If you enjoyed this video, please "Like" and share it to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😀TIMESTAMPS here: 0:00 My Struggles With Garden Pests 2:43 How To Prevent Pests In Vegetable Gardens 3:56 Using Hoop Houses Year Round 6:32 This Is Easier Than You Think! 8:53 Earth Bed & Container Garden Solutions 11:57 Adventures With Dale
I've had furbabies that ripped the stuffing out of toys within minutes too. I guess it makes them happy. LOL. 😂😂😂😂 What we won't do for our furbabies!!!
@@donnabrooks1173 any stuffie has a lifespan of 15 minutes with Dale. We buy them on occasion just to let him destroy them. He just loves it, but we try not to get too many since it's like setting money on fire.
I really appreciate that you state the DATE in your videos. It is so helpful to know the exact time of year something was filmed as I’m going through past videos. I’m in about the same zone a little south, a beginning gardener, so it’s very easy to simply follow along with planting times and just general things to be thinking about. Thank you!
@@TheMillennialGardener you bet. And thanks for your advice a few weeks ago about overwintering peppers. Our Jalapeno still looks great. The Impala has turned to a mix of brown/green, no more small leaves, but when we lightly scrape parts of it with a knife it is green and looks healthy/alive.
I just have to say that you are amazing! Your videos are always so full of excellent info! I love the way you pack so much info in & you talk quickly so your videos don't drag on, or lose my attention. You are a PRO! Thank you for sharing some of your knowledge!
I feel the same way! I usually speed up most of my RUclips videos because my brain just doesn’t process and I lose interest when someone speaks too slowly.
I've used covers for a long time now but went "off grid" budget lol I got the big hula hoops for the Dollar Tree and a bolt of black tuile and cover everything and works like a charm! :) It's a great idea and I've had zero pest issues! :)
I live in Clearwater Fl. If the bugs dont get to my veggies than the birds or squirrels usually do. I started bagging my stuff last year and that did help. I think Im gonna do these hoop structures this year. Thanks for all the great tips.
I've built 2 cattle panel tunnels. They hold up the best to wind and rain. In summer i have a clear plastic covering the top to sheild rain and layer shade cloth over it, all the way to the ground. Works great
I used the covers last summer and FINALLY beat the squash vine borers and grew pumpkins. We grow organic, we have very good pest eating bugs and birds but borers are the WORST. Row covers are the way to go for me at least, here in Pennsylvania. And yes, we do plastic, and also the fabric. When we don't need it, we can remove it. Works beautifully on hoop tunnels. We keep bees but we don't need them to pollinate pumpkins, I hand pollinate, it's not hard even in a pretty big home garden.
Squash can be covered until the female flowers bloom. The cover helps keep squash borer beetles an early start. The male flowers bloom first, maybe to attract pollinators, but female flowers don’t usually bloom until 1-2 weeks later. When I uncover, I stay diligent watching for pests. I have learned to pollinate my squash by hand so if bugs are bad, I keep them covered.
I started using the 40% shade cloth last summer. We (Texas Gulf Coast) endured one of the most brutally hot and dry summers on record. I was struggling to keep my container fruit trees alive. Within one week of throwing together a structure to hang the shade cloth, all the trees were putting out new greening! It was too late to save the garden last summer but I have already built a structure around the 4-4' x 4' x 18" raised beds so the shade cloth can hang. Keep passing on the excellent advice!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with everyone concerning cloth coverings. I bought 4 raised beds waist high last year. They are not as large as your lower beds but I did make hoops and bought a blocker for some of the sun that we have in August that burns the plants. I’m glad to know there’s more ways to treat bugs than spraying. I’ve done the ground gardening with my husband for years. Lots of work to treat clay soil. 😩 So to save my knees, back and hips I’ve moved towards container and raised bed gardening. At 70 this year I don’t want any more woes than necessary. So thank you again for your knowledge. Blessings. Happy Gardening 🪴👨🌾
We had swarms of grasshoppers, this year in the Rockies, that devoured nearly everything that wasn't fully mature...I did put insect netting over hoops secured with 1/2" hoop clamps but I did not secure them to the ground...the grasshoppers were smart enough to get in under the netting and devoured all my my transplants within a night...I will be filling 2 inch pvc long pipe with water enclosed with caps on both ends to lay over the insect netting at the bottoms on the ground which will follow the contour to keep out all critters on our homestead garden. I would love it if you made a video describing what you use to secure your netting to the hoops and what you use to secure your netting to the ground,.,.,Thank you for all of your videos...
One You Tuber said he started using Dr Earth's Golden bloom on his yellow squash. Said he has not seen a vine borer since he started using it. He said he puts it out before the vine borers moth starts showing up, and during the Summer months.
He must live in a place where vine borers just aren't a big problem because that golden bloom stuff is just fertilizer.. there's zero chance it's helping with vine borers.
What you speak is so true. I have learned so much about hoop houses from you . I cover everything, use insect netting, shade cloths. I am planning on adding more this year. I am in the process of learning. Its beneficial because we are both coastal nc same grow zone. Keep doing what you are doing.
I had to learn the hard way that messing around with sprays and pulling and squishing bugs off plants is just chasing your tail. If you cover things, you don't have to deal with the problem. You'll still get some pests, but it's literally a ~95% reduction. It makes it so much easier to manage.
Im in upstate SC (near the mountain region, but I know the bugs are coming!). I know I need to do this, it’s just so hard to accept as a designer/decorator and wanting my garden to be pretty 🤦🏼♀️ But I will cry if all my hard work goes to waste, so covering it is. Thank you for the reality check!
A great video. I live in central California. I have a permanent 21 foot by 42 foot by 9 foot tall structure with 40% year round shade cloth. I have all raised beds with the exception of okra. Your garden hoops work but pvc only lasts a couple years from experience. I made mine out of 1/2 inch emt. I used "Maker Pipe" fittings on them. Keep up the great videos. Never give up!
I do the best I can in my neighborhood HOA. One day, when I am gardening on a real property, I will get a real greenhouse installed. For now, this is working well enough.
In the Dale segment - I'm sure you meant "Rest in Pieces" 😆 I know because my black lab does the same thing with her toys. When she gets a new toy we always say "Let the gutting begin!" I would also like to tell you that I absolutely LOVE your videos. I live about an hour from you and I find your videos to be the best. I really wish I had a large yard like you have.
So many pieces...fluff was everywhere! Some dogs like to carry around their toys. Some dogs like to kill them. Nothing makes Dale happier than destroying a stuffed animal. The lifespan of anything stuffed is about 30 minutes. Glad you're enjoying the videos! My yard is only a little over a quarter acre. The camera makes it look larger than it is. It's just a typical plot in a neighborhood with an HOA. You can do a lot with a little space.
Your ideas are fantastic. I really enjoy your channel, I learn so much, you are an inspiration. Thank you so much for sharing your gardening tips and your experience.
