Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

Cute stuff! :love That is so wonderful about the tomato plant. Frost wiped mine out before the fruit had time to do anything :( I planted them way too late.
 
I am so used to my tomato plants being crispy dried out D E A D by August, that I wasn't prepared for it when mine took off again. I had put bird netting over them and they've grown through the netting, they're a mess now. Stinkbugs swarmed the tomatoes and ruined them. I have to find something that will keep the nasty stinkbugs away that is not poison. It finally got cool enough that the stinkbugs gave up. Last weekend we had a predicted frost so I picked a couple of gallons of green cherry tomatoes and made green tomato pickles! They are yummy! Next year I will be ready for the fall re-growth!
 
I have been fighting stinkbugs for several years. The ONLY way I've found to thwart them is to use a physical barrier. I had a tunnel a few years ago - kinda like a hoop house - that I covered with a light row cover. It worked great...but barely lasts a season because it's so fragile. I think my next step will be to build a 'screen' house instead of a greenhouse. I HATE STINKBUGS!
 
I read one time that you could catch the pest bug, liquefy it, add water to make a spray and spray your plants with it. Gosh that would be some really nasty stinky spray! I wonder if they are attracted to beer? Or maybe a light bulb suspended over a bucket of water? I'm going to try this next year.
 
Stink bugs are attracted to light. So to catch them, you need an empty, 2 liter soda bottle and some type of light source to put at the bottom. Cut the top 1/3 of the bottle off and invert it into the bottom. Add water, but not enough to come to the top part. Add a few drops of dish soap. Place it on top of the light source near your plants. The bugs will fly into the bottle and get trapped. W/the soap, it will make it so they can't swim. Insects don't have nostrils. Instead, they have holes along the sides of their bodies. W/out being able to swim, they will drown since the water will cover the holes.
 
Good trap...light source may be an issue for some. Tobacco leaves can be used for making a tea to spreay the plants. Many bugs do not like the nicotine. Soak the dry tobacco leaves in water -- sit in sun to make a tea -- water will be light brown, spray plants.
 
I actually have tried the light source over a foil pan with dish soap. Did it for about three nights - caught two bugs. TWO! My best way to fight them has been to hand pick them, but it's a never ending battle. Now - physical barrier.
 
So, how silly would it be for me to start some of the tomato seeds I got in the mail the other day? I mean, if I have a volunteer out in the garden now - why shouldn't I try to start a few and see if I can at least over winter them and get a jump start on next spring? I could put them in the big tubs and it would be very simple to put some cover over those tubs to protect them from any cold weather (if we ever get any).

Still waiting for the gilt to farrow. I think two weeks would be the earliest - but maybe more like 5 if I add the three weeks it would have taken her to cycle again. (did that make sense?) I kind of hope she waits until early January - just to have some age between the two sets of babies if she farrows successfully. Afraid to count my piglets before they're 'hatched'. But that might make for more of an opportunity for colder weather - and yuck!
 
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