Help! My Vegetables are being eaten up (not by me), and my citrus is looking bad. Leaves appear to have something crawling over and leaving trails.

Hi

Thanks for reading my column and sending in your questions.

After talking with you on the phone with you,  I told you that I would answer your question fully here so here goes:

First off you cannot have vegetables planted at the base of your citrus and expect to have both healthy citrus trees and good vegetable plants!

They both require different watering and organic fertilizations.

Your citrus is being over watered. The citrus leaf miner makes the trails you see on the leaves. Whenever a pest attacks any plant, vegetable or citrus, it means that the mineral levels have dropped low enough to make the plant food for the insects. You can tell the mineral levels of your plants by using a reflectometer which measures Brix levels. While Brix measures sugar levels in plants, it also actually measures mineral levels. When you use a refractometer, what you see when you look into the lens is an area of white on top and an area of black on the bottom. The line where they meet is your Brix level. If the line is sharp, then it shows less variety of minerals, and if the line is blurry, it shows a more variety of minerals available. Brix levels will also show nitrogen. So a plant that has been giving high nitrogen fertilizer will have a high Brix level for a day then it will drop below the previous levels. You might say it has a bad hangover.

You are over watering your Citrus, and this causes mineral levels to drop. When this happens, pests attack. Your vegetables are also being watered incorrectly and the same results with them. Citrus will do fine with once a week watering during hot spells and every other week during normal temperatures. Vegetables need a different type of fertilizations then the citrus. They need different watering cycles than the citrus. I would grow the vegetables in a separate area and bury a drip line. They will do better in a raised bed. Change the watering of the citrus to once a week deep watering, about 30 to 45 min. Modify the watering of the vegetables to every two days with watering only from the buried drip line and run for about 10 min each time.

Also, it makes a difference whether you buy organically grown vegetables or just the chemically grown variety in the nurseries. You cannot buy these chemically grown vegetables and expect them to do well organically. They will be too weak, and every pest will attack them in your neighborhood!

I hope this helps you.
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Hi there,

Hope you are well. My husband and I recently had you to the house to consult on our yard. Our landscaping is just about done – without the use of roundup!

My question for you is about our raised garden beds. We had our landscaper build three large beds for edible plants. And then we remembered rats. So we have asked him to build a large enclosure to keep pests out. However, I want to let in as many pollinators as possible. I’ve read all kinds of posts online about how juvenile rats can squeeze into space 1/4″ wide. That seems implausible to me. In your opinion, what gauge wire mesh should we use to keep as many pests out but allow the good guys in?

Thanks in advance!

Hi

What a Great question!

Yes, the rats start out very small. They may come in and then get trapped inside because they grow fast. Here is what I would suggest you might try doing. I do not know how you build your “enclosure, ” but you can make a slight change in the design. I would try and see if you can open and close the top. Open during the day and close at night? The top should be on hinges, and at the very top of the enclosure. You also don’t say how big your enclosure is. If it was big enough, you could allow various insects to live inside. Did you know that you can pollinate your plants yourself? A small fine haired paint brush will work just fine. Just paint the flowers of the same type vegetables when they are open. I would have a few of them around and use them for just certain vegetables. Label them like for lettuce, watermelons.

Another thing is that most if not all vegetables do not need to be pollinated anymore since they are self-pollinating. Also, a fan would help here also. A small fan would spread any pollen around to the other plants.

Also, there are many things you can do to keep the rats, mice, etc. away. Many natural animal control devices are plugged in and emit a particular sound that keeps them away without hurting your pets. But in the long run, I would make sure your enclosure is rat/mice proof by using screen all along the bottom up to 3 feet, or they will find a way in. The screen should also go down about 2 feet to keep them from going under the wire. As for gauge wire mesh, 1/4 would work for the top but I would double layer that under the base and bottom. As I said before, I would even use a screen around the lower areas near the ground.

Hope this helps!

Any questions send me an email at andylopez@invisiblegardener.com

Love

andy Lopez

Invisible Gardener

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