Here are two questions many of you are asking me. I have answered these before but I will go over again.

Rabbit?s

Rabbits eating  (fill in blank) but I don?t want to hurt them.  Remember many of you have said that you trap them and then drive to a bit and let them out in the country. Well, this does hurt them (they usually die). We need to think about the fact that we live in the country and that there are more rabbits then humans and especially now during times of drought, rabbits will seek us out for food and water. Rabbits in turn are food themselves for many of our local country citizens so poisoning them is not good either. I therefor would either make a screened in area for the garden, or row cover or even grow inside a green house. If you insist on growing outdoors at least make raised beds which then can be covered. If you still want to grow in the ground then here is a simple trick. Use coffee beans placed all around the garden. That will keep them off the garden for a few days to a week or so. The coffee beans are good for the soil too.

Whitefly?s

If you see whiteflys wearing sunglasses and shorts then you are watering too much!

Whiteflys need water in order to survive. Keep the water below ground, allow the area to dry in between watering, apply rock dust, compost and azalea mix as a mulch several times per year and fertilize with a good organic fertilizer to keep all your plants with high Brix and you will not have a whitefly problem. Whiteflys will come from all around you but will not be able to establish themselves on your property. You should be doing foliar sprayings every week if possible if you have had whiteflys in past. I would be using a mixture of cold brew coffee, milk and granny smiths molasses. This mixture will not only keep the plants Brix up but also the coffee will kill whiteflys on contact. If you all ready have whiteflys you should be spraying with garlic barrier to kill the whiteflys, mixed in with the coffee, milk and  molasses mix.

Cold Brew Coffee is another one of those magical elixirs that you can make at home that will make your plants healthier while at the same time, it will kill many pests on contact. This mixture should not be sprayed on beneficials.

How to make cold brew coffee.

In a 5 gallon bucket add enough clean filtered water to fill to 4 inches from the top. Buy 1 lb of organic coffee beans. Pour into this liquid. If you have superseaweed, add 1 oz as starter, if you don?t here is how you can make your own starter.

In a gallon clean water , add 1 cup organic brown rice. Place this liquid in a cool dark place like under a tree for a few days till you can smell it. Pour the liquid out. This is what you use. You can make more of this liquid by repeating the process.  I would add 1 cup of this liquid to the cold new coffee liquid as a starter. Allow to sit for a few days , stirring every day a few times. Then pour through a screen . You can either use straight to kill pests or add to water at 1 cup per gallon water sprayed on plants.

 Andy Lopez

Invisible Gardener

Any questions? Email me andy@invisiblegardener.com response next article