Love this, thank you for sharing! My husband has already built a few hoops and will do so for all the beds. I don’t like spraying either and am 100% organic. The bugs in Florida, as you can imagine, are horrendous. I also took your advice for shade cloth, and the broccoli is looking good ! Thank you!
I honestly can't thank you enough for your insightful channel! Hands down, you have consistently given me the most useful information out of all the channels I have recently subbed to as a "greenie" gardener 💚
Thank you for yet another of your very helpful videos. To be honest, the thought of changing out the netting 3x a year is too much for me. I do use white netting all year -- the Agfab brand is the absolute BEST and worth every penny, as cheaper brands DO NOT last very long and tear easily. 😖. So, when the sun is its most brutal, I throw a 40% netting over the existing white. You are right about the netting keeping bugs at bay and checking the beds regularly. Caterpillars were murder this year and chowed down happily on my chard for several weeks until I caught on. Thanks so much from San Francisco east bay!
You can leave it on, but I swear, it takes 2 minutes to put on and take off. It’s 10 PVC clips over a bed. Piece of cake! But if you don’t want to, it probably can stay on.
I started doing this 2 yrs ago after nearly giving up gardening out of frustration with pests. I have a large squash bed and put a couple bees in there so I don't have to hand pollinate everything.
Squash and melons are my challenge. I need pollinators, so I can’t cover those. I wish there was a true parthenocarpic zucchini 😑 I’ve been burying my zucchini ribs to block borers. It works, somewhat.
So we are letting our land rest this year.im really sad about it but I'm praying it's best and we will get back at it next year because I really love gardening!
I started doing this 2 years ago here in Northern Utah. It WORKS! I even cover my Zucchini andcucumbers. However, I uncover them when they start blooming. I obviously don't have as big of a problem with insects as you do since we freeze hard here for a good 3 months. The only thing I have not been able to beat are the grasshoppers. Somehow those rascals get under the cover, probably when they are tiny, and I haven't had a crop yet from my raspberries. They don't seem to bother much else because of the cover I guess. . or maybe the berries are luring them away from everything else. I use rebar in the corners (and sides if my boxes are long) of my raised beds and do like you said for in ground covers. The shade cloth was another saving grace for me. We get very hot here in the summer. High 90's to 100's. With the shade nothing drops blossoms and stop producing in the heat. Plus in spring I can set out tomatoes and peppers a month earlier if I cover them with milk jugs and have greenhouse plastic making a hoop house. Double insulation! Love your channel, but we have snow until March here so I can't use a lot of your ideas with our short growing season.
This is a great idea! I really appreciate you sharing this technique and the links for what products to get for us to create these hoops in our garden. I am located in Brunswick County and you are 100% accurate about the pests that we have to deal with for at least 9 months out of the year. I am definitely going to try this method in my garden! 😊 Thank you!
I am so conflicted! I’m in the NC piedmont and I would love the pest protection but my windows and patio all face the garden and I do enjoy the beauty of it. I guess I have to choose form or function.
I have that problem too. I literally have hoops like he does and I train the tomatoes to them and have a much bigger hoop system over those for plastic or shade cloth.
Thank you for all the great information . Love the channel! I would like to get more information on the depth of the soil/raised bed needs for the different vegetables. Thank you in advance for all your great advice.
Greetings MG, new ish gardener zone 8a I built a couple of yur hoop structures in my tiny backyard space. Used bamboo stakes, pvc and plastic(drop cloth doubled) 😉to cover some bags during that week of freeze u spoke of, awesome. 🌱💐
I hate Cabbage moth and cut-worms and the Leaf-footed bug the most !!! UGH. Great idea ! Gorgeous vegetables !! Awesome useful garden information, thanks.
I started this method last year, netting, shade cloth, frost cloth. I am opposed to sprays so this works just as you described. In ground I use masonry ladders, about $4.25 each and fit in cars, suvs.
Thank you for another helpful video, planning for my garden this year. Hi Dale, you are such a good dog, and the way you chew that toy, you're like my dog Jane she like taking out all the stuffing too😅 have fun ❤
I built hoops for my raised beds out of metal conduit (emt) this past winter. You can make a template out of 2 x 12 lumber to bend the pipe for most any radius yourself. It's pretty easy. I built them for the winter and hardly needed them, but for pests is where they will truly be worth the cost and labor. Coastal zone 9, bug central as you are.
You can certainly use EMT. I prefer PVC, because I can install an entire hoop house in less than 30 minutes. It's worth it to me. PVC Conduit will last 3-5 years, so I don't mind eventually replacing it for the time savings. Be sure to buy the correct PVC clips, because PVC conduit is thicker than EMT. You need PVC clips specifically for EMT conduit.
Hey, I don’t usually do netting because I have birds I feed and water and they can get tangled by landing on the hoops. I also have small lizards that eat the horn worms, but the assassin bugs kill me. Thanks for all the info. 😊
My problem is that I mulch my garden and have so many pill bugs that come up from the soil and eat my various veggies. I also have squash bugs and striped cucumber beetles that ravage my squash plants and cucumbers. Would love for you to cover a fix for that.
Sooooo, here in north central Florida, I would not remove your bug netting when it's time for the shade cloth. I would just add the shade cloth. Maybe try both and see if there's a difference. I think the bugs here are a magnitude more difficult than they are there, lol.
The shade cloth I use actually doubles as insect netting. The mesh is very tight, so it keeps pretty much anything but gnats out. You can use both, but the shade cloth I link to is very effective for insects. Believe me, the bugs here are just as bad as where you are. Your insect season may be slightly longer, but it's the exact same climate and my summers are actually wetter than north Florida, if you can imagine.
When I started 3 years ago, I bought myself a cheap $250 DIY 10x20 foot greenhouse kit off of Wayfair. My reason being was due to the main garden pest in the pine lands of south jersey.... deer... First year taught me that it DOES save them from deer... but then heat became the enemy. Second year I added some fencing around the bottom half so I can lift the cover up because those little window flaps do nothing for ventilation (even with multiple box fans). By doing so it opened me up to other small pests... And finding out the cheap greenhouse cover shrinks in less than a year.. I am now in my 3rd year and REALLY want to set up a nice big fenced in garden area to build raised beds and hoop houses. And with that being said, this video shared with me something valuable. > Make the material of the hoop houses modular
That’s the problem with those kits: you can’t change out the covers. I find it easier and cheaper to just use PVC electric conduit. Then, you get yourself a big bag of snap clamps and you can change to whatever cover you want at any time.
Very good suggestions. Question: Why do these coverings come mostly 10ft wide? Do you cut in half per row of plants? Most rows are 3 to 4 ft wide. Doesn't seem like a person would need 10ft wide.
You have such great content, and being in Georgia, I know this is the only way I will ever defeat the dreaded vine borer. But, oh, how beautiful zucchini is; I think it’s just as beautiful as any elephant ear plant. (Until the morning when they’re suddenly not!) I may have to keep the beds most visible from the back deck as flower beds and then cover the rest. Thank you for sharing your garden and your expertise with us!
