend at Jake Mace's Garden Tour and Workshop in Tempe (RSVP here), and again the following weekend at Jay Barringer's tree tour in east Mesa (more info coming soon).

How to plant...






Where to plant...



How to shade... see https://youtu.be/WQiSgou3ZCQ

Special thanks to Don Olson of  Shamus O'Leary's Tropical Fruit Trees for giving all of us Phoenix-area growers an opportunity to grow these special Arizona Avocado trees, and the many other super-healthy organically-grown tropical trees he has available!

Also, thank you Jake Mace (VeganAthlete) and Jay Barringer (Yes It Will Grow Here) for passing along your knowledge of desert gardening to us via your awesome YouTube videos and garden tours!

Welcome to the Desert Gardening Hub

How lucky are we, here in the dry arid desert southwest, to have such great organic gardeners who have somehow defied the odds and actually grow successful crops!  I am not one of them.

But they inspire me to try the impossible.  Little by little, my yard here in Mesa Arizona has grown greener and greener, as I learn from the likes of Ken and Lee Singh at Singh Farms, from Jake Mace and his amazing garden tours, and Jay Barringer of the Phoenix Fruit Growers FaceBook page, and many others.

So I have created this blog - The Desert Gardening Hub - not to recreate what they have done, but to bring all of these awesome people and resources together in one spot for easy access.  So check out the pages - Resources, Plant Sales, YouTube Gardeners, Garden Tours, Classes,and Books.  I welcome any suggestions, additions, or corrections!

Here are a few recent photos from my garden...

Cattle panel trellises are mounted to the block wall, supporting passionfruit vines
bean vines, and earlier, Armenian cucumbers.  Bed plants also include basil, peppers,
malabar spinach, zucchini, pumpkin, and watermelon.

An intruder!  This big grasshopper has since been relocated.

Okra and Basil are taking over the enclosed garden.

Arched trellis of re-bar and cattle panels leads the way to my rainwater
harvesting tanks.  Thompson Seedless and Red Flame grapevines are
quickly filling in the trellis, along with tangerine trumpet vine for winter color.

What was once the path to the swimming pool  is now a wild sunflower jungle.
I just can't bear to trim them, sometimes the monsoon does it for me.

Caught in the act!  One of our resident baby Rock Squirrels nibbles
away on my sweet potato vines.