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Lol, that would be something! ...just yellow as far as I'm aware ;)

Happy to hear! Thank you!!

Yes, very good! And we know that a habitat for pests is also a habitat for beneficials!! Thanks!

I do too, it adds a welcome spark of color earlier on in the season! Thanks!

Very nice, those guys are important too!

Very nice!!

An excellent point! Thank you for bringing that up!!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it

Thank you! Yes, I share that perspective for sure!

Snakes and lizards love to eat potato bugs 😊

Let's not forget spiders are not poisonous

That is excellent to hear!! I have noticed a very similar thing with my garden vs. other neighboring properties. And, as you said, just one pollinator garden/yard can accomplish that; it doesn't have to take much for Nature to jump in and start bringing more life. Thanks!

I really got into native Ozzie bees a decade or so back, since then, as a result of other insects looking similar, have also got to have an appreciation of wasps and even some flies, not all though lol

Excellent points, thank you for bringing them up! Yes, I believe that Scolia dubia is solitary. And this is the interesting part...basically, the Japanese beetles and other related larvae create the nesting sites for them in many ways, as the wasp will tunnel down to find these beetle larvae on which to lay their eggs. Each wasp larva, once hatched, will then consume the beetle larva. So, probably where there are lawns or wild grasses where these beetle larvae will be feeding, as these types of beetle larvae tend to feed exclusively on roots of grasses.

@@terra-blegardeningvideos oh cool, glad I was curious enough to ask, not ever crossed my mind that predators may seek out burrowing larvae, gotta love the intricate complexities of nature

For sure! Indeed

Good to know. Thank you for the insight on the red belly black, its not a snake I am familiar with, so I appreciate the insight into its personality!

Yes, they can! They are especially prevalent along the East Coast, North to South.

duly noted

Yeah, something new I tried, works pretty well for rodents if done properly. Also dividing those melon plots into smaller spaces and spreading them out over the landscape may also seem to cut down on cucumber beetle issues, but more to play with/experiment.

...I had 5 of those caged plots total, and not all of them were affected by cuke beetles. As opposed to last year where I planted them all in one spot and had a 100% causality rate before the fruit developed. Bacterial wilt.

yeah, these insects are crazy huge!!

Quite possibly. Also, a lot of this insect's prey i.e., blackflies etc. need fairly clean water in order to successfully complete their life cycle in larger population densities; so essentially the Dobsonfly will also follow its food source.

@@terra-blegardeningvideos ah true, makes sense, there's a few things here that need clean water, that isn't moving, both pest and predators, some, like frogs, do it for the eggs, but I reckon some of predators would be because of their prey doing it

Thanks!

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks!

Lol, yes! I'd take garden snakes over slugs ANY day!!

Lol, yeah for sure! A very unique plant indeed

Yes, snakes have truly fascinated me. These smaller snakes can be very beneficial for natural insect pest control, but are largely underrecognized. Plus, I just think they look really cool! Thanks for the comment!

@@terra-blegardeningvideos I always try and leave a comment on smaller channels, it helps with algorithm BS lol

...And I appreciate it! Content interaction is a huge help! Best,

Thank you! I My videos are not super rushed, probably because of my personality...which is usually pretty laid-back. I have wondered if I should pick up the pace in some of my videos or if my natural tempo might actually be more appealing to my viewers. I guess it really depends on the preferences of the specific audience. Personally, as a RUclips consumer myself, watching hyped up vids are just a bit stressful for my liking. Thank you for the positive feedback on the tempo!

Interesting idea! I will look into that, thanks!

Thank you for watching! So far, a lot of this has been self-taught, with no official scientific credentials. I just have a passion for this stuff, and have done a lot of research over the years, along with a pretty good dose of personal experience in a lot of cases. Thanks!

Glad it was helpful!

Awesome! Sounds good. That's pretty cool that the horseradish has continued down the family line!

I have also learned you can buy the Root @ a good grocery store and start your own crop with it. Just like Rhubarb... it'll take some nurture + Time to be bountiful!.. My Rhubarb plant is 5 y/o and we have harvested it 5 times this year! DONT CUT..... Grab -N- Pull quickly ..

Awesome, thank you for the tips!

Thanks for subbing!