Well, here is the downside. Zucchini needs pollination. If you cover them, you will have to hand pollinate all the flowers. For that reason, I can’t really cover my zucchini. I’ve been burying the zucchini stem in soil. That blocks the borer and causes them to root all along the stem, so when the borer finds its way in, it doesn’t kill the entire plant.
Anks appreciate your content so much. That what I have been doing using netting freeze cloth and shade cloth. Did see many using it but had use netting in my area for squirrels and pest it helped so many ways. Then use freeze cloth past fall winter have crops lasted thru winter . Have so much need find some places to keep but I let some go or put grow bags and plan spring and summer. Planting what eat. Glad some one else thinking about pest. It been best thing for me, thanks take care. Maryland zone 7b
Hi Dale, my dog loved his toy better once he removed the fluffy stuff. He carries an unstuffed bear. LOL enjoy! Hopefully your Dad doesn't throw out your great new toy.
This was a great video, not sure if anyone asked this...Japanese Beetles lay their larvae in the soil. Have you had any success with conquering these pests? Huge problem where I live.
I have very few Japanese Beetles where I live. It may be largely too hot for them. I do occasionally see them here or there, but it's not a serious problem like leaf footed bugs, squash bugs, vine borers, stink bugs, cabbage white butterflies and tomato hornworms are. When I do have Japanese Beetles, they tend to just munch on my persimmon leaves for whatever reason. As long as I check daily, it's easily fixed.
Thank you for this video and showing us different covers also I want to ask to keep the white mouth from getting on your plants do you have to seal this thing completely close the world they not drop anything once they see is covered
Try growing these varieties: ruclips.net/video/nSizx4eUEg4/видео.htmlsi=7m5-u0BXJTkuMfKe Cucumber beetles are attracted to a chemical in cucumbers called cucurbitacin. These burpless, parthenocarpic varieties produce almost none, so the beetles are not attracted to them.
I'm newly subscribed to your channel and have watch a lot of your videos and have found them extremely helpful. The one question that I have from watching your videos is I've noticed that you use landscaping cloth under your potted plants. I will be having a lot more potted plants this year and wondered the reasoning behind that. Thanks
thank you its a no brainer , lv all your videos your the best. i am in the garden state on atlantic ocean, do not have as many bugs as you but between salt air and the varments its a challenge
North Fla zone 8b here. Yep, yep, yep to all the creepy crawlers you mentioned. Ugh. Plus our soil is plain sand/dirt. So, I’ve resorted to growing in grow bags. Do you have any experience with netting bags to cover the tomatoes instead of the whole plant?
Very informative and useful information. Don't know why you want to block birds out of your garden, though! We're in Maine, and have planted dense shrubbery (Spiraea, Weigela) and short-needle conifer trees that encourage small bird nesting, and provided multiple bird houses as well around the yard. Also put out seed feeders, which help feed the adult sparrows and such. And these birds do a great job of keeping the bugs down in the garden - especially the cabbage white butterfly caterpillars on the Brassicas. Did you know it takes 4000-6000 caterpillars to raise a clutch of sparrow or chickadee chicks to fledgling stage? So, we do get a little chewing damage (we raise collards, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts - ample to take care of our own needs for the year, and more to give away and/or donate to the local food pantry). BUT the butterflies come around, do their thing, the caterpillars eat a little bit, and then the birds eat the caterpillars! Rarely is the chewing damage at all severe. But have to agree - the flowers really help as well. We plant a row of zinnias in the middle of the garden, to help with attracting pollinators for the green beans, cucurbits, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes.
Birds probably wouldn't even notice something as tiny as whiteflies, aphids, or mealy bugs, though. I'm in South Florida the insect pressure here is intense all year long because it never gets cold enough to stop anything.
@@bethb8276 .. Agreed - birds wouldn't bother with them. But we have ZILLIONS of parasitoid wasps - including countless species under 2 mm long - that just love these things. Ladybugs (ladybird beetles) also are most happy munching their way through whiteflies, mealybugs and aphids. (Did you know aphids are BORN pregnant?) And spider mites, which are a major pest inside for us (I have to keep my citrus potted and indoors - our winters can go down to -20!), outside are seemingly nonexistent. We also have perhaps 1/10 the diversity you do - and vastly fewer "imported" exotic pests than you have to deal with in Florida.
@EducatedSkeptic We have spidermite problems outdoors here. While I do have ladybugs, lacewings, and wasps etc, they haven't done anything to control the amount of whiteflies and mealybugs we get here. I do find covering my veggie garden with insect netting gives me the best results, if I want to have anything to eat for myself. :) I have plenty of fruiting vines, fruiting bushes, and fruit trees for the insects and birds.
Birds in my garden are a no-no. We don't need birds to peck our fruit. They can do more harm than good. Birds in the yard, I don't mind. That's why I have a bird bath and a bird feeder. You can have the best of both worlds. You can keep birds out of your garden while still using them to reduce the surplus population of insects in the yard.
Hey, I'm over near Raleigh, so I guess that makes me zone 8A or B According to the USDA 2023 map. Funny, I've always thought I was zone seven. i'm starting my first garden this year which consists of five or six 2 gallon pots, and 2 x 4' table bed. Probably with a small irrigation timer. I know I want tomatoes, peppers and herbs. should I put the herbs in the table baed and the rest in the large pots?
I bought a 10x30 feet fine mesh. It may be bigger. I forgot. I wanted to try wrapping my fig tree if it comes to that to keep birds off the fruit or try to come up with something better than wrapping individual figs. It may block sun though and affect sweetness, but I can use it when vine borers show up on July 1st. They ALWAYS show up here in central Louisiana at around 10 am, July 1st. Sometime later they go away. Not sure when exactly but I never see them in August.
I found that my fig trees actually LOVE shade cloth in the summer. They are so much happier. Your sun is about the same as mine, so insect netting definitely won’t harm your fig. They may even like 40% shade cloth if your trees are in full sun, and 40% shade cloth blocks larger insects.
I may experiment with that then. I ordered 5 mulberry trees and I have 8 more fig trees to plant this spring. I`m gonna get cuttings next winter and cover a nearby grassy field my sister owns in fruit trees. This year I`m mass planting sunflowers for the birds. I feed the birds here and they eat a lot of garden pests so I`m gonna grow some sunflowers, figs, chokeberries and mulberries for them. @@TheMillennialGardener
I used to have problems with birds eating my figs, I even went so far as to use those little bags used for wedding favors to cover individual figs. (It’s the same fabric used for row covers and the bags worked quite well). But over time the trees became so productive that the birds were a non-issue. They could eat their fill and I still had far more figs than I could harvest.
