booth@princeton.UUCP (Heather Booth) (08/26/86)
I'm trying to raise broccoli without pesticides and the plants are just eaten to death. I'd rather not use any dangerous organic pesticides. I've seen little off-white bugs and worms on the bottoms of leaves and have killed them. I planted a clove of garlic just for fun. The plant only has two thin wilted green fronds. Is that how it's supposed to look? How long would it take to get garlic? How is it that the plant grows out of the clove but in the process creates a whole head? Thanks, Heather Booth
steveh@hammer.UUCP (Stephen Hemminger) (08/27/86)
The bugs on your brocolli are almost certainly cabbage worms. You can use
the safe organic pesticide B.T. (tradename Dipel) either as a powder or
as spray. It is a bacteria which rots out the guts of the caterpillars.
Hand control by picking is possible, but diffcult to keep up with the pests.
If you look hard you might even find the eggs. Also scratch back some soil
around the base of the plants and look for little white worms; cabbage root
fly maggots.
--
Stephen Hemminger {ihnp4,decvax,ucbvax}!tektronix!hammer!steveh
Tektronix GWD Networking steveh@hammer.gwd.tek.csnet
pfau@ihuxm.UUCP (l pfau) (08/28/86)
> I'm trying to raise broccoli without pesticides and the > plants are just eaten to death. I'd rather not use any > dangerous organic pesticides. I've seen little > off-white bugs and worms on the bottoms of leaves and have > killed them. Heather: Broccoli is notorious for getting little worns, especially as the seasons progresses. We get them among the florets. I soak the brocolli for 1/2 hour in cold salt water, which usually gets them out. Cooking the brocolli will also get them out, of course. If they get too bad, I quit eating the brocolli - its too gross. I would also be interested in a safe way to get rid of them and I recall seeing Bob Thompson on the Victory Garden using some kind of organic spray, but I can't remember the name. Lynn Pfau AT&T Bell LABS Naperville, Ill
fac@burdvax.UUCP (Frank Cooley) (08/29/86)
> > I'm trying to raise broccoli without pesticides and the > plants are just eaten to death. I'd rather not use any > dangerous organic pesticides. I've seen little > off-white bugs and worms on the bottoms of leaves and have > killed them. > > I planted a clove of garlic just for fun. The plant only > has two thin wilted green fronds. Is that how it's supposed > to look? How long would it take to get garlic? How is it > that the plant grows out of the clove but in the process creates > a whole head? > > Thanks, > Heather Booth It takes the whole summer to grow a good garlic. The answer to your second question is, its magic. Frank Cooley
andrea@hp-sdd.UUCP (Andrea K. Frankel) (09/04/86)
Broccolli is probably aphids favorite meal. I had good luck with
frequent washdowns using Safer Agrochem's Insecticidal Soap, and
hitting them with a hose spray whenever I thought about it.
I've grown regular and elephant garlic, and found that the plants
vary widely in their robustness, somewhat related to the size of
the clove. Think of a normal head of garlic - some large, mostly
normal, and a few teensy cloves. Your wimpy plant may have been
from a wimpy clove, OR you may have had something sprayed to prevent
sprouting (most storebought garlic is treated, unless is says
otherwise). Re creating a whole head from a clove - garlic is
biennial, the first year it creates the head full of cloves and
the second year (if you allow it to stay in the ground) it exhausts
the energy stored in the head of cloves to grow more and flower.
The ones that I didn't manage to dig out of the ground provided
a very nice little bed of flowers the next year!
Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 592-4664
"every time that wheel goes round, bound to cover just a little more ground"
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USnail: 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USAgary@ism780c.UUCP (Gary Swift) (09/05/86)
-------- In article <1179@princeton.UUCP> booth@princeton.UUCP (Heather Booth) writes: >I'm trying to raise broccoli without pesticides and the >plants are just eaten to death. ... Try planting some marigolds near them, which are good for repelling all sorts of pests. Nasturtiums will theoretically attract pests away from the rest of the plants in your garden. Also plant your garlic, onion or chives near the broccoli -- some bugs are repelled by the odor. >I planted a clove of garlic just for fun. The plant only >has two thin wilted green fronds. Is that how it's supposed >to look? How long would it take to get garlic? The leaves should be healthy and green for a while. When they die back, dig up the clove and make yourself some scampi. Mine take 2 to 3 months (in southern Calif.). Rather than buying sets at a nursery, I just planted some store bought cloves that got old and began to sprout new green shoots. > How is it >that the plant grows out of the clove but in the process creates >a whole head? Cell division? :-) Garlic is just like any other perennial that stores its food in a bulb or rhizome. It's a member of the lily family - which all have bulbs. -- Gary Swift, INTERACTIVE Systems Corp., Santa Monica, Ca., (213) 453 8649 {decvax!cca | yale | bbncca | allegra | cbosgd | ihnp4}!ima!ism780!gary
ajs@hpfcla.HP.COM (Alan Silverstein) (09/18/86)
> ... garlic is biennial... the second year ... it exhausts the energy > stored in the head of cloves to grow more and flower. I find that the clovelets formed in the flower are delicious. Just as they're opening up, I cut off the flower heads and let them dry. Then I crumble the heads to get out the little purple clovelets, each about 1/8" long. A little cleverness separates them from the chaff. After they're completely dry, they go in a jar in the fridge, ready for use when cooking, in salad dressings, etc. Here in Colorado I've found the garlic to be very reliable about producing flowers and clovelets. I wonder why they're not commercially available in the supermarket? They'd be easy to mechanically clean and pack, and they're easier to use than cloves. Alan Silverstein