@@terra-blegardeningvideos You're welcome 😁 Happy to be here 🙏🎉

Thank you!...now, I'm just waiting on the watch time...lol

Thank you for the comment! That is truly fantastic! It is so crucial to always take that step back and observe both the external and internal landscapes. What you shared is inspiring! I like the idea of planting those flowers near your perches!

@@terra-blegardeningvideos I have enough money to buy organic veggies if I wanted, the produce out of my garden still beats anything I can buy in the store. It is the physical work, the nature that surrounds me, I never know what I may encounter on any given day. I have a personal relationship with a pair of cardinals for the last 3 years (do not know if "Papa" will make it through this winter), chickadee's take seed from my hand and hummingbirds light inches away and stare into my eyes. Growing a garden to me is way more than the awesome food I can grow and give away, it has turned into a purpose and sanctuary. Stay Well!!!

@@brianseybert192 Absolutely. Surrendering to the ebb and flow of the natural rhythms of the Earth and following that trajectory is my gardening ideal. Where there is no more struggle. Initially and ultimately I suppose it is a state of mind. I value this time to sit because it allows me to slow down and reconnect to that. Your story is inspiring. I remember one time I was sitting on a large rock and a chipmunk ran across my leg, that was one experience when I really felt I was part of it. Nature loves to put on a show...and in a way we can also be a part of that show. Thank you for your comment.

Glad it was helpful! Thank you for the comment!

Thank you! You bring up an excellent question, and I do not know the complete answer. However, here are my current thoughts. The longer it ferments, many of the minerals will likely become more bioavailable yes. It is also possible, depending on how it is set up, some nitrogen may be lost, or at least reduced in quantity (the rest is probably tied up in microbial proteins), over time due to volatization. Also, if a batch sits for too long, certain types of alcohols may, at least in theory, accumulate in the tea as the material breaks down. In large enough quantities, these may disrupt soil life and or become toxic to the plant. Thus, I try to maintain the balance of the soil biology as it is emphasizing only marginal changes, by letting my teas sit for only a few days or so, that way the biology in the tea does not have such an extended amount of time to adapt to an environment that is much unlike that of the soil. One way around this, at least to an extent, would probably be to dilute a batch that has sat for a while before application if it is deemed to be a concern. Too concentrated a dose (i.e., if it has sat for too long) may create a more extreme change, resulting in more stress on the whole system to which it is being applied, potentially resulting in negative consequences. Hope this helps. Also it can vary depending on the needs of the crop. Plants that grow better in anaerobic environments will be naturally adapted to thrive on higher concentrations of the anaerobic metabolites found in the tea, much more so than other plants.

@@terra-blegardeningvideos Thank you for your thoughtful reply. In years past I would aerate the comfrey ferment after a few months of brewing, but the garage would smell like a sewage treatment plant. The ferment that sits for in my case, about 7 months had a slight odor, but nothing drastic. I do dilute the tea around 50% to cover all my beds. Another question if I may? This year I have been mulching some of my beds with comfrey I pull from other areas in the garden. How much of the nutrients are being returned to the soils? I also raise worms, and do hot composts. Zero input for outside nutrients last 2 years, so far so good. I was unlucky enough to have Asian jumping worms invade my Ruth Stout potato/onion bed 3 years ago, mulched with shredded leaves and compost, completely ruined the texture of my soils. Stay Well!! New subscriber

Mulching with fresh comfrey could probably boost soil nitrogen, especially if mulched right before a rain. This effect may be intensified if the leaves are crushed before application. Most all other nutrients would likely be slow released, being released from the plant material as it breaks down. Comfrey can also be a really good plant as a dynamic accumulator as it has an extensive root system that can reach deep into lower soil layers, making those nutrients accessible to other plant life as the comfrey is "chopped and dropped" or otherwise mulched. Thank you for the question! Asian Jumping worms are tricky!

@@terra-blegardeningvideos The comfrey applied to my beds seem to be doing just fine. Very hard to find real data on how effective it really is. Just harvested some potatoes mulched with straw, pulled out several dozen mature jumping worms. Straw is not an option for a mulch to deter JW's. The worst part of the JW's is they remove all the soil aggregates, leaving behind a granular soil that will not hold moisture. I looked at soil samples under the microscope from my beds 2 years ago, very little aggregates when the JW's were done. So far, the best mulch is a living mulch, kinda hard to do with onions and potatoes. I know I have to do something different again next year. Thanks for your reply, Stay Well!!!