That`s my goal here...plant so many fruit trees that nothing can eat them all. LOL! I`m planting 4 more brown turkey figs and 4 celeste, since those are known to do well in Louisiana, plus 5 dwarf everbearing mulberry trees. Last summer the birds got sick of eating the blackberries and left them alone for the last 6 weeks. Me and a possum, squirrel, and a raccoon tried but we couldn`t eat them all either. I`m hoping the everbearing mulberries will keep the birds busy. After 3 years one tree is supposed to produce a minimum of 25 pounds of fruit each year. Plus I can propagate all these trees with cuttings in a nearby large weedy field and along my 500ft driveway. @@aliannarodriguez1581
@@barjrfarmandranch6002 Yeah I tried that. They just lol'd and kept on about their business. The only thing that kills them (that I have found) is the super nasty granular stuff from Home Depot. Stops them cold. Not good for food crops though.
Mix borax and sugar with some water, and pour in a shallow dish/plate. Some people soak cotton balls, other cook down a mixture. Either way, it's bait and poison for the colony.
When I moved here, my entire yard was, literally, a fire ant colony. I couldn't go outside 8 months a year in flip flops without getting bitten by one. Now, I have virtually zero. I have a video on how I eliminated them entirely here: ruclips.net/video/pr521FO4sMY/видео.htmlsi=hXzzKPNOMxGAosNA
No question that physical barriers are the most straightforward way to keep pests out, but for me, a garden has to be aesthetically pleasing as well, and walking out to a bunch of covers just wouldn't do it for me. For produce where there tends to be high pest pressure, I do use covers though.
Don’t move to the South. You’ll reach the conclusion that you’d rather eat your food 😂 I think it looks cool when everything is covered. It looks professional.
The covers still leave openings in the front and back. Don’t the bugs still access the plants through those openings since the plants are only covered on the top?
Thank you for this video. I use the nettings to keep the bugs away. It’s helped a lot. I’m curious though as to use black or white shade cloth. Big controversy out there. Why do you use the black? 🙏
I made friends with a crazy wild bunny last year during the horrible drought and heat wave and since I planted legumes mostly in my new garden to begin improving soil I let her eat from it. There was nothing else green. Grass and weeds were bleached white by mid July. So I had to get a bunny fence...a cheap 100 ft plastic fence that`s 4 feet tall. I can cut it down the middle into two 2 ft tall 100 ft fences but I doubt I`ll do that. I may need it like it is later for something. It will be easy to set up. Bunny left during the winter because I wasn`t outside, but as soon as I started messing with my garden recently she heard me and showed up. I think she feels safer to come out in the open when I`m out there because there are a lot of big hoot owls here.
I’ve learned rabbits are very lazy. Simple barriers often deter them. If there are any gaps, they’ll walk right in, but if you have no gaps, they don’t try hard to get in.
Last year I noticed that. I put a long narrow cardboard box down that a copper ground rod arrived in and she never tried to cross it even after a rain in September flattened it. Armadillos, however, were pushing buckets out of the way I used to block a gap in between some roofing metal and even pushed the metal sheets over eventually. I got several with a 22 air rifle but I feel bad about harming them. I cussed one out that showed up during the day and he stood there listening and came over and sniffed my foot! He was a very old one with scars all over him. The war started when I threw a rock at one. It came back later and destroyed 80% of my garden. They`re vindictive apparently.@@TheMillennialGardener
I have galvanized metal raised beds and would like to create hoop structures like these for all of them. Any ideas how to adhere the pvc pipes to them? I don’t think screwing them into thin metal would work well.
You can buy 3/8” rebar in 4 ft lengths from Lowe’s for a few dollars a piece. Pound them 2 feet into the ground, then thread 1/2” PVC conduit over them. That’s what I do here: ruclips.net/video/l0gt7MhRrVQ/видео.htmlsi=90xzO9brHCORAQqM
If you enjoyed this video, please "Like" and share it to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😀TIMESTAMPS here:
0:00 My Struggles With Garden Pests
2:43 How To Prevent Pests In Vegetable Gardens
3:56 Using Hoop Houses Year Round
6:32 This Is Easier Than You Think!
8:53 Earth Bed & Container Garden Solutions
11:57 Adventures With Dale
I've had furbabies that ripped the stuffing out of toys within minutes too. I guess it makes them happy. LOL. 😂😂😂😂 What we won't do for our furbabies!!!
I’m from Wilmingon NC where are you located
@@donnabrooks1173 any stuffie has a lifespan of 15 minutes with Dale. We buy them on occasion just to let him destroy them. He just loves it, but we try not to get too many since it's like setting money on fire.
I really appreciate that you state the DATE in your videos. It is so helpful to know the exact time of year something was filmed as I’m going through past videos. I’m in about the same zone a little south, a beginning gardener, so it’s very easy to simply follow along with planting times and just general things to be thinking about. Thank you!
utuuube started doing this about a year ago. They don't realize (or care) that it is very unhelpful for gardening shows.
Thanks. I try to time these videos based on the current season.
@@JP-zn9dwwhat?
I appreciate that as well!
Yeah this dude is on point with explanations. Very precise.
You are crushing it with content this year so far. This is the best all-around gardening channel on here.
Thank you! I really appreciate that very much.
@@TheMillennialGardener you bet. And thanks for your advice a few weeks ago about overwintering peppers. Our Jalapeno still looks great. The Impala has turned to a mix of brown/green, no more small leaves, but when we lightly scrape parts of it with a knife it is green and looks healthy/alive.
I just have to say that you are amazing! Your videos are always so full of excellent info! I love the way you pack so much info in & you talk quickly so your videos don't drag on, or lose my attention. You are a PRO! Thank you for sharing some of your knowledge!
I feel the same way! I usually speed up most of my RUclips videos because my brain just doesn’t process and I lose interest when someone speaks too slowly.
I've used covers for a long time now but went "off grid" budget lol I got the big hula hoops for the Dollar Tree and a bolt of black tuile and cover everything and works like a charm! :) It's a great idea and I've had zero pest issues! :)
Great idea!
Did you cut each of the hula hoops into 2 halves or what?
I live in Clearwater Fl. If the bugs dont get to my veggies than the birds or squirrels usually do. I started bagging my stuff last year and that did help. I think Im gonna do these hoop structures this year. Thanks for all the great tips.
I’m realizing that you mention the date in your videos and that is so helpful. Thanks for being so helpful.
Agreed!
It is very important for context so you know what time of year I’m doing what I’m doing.
I've built 2 cattle panel tunnels. They hold up the best to wind and rain. In summer i have a clear plastic covering the top to sheild rain and layer shade cloth over it, all the way to the ground. Works great
Sometimes, I wish I spaced a couple of my beds a few feet further apart so I could have a cattle panel arch.
I used the covers last summer and FINALLY beat the squash vine borers and grew pumpkins. We grow organic, we have very good pest eating bugs and birds but borers are the WORST. Row covers are the way to go for me at least, here in Pennsylvania. And yes, we do plastic, and also the fabric. When we don't need it, we can remove it. Works beautifully on hoop tunnels. We keep bees but we don't need them to pollinate pumpkins, I hand pollinate, it's not hard even in a pretty big home garden.
