I wonder if yellow tinted glasses would help make tomato hornworms show up better under a UV light?
Click pic for Youtube Short video of hornworm munching under UV light
Posted on 08/01/2025 6:03:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Hello! Lots going on here the last few days. Most of it has had nothing to do with gardening in any fashion.
Number 2 son and his wonderful girlfriend returned from their trip to a few places in Europe. We kept their cat here, although she really didn’t like being here. Or maybe she doesn’t like me. Anyway, we all have survived the ordeal with few scratches (ok, I endured 3 of those over the days).
We rarely get to see our kids for long. That proved the case this time, too, BUT we did spend about 10 meaningful hours together, hearing about their trip and whatever adventures they took on. We are so glad that they had a wonderful time! They learned a lot about history of the places they went, and the art and architecture, the foods, and the culture of the peoples. They had a really good time. It made it worth whatever we did back here in their absence.
As a treat, I took their car to the car wash yesterday, in part because one of the pine trees that he parked under produced sap that smeared in their front and back windows. Then I felt compelled to vacuum the mats and seats. Then I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if I could get the dashboard a bit cleaner? It was very dusty. Before I realized it, I had detailed their interior completely! I guess I was in the groove, and didn’t want to stop until I would’ve been comfortable in it. It didn’t feel like work. I was a little worried that they would feel I overstepped my bounds, but they were actually TRULY surprised and very grateful!
They bought us lunch! That was a lovely thank you, BESIDES all the gifts they brought for us from their travels.
The weather today was exceptionally beautiful. Temps were lovely with a steady breeze.
After the kids left (with some shishitos as a parting gift), I noticed that another one of my potato planters looked ready to harvest. 5 baby red potatoes were planted around Mother’s Day, and today I dug up 25. Score!
I wonder if yellow tinted glasses would help make tomato hornworms show up better under a UV light?
Click pic for Youtube Short video of hornworm munching under UV light
Last year we had no worms, this year just a few. Got 4 off a bush in a big pot on the patio. 3 out of 9 plants down in the garden had a little damage but no worms, I had seen the birds last week leaving the garden, they eat them. I believe their season is over.
I mentioned it mentally feels like Fall ... today is another one of those days. It’s currently 68, breezy, and we have a light rain going on. The humidity is supposed to be “lowering” through the night. The next week looks like the temps will be in the 70’s all week! The roofer won’t commit to exact dates, but it’s likely he’ll be doing our roof next week - he’ll have great weather for our project.
Yesterday, I finished cutting the grass and then tackled the trimming. I like my battery operated string trimmer, but the darn battery is really heavy. We have a ditch that is along the entire front of the property with deep culverts on each side of the driveway. On Little Red, I can get one wheel up on the road & the other in the ditch & cut the road side for most of the ditch length, but it finally gets too deep & I have to pull out - the rest has to be trimmed with the weed eater. I’m actually in the ditch - the edge of the road is about chest high. There is heavy traffic on the road so getting up on the road for the very top edge is tricky and I try to cut it from the ditch, which is safer. Anyway, my arms & especially my back get really tired and it’s probably my least favorite thing to do around here. When I’m done trimming, I’m usually DONE for the rest of the day as far as any heavy work is concerned.
Where are the deer? Last year, there were 3 does with fawns that I saw all the time. One in particular was very curious & would come on our side of the fence behind the shop. I was building raised beds .... she was probably thinking “oh goody, she’s making a salad bar for next year!” This year, I have seen (only once) a doe & fawn in the field behind our place. I have seen several does eating along the road - scary, because you never know when they will dash out in front of vehicles. There are coyotes around here - hopefully, they haven’t gotten all the fawns this year. I did see a doe in our yard this morning, but she was by herself & dashed off as soon as she saw me open the door.
Dodger was spotted in the last couple of days - a good thing because I found tufts of what looked like bunny fur in the side yard and I figured a hawk might have gotten Dodger. I didn’t see any spots where Dodger was missing fur, so maybe there was another rabbit I didn’t know about.
Groundhog spotted day before yesterday - trap baited yesterday with cabbage ... I’ve caught the previous 3 with cabbage .... fingers crossed this one does, too.
Since we live near woods, we often see a doe and two fawns nearly every year. This year, I haven’t, until the other day when we took our usual walk through the neighborhood. At the end of our street, we saw two spotted fawns, no mama nearby though. We figured she was around somewhere and out of sight.
Then a neighbor saw us, and told us that the two fawns have apparently lost their mama. Probably a car hit it or something. There’s a retention pond on that side of the neighborhood and beyond that another set of woods. The neighbor told us they were glad to see the fawns because they thought maybe they wouldn’t survive, but here they were, managing to make it anyway!
They are so cute, and now I see why one neighbor’s hostas don’t look so spectacular this year!
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