May 25

( I discovered aphids were infesting the trees. This is a problem and alas harmlessness doesn't seem to work with this. I spray the trees with a vegetable oil water mix and put a goopy substance called tanglefoot around the trunks to keep the ants away. The ants herd the aphids (you probably know this already) all over the tree. Anyway , thousands of them had heavily infested a lot of the trees so I had to move quickly. They suck fluids out of the leaves, cause them to curl over and stunt the growing tips of the branches. Once it's gone to a certain point the tree stops growing for the season and the roots, which extend with the shoots stop growing as well. The aphids preferentially feed on the tips and can stunt the trees in very short order. The world of insects is hard to compromise with. Caterpillars and Japanese beetles I am usually able to trap and move to wild vegetation. Aphids I have only seen in the wild once and the host plant isn't growing this time of year ( one of the thistles). There's nowhere to divert them to really. Anyway it was one of those emergency jobs that took several hours. I did discover a better way to clean junk out of the pump casing though! I just took the Mom's wagon ( now the ultimate machine) and floated it on over to where the pump is. Then I just pick the whole assembly up, throw it in the wagon, and pour water through it using a pail. Bigtime easier and it will help us a lot in the future ( and you may think of still a better way). The pump is needed to bring up water for the backpack sprayer. It takes quite a few gallons of the vegetable oil spray and it's a lot easier to make it right up there.


	Through My Eyes Sunday May 25 With all this rain the stream is moving along swiftly! ( I actually did quite a bit of work in the Grove today. It was sort of an emergency. Let's read together from the Secret Life of Plants. Please click on the picture... ) ( please click here to read of the day with me! ) Through my eyes ( I discovered aphids were infesting the trees. This is a problem and alas harmlessness doesn't seem to work with this. I spray the trees with a vegetable oil water mix and put a goopy substance called tanglefoot around the trunks to keep the ants away. The ants herd the aphids (you probably know this already) all over the tree. Anyway , thousands of them had heavily infested a lot of the trees so I had to move quickly. They suck fluids out of the leaves, cause them to curl over and stunt the growing tips of the branches. Once it's gone to a certain point the tree stops growing for the season and the roots, which extend with the shoots stop growing as well. The aphids preferentially feed on the tips and can stunt the trees in very short order. The world of insects is hard to compromise with. Caterpillars and Japanese beetles I am usually able to trap and move to wild vegetation. Aphids I have only seen in the wild once and the host plant isn't growing this time of year ( one of the thistles). There's nowhere to divert them to really. Anyway it was one of those emergency jobs that took several hours. I did discover a better way to clean junk out of the pump casing though! I just took the Mom's wagon ( now the ultimate machine) and floated it on over to where the pump is. Then I just pick the whole assembly up, throw it in the wagon, and pour water through it using a pail. Bigtime easier and it will help us a lot in the future ( and you may think of still a better way). The pump is needed to bring up water for the backpack sprayer. It takes quite a few gallons of the vegetable oil spray and it's a lot easier to make it right up there. And so, as always we'll continue on to tomorrow* my one dream bright so for now I bid goodnight!) ( Still more progress!)