Dale is so cute. His jammies are adorable.
He’s something, I’ll tell you 😂
Squash can be covered until the female flowers bloom. The cover helps keep squash borer beetles an early start. The male flowers bloom first, maybe to attract pollinators, but female flowers don’t usually bloom until 1-2 weeks later. When I uncover, I stay diligent watching for pests. I have learned to pollinate my squash by hand so if bugs are bad, I keep them covered.
I started using the 40% shade cloth last summer. We (Texas Gulf Coast) endured one of the most brutally hot and dry summers on record. I was struggling to keep my container fruit trees alive. Within one week of throwing together a structure to hang the shade cloth, all the trees were putting out new greening! It was too late to save the garden last summer but I have already built a structure around the 4-4' x 4' x 18" raised beds so the shade cloth can hang. Keep passing on the excellent advice!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with everyone concerning cloth coverings. I bought 4 raised beds waist high last year. They are not as large as your lower beds but I did make hoops and bought a blocker for some of the sun that we have in August that burns the plants. I’m glad to know there’s more ways to treat bugs than spraying.
I’ve done the ground gardening with my husband for years. Lots of work to treat clay soil. 😩 So to save my knees, back and hips I’ve moved towards container and raised bed gardening. At 70 this year I don’t want any more woes than necessary. So thank you again for your knowledge. Blessings.
Happy Gardening 🪴👨🌾
We had swarms of grasshoppers, this year in the Rockies, that devoured nearly everything that wasn't fully mature...I did put insect netting over hoops secured with 1/2" hoop clamps but I did not secure them to the ground...the grasshoppers were smart enough to get in under the netting and devoured all my my transplants within a night...I will be filling 2 inch pvc long pipe with water enclosed with caps on both ends to lay over the insect netting at the bottoms on the ground which will follow the contour to keep out all critters on our homestead garden.
I would love it if you made a video describing what you use to secure your netting to the hoops and what you use to secure your netting to the ground,.,.,Thank you for all of your videos...
One You Tuber said he started using Dr Earth's Golden bloom on his yellow squash. Said he has not seen a vine borer since he started using it. He said he puts it out before the vine borers moth starts showing up, and during the Summer months.
He must live in a place where vine borers just aren't a big problem because that golden bloom stuff is just fertilizer.. there's zero chance it's helping with vine borers.
What you speak is so true. I have learned so much about hoop houses from you . I cover everything, use insect netting, shade cloths. I am planning on adding more this year. I am in the process of learning. Its beneficial because we are both coastal nc same grow zone. Keep doing what you are doing.
I had to learn the hard way that messing around with sprays and pulling and squishing bugs off plants is just chasing your tail. If you cover things, you don't have to deal with the problem. You'll still get some pests, but it's literally a ~95% reduction. It makes it so much easier to manage.
One question though.. Doesn't putting in physical barriers also stop pollinators from doing their job? Is there a fix for that?
Im in upstate SC (near the mountain region, but I know the bugs are coming!). I know I need to do this, it’s just so hard to accept as a designer/decorator and wanting my garden to be pretty 🤦🏼♀️ But I will cry if all my hard work goes to waste, so covering it is. Thank you for the reality check!
I love your channel. Even though I garden in northeast Ohio, I find your tips both relevant and very useful. Thank you!
I appreciate it! Thanks for watching!
A great video. I live in central California. I have a permanent 21 foot by 42 foot by 9 foot tall structure with 40% year round shade cloth. I have all raised beds with the exception of okra. Your garden hoops work but pvc only lasts a couple years from experience. I made mine out of 1/2 inch emt. I used "Maker Pipe" fittings on them. Keep up the great videos. Never give up!
I do the best I can in my neighborhood HOA. One day, when I am gardening on a real property, I will get a real greenhouse installed. For now, this is working well enough.
I cant wait for the Florida property to get going.
You always give the most practical and to the point advice! Always so helpful and informative...thank you!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
So much valuable info!! Thank you!!
In the Dale segment - I'm sure you meant "Rest in Pieces" 😆 I know because my black lab does the same thing with her toys. When she gets a new toy we always say "Let the gutting begin!"
I would also like to tell you that I absolutely LOVE your videos. I live about an hour from you and I find your videos to be the best. I really wish I had a large yard like you have.
So many pieces...fluff was everywhere! Some dogs like to carry around their toys. Some dogs like to kill them. Nothing makes Dale happier than destroying a stuffed animal. The lifespan of anything stuffed is about 30 minutes. Glad you're enjoying the videos! My yard is only a little over a quarter acre. The camera makes it look larger than it is. It's just a typical plot in a neighborhood with an HOA. You can do a lot with a little space.
Your ideas are fantastic. I really enjoy your channel, I learn so much, you are an inspiration. Thank you so much for sharing your gardening tips and your experience.
Love this, thank you for sharing! My husband has already built a few hoops and will do so for all the beds. I don’t like spraying either and am 100% organic. The bugs in Florida, as you can imagine, are horrendous.
I also took your advice for shade cloth, and the broccoli is looking good ! Thank you!
I honestly can't thank you enough for your insightful channel!
Hands down, you have consistently given me the most useful information out of all the channels I have recently subbed to as a "greenie" gardener 💚
Man this is an excellent video!
Great content! Recently moved from Utah to Texas and the difference in pests is so huge!
Thank you for yet another of your very helpful videos. To be honest, the thought of changing out the netting 3x a year is too much for me. I do use white netting all year -- the Agfab brand is the absolute BEST and worth every penny, as cheaper brands DO NOT last very long and tear easily. 😖. So, when the sun is its most brutal, I throw a 40% netting over the existing white. You are right about the netting keeping bugs at bay and checking the beds regularly. Caterpillars were murder this year and chowed down happily on my chard for several weeks until I caught on. Thanks so much from San Francisco east bay!
You can leave it on, but I swear, it takes 2 minutes to put on and take off. It’s 10 PVC clips over a bed. Piece of cake! But if you don’t want to, it probably can stay on.
It's a must here in South Florida.
I started doing this 2 yrs ago after nearly giving up gardening out of frustration with pests. I have a large squash bed and put a couple bees in there so I don't have to hand pollinate everything.
Squash and melons are my challenge. I need pollinators, so I can’t cover those. I wish there was a true parthenocarpic zucchini 😑 I’ve been burying my zucchini ribs to block borers. It works, somewhat.
We in upstate SC, are desperate for a solution for the vine boring moth, no one seems to put it in print. They kill our yellow squash
Every year.
So we are letting our land rest this year.im really sad about it but I'm praying it's best and we will get back at it next year because I really love gardening!
