The way this is so familiar and sad to me. I had a prized florentine tomato plant this year with immaculately set fruit. GORGEOUS green tomatoes by the dozen with ribs like corduroy all around. Within two days it just gave up the ever-loving ghost, slowly followed by all our other tomato plants. Some kind of mildew, I think, because it was so hot we needed to water twice a day, and so humid the second watering never evaporated, but sat on the leaves through the dark, damp night. :(
I haven't been able to stop thinking about "ribs like corduroy" since I read this comment. It is so evocative!! But I'm also very sorry for your tomato loss.
You’ve beautifully captured the joys, sorrows and challenges of gardening! I continue to learn lessons about aggressive plants, hungry critters, tree roots, watering, fertilizing, etc. We had a real problem with aphids on the leaves of the oak tree that shades our patio several years ago. It dropped sticky sap everywhere, the leaves turned black and all the wasps and hornets and yellow jackets were greatly attracted to something about that big mess driving us indoors. We got a tree service to diagnose the issue and now they treat the tree every spring with dormant oil and it has been very successful. I hope your precious citrus trees and figs can survive the various plagues!!
Thank you so much Karen! We shall see. I'm slowly trying to wrap my head around the idea that the wasps are our friends and it isn't bad if they're around ... I had a traumatic wasp incident as a kid so it isn't easy!
Whoa. I am sorry you have all that going on! I walk with a neighbor most mornings (despite feeling under attack by the heat) and we've remarked how healthy plants look this year. Cannas have no holes with slime and are growing ten feet high and more. I smell the fig trees before I can see them, the fruit green with fat bottoms. I saw cast iron plant surrounding an oak's trunk today, which is fortunate as the poison ivy zipping up the tree is too happy. My two citrus are doing okay, too. My neighbor friend had some mites on decorative trees in front of her yard. I'd notice the new growth getting ghostly, the veining silvery. I flipped a leaf over, the damn aphids scattering, sticky trails visible. She didn't get around to dealing with them but they seem gone. I hope enough time passes that your insects get burnt up by all this too much sun! Elephant ears; plant from hell. Never plant papyrus. Or morning glories of any sort. Vetiver grass now, though it is messy, has roots that insects hate, including termites. It's August. Sit inside, look at gardening up north, and relax.
It sounds like your fig has white fly, something that has to be treated systemically…the black sticky soot will stain and be very difficult to remove! They like bright yellow, so put a brightly painted board nearby, or treat systemically with Malice, which is a pesticide, so not organic…
The way this is so familiar and sad to me. I had a prized florentine tomato plant this year with immaculately set fruit. GORGEOUS green tomatoes by the dozen with ribs like corduroy all around. Within two days it just gave up the ever-loving ghost, slowly followed by all our other tomato plants. Some kind of mildew, I think, because it was so hot we needed to water twice a day, and so humid the second watering never evaporated, but sat on the leaves through the dark, damp night. :(
I haven't been able to stop thinking about "ribs like corduroy" since I read this comment. It is so evocative!! But I'm also very sorry for your tomato loss.
You’ve beautifully captured the joys, sorrows and challenges of gardening! I continue to learn lessons about aggressive plants, hungry critters, tree roots, watering, fertilizing, etc. We had a real problem with aphids on the leaves of the oak tree that shades our patio several years ago. It dropped sticky sap everywhere, the leaves turned black and all the wasps and hornets and yellow jackets were greatly attracted to something about that big mess driving us indoors. We got a tree service to diagnose the issue and now they treat the tree every spring with dormant oil and it has been very successful. I hope your precious citrus trees and figs can survive the various plagues!!
Thank you so much Karen! We shall see. I'm slowly trying to wrap my head around the idea that the wasps are our friends and it isn't bad if they're around ... I had a traumatic wasp incident as a kid so it isn't easy!
Well that’s understandable. I’m not a fan of yellow jackets. They get quite aggressive in the early fall.
Whoa. I am sorry you have all that going on! I walk with a neighbor most mornings (despite feeling under attack by the heat) and we've remarked how healthy plants look this year. Cannas have no holes with slime and are growing ten feet high and more. I smell the fig trees before I can see them, the fruit green with fat bottoms. I saw cast iron plant surrounding an oak's trunk today, which is fortunate as the poison ivy zipping up the tree is too happy. My two citrus are doing okay, too. My neighbor friend had some mites on decorative trees in front of her yard. I'd notice the new growth getting ghostly, the veining silvery. I flipped a leaf over, the damn aphids scattering, sticky trails visible. She didn't get around to dealing with them but they seem gone. I hope enough time passes that your insects get burnt up by all this too much sun! Elephant ears; plant from hell. Never plant papyrus. Or morning glories of any sort. Vetiver grass now, though it is messy, has roots that insects hate, including termites. It's August. Sit inside, look at gardening up north, and relax.
I'm starting to wonder if all gardeners are also poets, this comment is so lyrical!
It sounds like your fig has white fly, something that has to be treated systemically…the black sticky soot will stain and be very difficult to remove! They like bright yellow, so put a brightly painted board nearby, or treat systemically with Malice, which is a pesticide, so not organic…
We're pretty sure they're mealybugs but I'll check it out!