You mentioned how JW can destroy/alter soil aggregate structure...and you got me thinking!! This probably not only creates a physical change in the soil profile, but I bet it drastically alters the soil microbiome! Those aggregate structures house various species of anaerobic/facultative anaerobic life that can play important roles in plant health. If those aggregates are destroyed or reduced, then different types of microbes (i.e., aerobic) would predominate the soil profile. I could see this creating an imbalance having negative implications for plant health and nutrient access/utility in plants.

Glad it was helpful! Tachinid Flies are really great insects

Yes it is very interesting, the tachinid flies are buzzing around my mint plants all the time! In fact, it seems like its there favorite plant around here!

Thanks for watching!

...and thank you for watching!

Thanks for subbing! Appreciate it!

Thank you!

Awesome! That is great to hear! I hope it works out well

kinda off topic, but a weird correlation, when doing bush regen, I learned a principle of only taking 10-20%,maybe leaving that many works in the same way lol. seriously though, I dig that you do leave some, goes in hand with the stuff I was taught with qualifications, like you said, it keeps some predators around, so if there is an influx, it won't take as long for pest numbers to build, you're the 1st person I've seen talk about it, quite refreshing to see and props on the ref material, while not an issue to me personally, not enough creators put it in

Yes, re your first comment: I was always taught that generally brightly colored insects were 'advertising' themselves as poisonous, so yes it totally could be in this case, but I don't know for certain. Good thought! 2nd comment: Yeah, it seems at least some pests need to be on the landscape to support the lives of the beneficial insects and maintain the balance. Wiping out a pest can wipe out its predator(s) (more so if they are a specialist, less so if generalist), and can create space for a new pest to become a problem. Joe Lewis speaks to something like this in his book A New Farm Language (highly recommend!) with some of the Bt crops. Helen Atthowe in The Ecological Farm (another book I recommend...see vid description if interested) has also talked about leaving some pests on the landscape or on the plants to support the predators, and my interpretation of it is that a perfect crop yield over the long term is not only unrealistic, but also not ecologically sustainable. She encourages us to accept something like a 10-20% yield loss as normal and right. I suppose that so often we get so caught up in the prospect of maximizing yield, we lose sight of the grander picture. Thank you for the feedback!

@@terra-blegardeningvideos I'll def check those out. A lot of people tend to also overlook the adults are sometimes pollinators, so some loss isn't always a bad thing, even ants have a role in the cycle of plants, not always good, but still helps, from seed dispersal through to pollination.

Yeah it is really eye opening when we realize that some of these 'pest' insects can also have beneficial attributes like as pollinators...cucumber beetles for example. To me it seems like too much of the 'bad vs good' mentality, and not enough emphasis on balance. You are spot on.

@@terra-blegardeningvideos that's why I've become a strong believer in looking to indigenous culture for insight, they had to observe their environment to survive and worked with it, not how western peoples have been doing, trying to control it, even fires were done in mosaic patterns and never burning a spot twice in several years, they learned it benefited certain plants and that some plants couldn't handle frequent fires, something science only cottoned on to in the 90s

Thank you!

It is possible those gourds may work well as well! I wanted to try this gourd (in video) specifically because of its relatively simple shape, and it's inability to cross pollinate with other squash or pumpkins (because its in a different genus, Lagenaria). My intent is to harvest this gourd before it reaches its full size or maturity.

Yes, those square watermelons are intriguing, indeed! In fact, that was what triggered the idea for the square pots. Regarding the square watermelons specifically, it probably makes shipping and handling, as well as cutting a lot easier! It's also adding value to a product which might make it more profitable for the grower depending on how the numbers shake out. Now that I'm thinking about it I may try this with watermelons myself sometime too!

Thank you! I hope that will turn out to be the case!!

yes, and there are other critters out there whose job it is to ruin mosquitos' lives as well ;)

Thank you! Trust me, I've got a long way way to go myself. But the journey is what its all about. You got this!!

Thank you!

Thanks for listening!

I have not really done much with seed balls/bombs. Do you have experience with this? I seem to recall Fukuoka did something like that, I am intrigued.

@@terra-blegardeningvideos I watched someone who was using 3 to 4 in diameter seed balls like soil blocks for individual plantings of squash and beans. He had them lined up side by each in a tray. The seedlings air prune. I am going to give this a try when I start seeds for the fall garden.

Very nice! Feel free to let me know how it goes!

Ha! Thanks!....working on it