I started doing this 2 years ago here in Northern Utah. It WORKS! I even cover my Zucchini andcucumbers. However, I uncover them when they start blooming. I obviously don't have as big of a problem with insects as you do since we freeze hard here for a good 3 months. The only thing I have not been able to beat are the grasshoppers. Somehow those rascals get under the cover, probably when they are tiny, and I haven't had a crop yet from my raspberries. They don't seem to bother much else because of the cover I guess.
. or maybe the berries are luring them away from everything else.
I use rebar in the corners (and sides if my boxes are long) of my raised beds and do like you said for in ground covers.
The shade cloth was another saving grace for me. We get very hot here in the summer. High 90's to 100's. With the shade nothing drops blossoms and stop producing in the heat. Plus in spring I can set out tomatoes and peppers a month earlier if I cover them with milk jugs and have greenhouse plastic making a hoop house. Double insulation!
Love your channel, but we have snow until March here so I can't use a lot of your ideas with our short growing season.
This is a great idea! I really appreciate you sharing this technique and the links for what products to get for us to create these hoops in our garden. I am located in Brunswick County and you are 100% accurate about the pests that we have to deal with for at least 9 months out of the year. I am definitely going to try this method in my garden! 😊 Thank you!
Awesome, your rotation of the covers. I live in AZ, and I'm at 3400 ft so we get an actual cold winter, and an intense sun and heat in summer.
I HAVE to build raised beds with hardware cloth bottoms to keep the gophers out. 🙁
I am so conflicted! I’m in the NC piedmont and I would love the pest protection but my windows and patio all face the garden and I do enjoy the beauty of it. I guess I have to choose form or function.
My indeterminate tomatoes get routinely over six feet tall. I've never seen a hoop structure that could accommodate them.
I have that problem too. I literally have hoops like he does and I train the tomatoes to them and have a much bigger hoop system over those for plastic or shade cloth.
For indeterminate tomatoes, ditch the cages.
Switch to extra large sturdy stakes and utlize the Florda weave technique.
Simple and easy
Gotta get the squeaker out, lol. Always stuffing all over the floor.
I made one here, and it's easy: ruclips.net/video/l0gt7MhRrVQ/видео.htmlsi=JAGgf3ypbAwa6jQ1
I featured it in the video.
Build a caterpillar hoop house and string your tomatoes on them
I get excited when I get a notification from you! Thanks from California ❤
Thank you for all the great information . Love the channel! I would like to get more information on the depth of the soil/raised bed needs for the different vegetables. Thank you in advance for all your great advice.
Thanks! All my raised beds are built out of 2"x8" lumber with open bottoms. I've never had a problem growing anything.
this guy does not miss!
Always inspiring information. I always get valuable information that helps me with my garden. Thanks again!
You're welcome!
Okay... im going to go and clean up the garden, I was defeated but I'll try this.
Greetings MG, new ish gardener zone 8a I built a couple of yur hoop structures in my tiny backyard space. Used bamboo stakes, pvc and plastic(drop cloth doubled) 😉to cover some bags during that week of freeze u spoke of, awesome. 🌱💐
I hate Cabbage moth and cut-worms and the Leaf-footed bug the most !!! UGH. Great idea ! Gorgeous vegetables !! Awesome useful garden information, thanks.
I started this method last year, netting, shade cloth, frost cloth. I am opposed to sprays so this works just as you described. In ground I use masonry ladders, about $4.25 each and fit in cars, suvs.
It’s not only easier than spraying, but a lot cheaper, too!
I can tell your very organized, where/ how do you keep all your different covers stored?
Borage would have to be top of your list for a plant to grow that bees 🐝 go crazy for 🐝🐝🐝
Thank you for another helpful video, planning for my garden this year. Hi Dale, you are such a good dog, and the way you chew that toy, you're like my dog Jane she like taking out all the stuffing too😅 have fun ❤
Im lucky i live in south Florida i don't have to worry so much about the cold so netting works great for bugs and tarp in summer. Thanks for the info
Yep in all cause analysis, engineering out the problem is the best. Now I need to figure out a bucket/ grow bag cover for my cabbage.
Small tomato cage with a Dollar Tree mesh laundry bag put over it? They're a decent size. I bought a couple to try.
You can probably modify my design for my shade tunnel in the height you need: ruclips.net/video/l0gt7MhRrVQ/видео.htmlsi=3Ju54Mi8_uBfrazi
I built hoops for my raised beds out of metal conduit (emt) this past winter. You can make a template out of 2 x 12 lumber to bend the pipe for most any radius yourself. It's pretty easy. I built them for the winter and hardly needed them, but for pests is where they will truly be worth the cost and labor. Coastal zone 9, bug central as you are.
You can certainly use EMT. I prefer PVC, because I can install an entire hoop house in less than 30 minutes. It's worth it to me. PVC Conduit will last 3-5 years, so I don't mind eventually replacing it for the time savings. Be sure to buy the correct PVC clips, because PVC conduit is thicker than EMT. You need PVC clips specifically for EMT conduit.
Hey, I don’t usually do netting because I have birds I feed and water and they can get tangled by landing on the hoops. I also have small lizards that eat the horn worms, but the assassin bugs kill me. Thanks for all the info. 😊
My problem is that I mulch my garden and have so many pill bugs that come up from the soil and eat my various veggies. I also have squash bugs and striped cucumber beetles that ravage my squash plants and cucumbers. Would love for you to cover a fix for that.
Sooooo, here in north central Florida, I would not remove your bug netting when it's time for the shade cloth. I would just add the shade cloth. Maybe try both and see if there's a difference. I think the bugs here are a magnitude more difficult than they are there, lol.
The shade cloth I use actually doubles as insect netting. The mesh is very tight, so it keeps pretty much anything but gnats out. You can use both, but the shade cloth I link to is very effective for insects. Believe me, the bugs here are just as bad as where you are. Your insect season may be slightly longer, but it's the exact same climate and my summers are actually wetter than north Florida, if you can imagine.
When I started 3 years ago, I bought myself a cheap $250 DIY 10x20 foot greenhouse kit off of Wayfair. My reason being was due to the main garden pest in the pine lands of south jersey.... deer... First year taught me that it DOES save them from deer... but then heat became the enemy. Second year I added some fencing around the bottom half so I can lift the cover up because those little window flaps do nothing for ventilation (even with multiple box fans). By doing so it opened me up to other small pests... And finding out the cheap greenhouse cover shrinks in less than a year.. I am now in my 3rd year and REALLY want to set up a nice big fenced in garden area to build raised beds and hoop houses. And with that being said, this video shared with me something valuable. > Make the material of the hoop houses modular
That’s the problem with those kits: you can’t change out the covers. I find it easier and cheaper to just use PVC electric conduit. Then, you get yourself a big bag of snap clamps and you can change to whatever cover you want at any time.
Thanks! I always look forward to seeing the Dale videos too.
Would be helpful to see some logistics for watering these. Do your hoops come off easily so you can stick the hose in there?
