Grapeleaf Skeletonizer AKA... caterpillars...

      Trying to maintain home life, garden life, work life... Well, I must say is a challenge, but not knowing the enemies of a battle that is happening behind your back. Well that is a whole new challenge..

      So what does one do when you find beautiful little caterpillars and you think all is lovely and good in the world of nature? 

     Well, get vicious and start killing, of course... 

      No, really....  I have done my research and found out that these little deceivers can cause a load of trouble... Not only by touching them, they can irritate and cause problems by ejecting fine little hairs 

that could get into your lungs, eyes, mouth, etc... in which you really don't want to happen.. 

     They devour your incredibly manicured, bulging with fruit Grapevine.. 

     Which  would be a travesty... 

     So... I asked some very experienced Gardeners on a Facebook Group that I follow what should I do? After the suggestion from Mr. Hills.      

     I went to my local hardware department store and had to buy insecticide that had BT in it to start the war on the nasties... 

     I will be fighting this battle for about 6 weeks more... But thanks to my Executioner Husband... 

    We could win the war on my Grapevine.

 These nasties were on my grapevine...

They are called grapeleaf Skeletonizers...

They are devastating... 

Maricopa County Cooperative Extension Home Horticulture:
Environmentally Responsible
Gardening & Landscaping in the Low Desert

Grape Leaf Skeletonizers in the Low Desert

DESCRIPTION:
Small, black, yellow, and blue striped caterpillars which mature into a blue black moth which resembles a wasp with feather like antennae.

DAMAGE:

Larvae feed side-by-side in groups devouring grape leaves rapidly, leaving only the veins. Soon only the "skeleton" of the leaf remains.

MANAGEMENT:

Hand pick and destroy any adults, larvae, or eggs you see. Wear gloves and a dust mask because the larvae are covered with stinging hairs that may become airborne. Spray plants with Bacillus thuringiensis or carbaryl.

To Gardening and Landscaping in Maricopa County, AZ

Grape Leaf Skeletonizers in the Low Desert
visitors since June 10, 1998

Last Updated July 18, 1999
© 1998 The University of Arizona, College of Agriculture,Cooperative Extension, in Maricopa County. Comments to Lucy Bradley, BradleyL@ag.arizona.edu 4341 E. Broadway Road, Phoenix, AZ 85040, (602) 470-8086 ext. 323

http://ag.arizona.edu/…/garden/html/t-tips/bugs/grape-sk.htm

Still Composting....

As life's compost has been, well, composting... It has a lot of stink with the good... I, finally after many years, have a flowering jasmine... the lovely fragrance is captivating... every morning I check on my beds and plants I have the perfumed scent wafting at me as I pass by... It puts my mind at an ease that this spring will be good with full of things to come...

 I think there is a smudge on the camera lens... lol.. oops!

 The beds are vibrant and happy to be growing so far...

And the list of things growing are... with continued planting of empty spots around here, or there...

tomatoes
bell peppers
carrots
radish
lettuce
parsley
oregano
cucumbers
and sunflowers
squash
eggplant
bunching onions
green beans
cilantro...

This year will be a  lush and full garden of vegetables...
I hope...

I do have a big problem though and I don't  know what to do!
My Avocado tree has a fungus I believe...

A canker of some sort 

I don't know how to handle this particular problem... research, I guess...

But on the up scale my fur kids have a wonderful amount of catnip at their disposal....(this is just one secret stash, tee hee...)

So I leave you with this intensely green grapevine... (that I thought I pruned to harshly and left for dead) ...LOL... but... look...

Life's Compost...

It has been such a long time since the last post... seasons have come and gone and  it's still snowing in the northern parts...  

Gossip for Shifting lives of Tangent...

I have thrown myself a new path… Yes, not "found"!  Most choose a path, or find a path, may stumble upon, last blessed with following a path... No not me. I have thrown it down and made it a stone, paver, brick, whatever the thing to step on could or would be.

 I threw it down… bam, POW, kurplunk...

I am now a full time home hearth engineer... Husband constructs the technical red veins of the home, and I feed the hearth and cleanse the immune system of the house, and we manage the brain of function together... Well, mostly him!

So many people make "self sustaining" look so easy...  What a term! I see books, blogs and articles about such ideal situations picturesque...  Gorgeous areas of the home, gardens and pastures... 

I have  acquired this title just of recent months... Money, as for many, is a precious entity in our life...So, making things work, well must be worked at...

So now Tangent really isn't a tangent any longer... It is a need…

Tangent did well for me through summer and fall…

My tomato harvest lasted up until September… I had some Bell Peppers not many, a couple of Armenian cucumbers…

I was blessed with tons of figs, parsley, oregano…

I dehydrated an immense amount of herbs…  I have a great collection in my pantry… 

My grape vine has now made itself known to tangent… I have to prune it or figure out how to get it the way it will be happier, it was a huge mess...

Blackberries have not berried… Why?  Maybe because of where I planted it? I don’t really know…

But now it is Feb... I have life in the the Tangent yard... 

It went from complete neglect to an almost ready to produce the most yummiest veggies and fruits of life...

Before- work in progress, lookin' like a mess

Now - tomato bed

and the Pepper bed which looks even better then this now...

The diagram , I have drawn out is actually working... I am positive when this yard gets going, at least 50% of of our food purchases will be alleviated... 

So the list of plants that make up Tangent is:

3 San Marzano Tomatoes
1 beef steak tomato
seeded black cherry tomato

2 Armenian cucumber plots
1 grey squash

2 Bell peppers: yellow and green
1 Jalapeno

1 Eggplant Black Beauty

3 Hanging baskets with different varieties of loose leaf lettuce

parsley
oregano
rosemary
thyme
Chocolate mint
4 Varieties of Sunflowers
seeded Four O'Clocks
and 
Nasturtiums

I still have much room for other plants to grow, and see if I can take this 1/16 of a lot and make something out of it... Not just being on a tangent but a continuous way of life... So sustainable living, well no, more like Tangent reliant, could be the thing!

Maybe the title will change to Tangent Reliance... lol...