Weekly Update - Tomatoes and Peppers (GDD 418)

5/28

• 4 types of tomatoes, sun gold, brandywine, yellow pear tomato, and best boy, along with a green pepper were planted in the vegetable garden.
  
• The test spinach seedlings, having never grown more than an inch or so high, were cleared out to make room for the tomatoes and peppers.
  
• Boxwoods treated for psyllids.
• Big rhododendron begins bloom.
  

6/1

• paeonia lactiflora "Shirley Temple," impulsively purchased at Wal-Mart in April, was planted in a one-gallon pot awaiting creation of space in some as yet undesignated part of the garden.
• Despite application of pre-emergent crabgrass control in late April, a few patches of crabgrass were spotted.

6/3

• Chives dead-headed
  

You've Got Lice! Boxwood Psyllid Control

Dusty in appearance, underhanded in action, the boxwood psyllid, also known as jumping plant lice, starts out looking like some sort of powdery fungus (or lice on that dude sitting next to you on your morning commute). Fortunately, the damage it causes is mostly cosmetic, short-lived, and, as any second-grader with lice will tell you, primarily focused on social ostracism and exclusion from birthday parties.

Of course, finding this out before an insecticide was applied would have been good, but my spraying should at least prevent these guys from laying next year's generation of super psyllids in my boxwoods.

What You Need to Know
1) Eggs hatch at around 80 growing degree days and adults appear at around 300.
2) They cause the leaves to cup, which is mostly an aesthetic issue.
3) No treatment is necessary as they'll soon die off but not before laying next year's eggs in the leaves.
4) If you do spray, they appear to be relatively easy to conquer with permethrin. However, permethrin can cause all sorts of nasty stuff, so maybe it'd be better to to accept your new identity as the kid with jumping plant lice.

Sources: University of Massachusetts Extension

Weekly Update: Perennial Border Planted (GDD 303)

May 21 - Boxwood psyllids emerge; rudbeckia fulgida "goldsturm," echinacea purpurea "magnus," paeonia lactiflora "Bowl of Beauty," and phlox paniculata "Orange Perfection" planted in perennial border. Astilbes and spirea relocated within the border while a rhododendron was shipped to the backyard. Soaker hose and lots of mulch laid down.
May 22 - Chives in full swing bloom.

picture: peony bud