Ugh, we have all of those bugs too here in Massachusetts. The bunnies and rodents hv exploded in the last 2 seasons
Very good suggestions. Question: Why do these coverings come mostly 10ft wide? Do you cut in half per row of plants? Most rows are 3 to 4 ft wide. Doesn't seem like a person would need 10ft wide.
You have such great content, and being in Georgia, I know this is the only way I will ever defeat the dreaded vine borer. But, oh, how beautiful zucchini is; I think it’s just as beautiful as any elephant ear plant. (Until the morning when they’re suddenly not!) I may have to keep the beds most visible from the back deck as flower beds and then cover the rest. Thank you for sharing your garden and your expertise with us!
Well, here is the downside. Zucchini needs pollination. If you cover them, you will have to hand pollinate all the flowers. For that reason, I can’t really cover my zucchini. I’ve been burying the zucchini stem in soil. That blocks the borer and causes them to root all along the stem, so when the borer finds its way in, it doesn’t kill the entire plant.
Anks appreciate your content so much. That what I have been doing using netting freeze cloth and shade cloth. Did see many using it but had use netting in my area for squirrels and pest it helped so many ways. Then use freeze cloth past fall winter have crops lasted thru winter . Have so much need find some places to keep but I let some go or put grow bags and plan spring and summer. Planting what eat. Glad some one else thinking about pest. It been best thing for me, thanks take care. Maryland zone 7b
Hi Dale, my dog loved his toy better once he removed the fluffy stuff. He carries an unstuffed bear. LOL enjoy! Hopefully your Dad doesn't throw out your great new toy.
What is it with dogs and their need to remove that squeaker? It’s like they need to remove a kidney 😂
This is exactly what I am doing this year. They will also keep the herds and herds of deer that just chill in my yard.
This was a great video, not sure if anyone asked this...Japanese Beetles lay their larvae in the soil. Have you had any success with conquering these pests? Huge problem where I live.
I have very few Japanese Beetles where I live. It may be largely too hot for them. I do occasionally see them here or there, but it's not a serious problem like leaf footed bugs, squash bugs, vine borers, stink bugs, cabbage white butterflies and tomato hornworms are. When I do have Japanese Beetles, they tend to just munch on my persimmon leaves for whatever reason. As long as I check daily, it's easily fixed.
We here in Florida have the same crazy bugs
I feel your pain. It's the same deal here during the warm season. Even in the winter time, if we get 2-3 warm days in a row, they're all back to life.
@@TheMillennialGardener same here in Texas 😫 thank you for all your very useful tips and ideas👍🏼
I have my kale in covers now 8b and aphids have come
Very helpful video, thanks for sharing. Dale adventure is too funny.
Thanks! Dale says hello 🐶
I suppose the cucurbits could also be sealed up in the tunnels if you included mason bee box homes with the bee pupae in Spring?
Thank you for this video and showing us different covers also I want to ask to keep the white mouth from getting on your plants do you have to seal this thing completely close the world they not drop anything once they see is covered
Last year cucumber beetles decimated my first garden. Hopefully we will have a more productive year this time around.
Try growing these varieties: ruclips.net/video/nSizx4eUEg4/видео.htmlsi=7m5-u0BXJTkuMfKe
Cucumber beetles are attracted to a chemical in cucumbers called cucurbitacin. These burpless, parthenocarpic varieties produce almost none, so the beetles are not attracted to them.
I would love to see something like this but for western PA in the mountains. If anyone has a link.....
Great info though. Thank you so much!
The designs are not situational. You can apply them literally anywhere. Simply place some hoops, snap clamp the netting to the hoops and you're done.
I'm newly subscribed to your channel and have watch a lot of your videos and have found them extremely helpful. The one question that I have from watching your videos is I've noticed that you use landscaping cloth under your potted plants. I will be having a lot more potted plants this year and wondered the reasoning behind that. Thanks
thank you its a no brainer , lv all your videos your the best. i am in the garden state on atlantic ocean, do not have as many bugs as you but between salt air and the varments its a challenge
I was born and raised in Atlantic County, NJ.
great presentation and information; thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
....GREAT COMMUNICATOR !
Thanks!
Ur doggie is beautiful!! I love him!!
We are lucky to have Dale.
North Fla zone 8b here. Yep, yep, yep to all the creepy crawlers you mentioned. Ugh. Plus our soil is plain sand/dirt. So, I’ve resorted to growing in grow bags. Do you have any experience with netting bags to cover the tomatoes instead of the whole plant?
I'm wondering how to best implement something like this with my bag/container garden
Very informative and useful information. Don't know why you want to block birds out of your garden, though! We're in Maine, and have planted dense shrubbery (Spiraea, Weigela) and short-needle conifer trees that encourage small bird nesting, and provided multiple bird houses as well around the yard. Also put out seed feeders, which help feed the adult sparrows and such. And these birds do a great job of keeping the bugs down in the garden - especially the cabbage white butterfly caterpillars on the Brassicas. Did you know it takes 4000-6000 caterpillars to raise a clutch of sparrow or chickadee chicks to fledgling stage? So, we do get a little chewing damage (we raise collards, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts - ample to take care of our own needs for the year, and more to give away and/or donate to the local food pantry). BUT the butterflies come around, do their thing, the caterpillars eat a little bit, and then the birds eat the caterpillars! Rarely is the chewing damage at all severe. But have to agree - the flowers really help as well. We plant a row of zinnias in the middle of the garden, to help with attracting pollinators for the green beans, cucurbits, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes.
Birds probably wouldn't even notice something as tiny as whiteflies, aphids, or mealy bugs, though. I'm in South Florida the insect pressure here is intense all year long because it never gets cold enough to stop anything.
@@bethb8276 .. Agreed - birds wouldn't bother with them. But we have ZILLIONS of parasitoid wasps - including countless species under 2 mm long - that just love these things. Ladybugs (ladybird beetles) also are most happy munching their way through whiteflies, mealybugs and aphids. (Did you know aphids are BORN pregnant?) And spider mites, which are a major pest inside for us (I have to keep my citrus potted and indoors - our winters can go down to -20!), outside are seemingly nonexistent. We also have perhaps 1/10 the diversity you do - and vastly fewer "imported" exotic pests than you have to deal with in Florida.
@EducatedSkeptic We have spidermite problems outdoors here. While I do have ladybugs, lacewings, and wasps etc, they haven't done anything to control the amount of whiteflies and mealybugs we get here. I do find covering my veggie garden with insect netting gives me the best results, if I want to have anything to eat for myself. :) I have plenty of fruiting vines, fruiting bushes, and fruit trees for the insects and birds.
Birds in my garden are a no-no. We don't need birds to peck our fruit. They can do more harm than good.
Birds in the yard, I don't mind. That's why I have a bird bath and a bird feeder. You can have the best of both worlds. You can keep birds out of your garden while still using them to reduce the surplus population of insects in the yard.
Hey, I'm over near Raleigh, so I guess that makes me zone 8A or B According to the USDA 2023 map. Funny, I've always thought I was zone seven.
i'm starting my first garden this year which consists of five or six 2 gallon pots, and 2 x 4' table bed. Probably with a small irrigation timer. I know I want tomatoes, peppers and herbs. should I put the herbs in the table baed and the rest in the large pots?
USDA Updated the zones this year. I've changed zones too.
But, what about the eggs and larva of harmful bugs in the soil that come up in the spring? I want to know how to get rid of them 😢🌱
Very good and helpful information MG. Thank you 😊👍👍
You’re welcome!
Thanks for the tips 👍🏼
You’re welcome!
My pup just ripped her bed apart. Her and Dale would be great pals lol😅
To Dale's credit, he only destroys his toys.
Dale needs his own channel.. lol
Permaculture really helps my bug problems.plantingcompanion plants that help deter bugs and disease
It helps, yes, but it only reduces the problem. *Nothing* can compete with physical barriers.
What would you recommend for grow pots? Just have 3 tomatoes in 30 gallon grow bags I need to protect.
What do you do with the covers during hurricanes and nor'easters? Asking from a very windy OBX.
Love it
Thank you!
I bought a 10x30 feet fine mesh. It may be bigger. I forgot. I wanted to try wrapping my fig tree if it comes to that to keep birds off the fruit or try to come up with something better than wrapping individual figs. It may block sun though and affect sweetness, but I can use it when vine borers show up on July 1st. They ALWAYS show up here in central Louisiana at around 10 am, July 1st. Sometime later they go away. Not sure when exactly but I never see them in August.
I found that my fig trees actually LOVE shade cloth in the summer. They are so much happier. Your sun is about the same as mine, so insect netting definitely won’t harm your fig. They may even like 40% shade cloth if your trees are in full sun, and 40% shade cloth blocks larger insects.
I may experiment with that then. I ordered 5 mulberry trees and I have 8 more fig trees to plant this spring. I`m gonna get cuttings next winter and cover a nearby grassy field my sister owns in fruit trees. This year I`m mass planting sunflowers for the birds. I feed the birds here and they eat a lot of garden pests so I`m gonna grow some sunflowers, figs, chokeberries and mulberries for them. @@TheMillennialGardener
I used to have problems with birds eating my figs, I even went so far as to use those little bags used for wedding favors to cover individual figs. (It’s the same fabric used for row covers and the bags worked quite well). But over time the trees became so productive that the birds were a non-issue. They could eat their fill and I still had far more figs than I could harvest.
That`s my goal here...plant so many fruit trees that nothing can eat them all. LOL! I`m planting 4 more brown turkey figs and 4 celeste, since those are known to do well in Louisiana, plus 5 dwarf everbearing mulberry trees. Last summer the birds got sick of eating the blackberries and left them alone for the last 6 weeks. Me and a possum, squirrel, and a raccoon tried but we couldn`t eat them all either. I`m hoping the everbearing mulberries will keep the birds busy. After 3 years one tree is supposed to produce a minimum of 25 pounds of fruit each year. Plus I can propagate all these trees with cuttings in a nearby large weedy field and along my 500ft driveway. @@aliannarodriguez1581
Sure is some pretty greens
Another good video! Unfortunately the biggest pest I have is ants. I just had to fight a huge nest to harvest a cabbage this morning.
Ugh! SAME! Any tips on how you deal with them??
Horticultural Diatomaceous Earth. Organic and sends ants away. Fast!
@@barjrfarmandranch6002 Yeah I tried that. They just lol'd and kept on about their business. The only thing that kills them (that I have found) is the super nasty granular stuff from Home Depot. Stops them cold. Not good for food crops though.
Mix borax and sugar with some water, and pour in a shallow dish/plate. Some people soak cotton balls, other cook down a mixture. Either way, it's bait and poison for the colony.
When I moved here, my entire yard was, literally, a fire ant colony. I couldn't go outside 8 months a year in flip flops without getting bitten by one. Now, I have virtually zero. I have a video on how I eliminated them entirely here: ruclips.net/video/pr521FO4sMY/видео.htmlsi=hXzzKPNOMxGAosNA
No question that physical barriers are the most straightforward way to keep pests out, but for me, a garden has to be aesthetically pleasing as well, and walking out to a bunch of covers just wouldn't do it for me. For produce where there tends to be high pest pressure, I do use covers though.
Don’t move to the South. You’ll reach the conclusion that you’d rather eat your food 😂 I think it looks cool when everything is covered. It looks professional.
Awesome video! So clear and concise!!! Thank you!❤❤❤
You’re welcome!
The covers still leave openings in the front and back. Don’t the bugs still access the plants through those openings since the plants are only covered on the top?
Thank you for this video. I use the nettings to keep the bugs away. It’s helped a lot. I’m curious though as to use black or white shade cloth. Big controversy out there. Why do you use the black? 🙏
I was born and raised in Florida, but now life in Savannah. If you think insect pressure is bad here, try gardening in Florida lol.
Great ideas!!!!
I made friends with a crazy wild bunny last year during the horrible drought and heat wave and since I planted legumes mostly in my new garden to begin improving soil I let her eat from it. There was nothing else green. Grass and weeds were bleached white by mid July. So I had to get a bunny fence...a cheap 100 ft plastic fence that`s 4 feet tall. I can cut it down the middle into two 2 ft tall 100 ft fences but I doubt I`ll do that. I may need it like it is later for something. It will be easy to set up. Bunny left during the winter because I wasn`t outside, but as soon as I started messing with my garden recently she heard me and showed up. I think she feels safer to come out in the open when I`m out there because there are a lot of big hoot owls here.
I’ve learned rabbits are very lazy. Simple barriers often deter them. If there are any gaps, they’ll walk right in, but if you have no gaps, they don’t try hard to get in.
Last year I noticed that. I put a long narrow cardboard box down that a copper ground rod arrived in and she never tried to cross it even after a rain in September flattened it. Armadillos, however, were pushing buckets out of the way I used to block a gap in between some roofing metal and even pushed the metal sheets over eventually. I got several with a 22 air rifle but I feel bad about harming them. I cussed one out that showed up during the day and he stood there listening and came over and sniffed my foot! He was a very old one with scars all over him. The war started when I threw a rock at one. It came back later and destroyed 80% of my garden. They`re vindictive apparently.@@TheMillennialGardener
I'm convinced, thanks!
You're welcome!
I have galvanized metal raised beds and would like to create hoop structures like these for all of them. Any ideas how to adhere the pvc pipes to them? I don’t think screwing them into thin metal would work well.
I had to made a frame out of 2x4s with pocket holes instead of screwing to the metal raised beds.
You can buy 3/8” rebar in 4 ft lengths from Lowe’s for a few dollars a piece. Pound them 2 feet into the ground, then thread 1/2” PVC conduit over them. That’s what I do here: ruclips.net/video/l0gt7MhRrVQ/видео.htmlsi=90xzO9brHCORAQqM