Know Your Pest: Cross-Striped Cabbageworm

It's been such a busy week between work and catching up on projects around the house, I haven't been able to do as much gardening as I would have liked. Even when I have been in the garden, most of the time has been spent watering. (The nice breezes and lack of rain dry plants out fast.) I did spend some time removing ivy and weeds from the hosta bed next to my patio, and even discovered a couple of surprises in the process.

My little garden friend can stay and eat all the
bugs he wants.

This little toad wasn't too happy with me cleaning out some of his great hiding spots, but there were still plenty of hostas for him to hide among when I was done.

Surprise camellia seedlings

I also discovered that some seeds dropped by the large camellia shrub nearby had sprouted in the hosta bed. I carefully extracted three of them and potted them up. I'm curious to see if they look like the parent, or if they come out a little different. Either way, I'll be happy; they have a great parent plant. I've never grown camellia seedlings before, so I'll be happy if two out of three live. Then I can keep one, and give one to a friend.

I've been spoiled by my garden being relatively pest-free all summer, but this week I encountered a nasty pest on my young cauliflower plants: the cross-striped cabbageworm. There are a few kinds of cabbage moths, and even though their name says "cabbage," they all affect various members of the cabbage family: broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, kale, and, of course, cabbage. This little guy really likes the mild fall and winter of the South, but can be found throughout the U.S. For being so small, the caterpillars can really do a lot of damage fast.

My young cauliflower plant defoliated by cabbageworms

I planted my cauliflower seedlings just two weeks ago, and when I went out to water this morning, I saw the damage. I had seen a couple of holes before, but didn't really think I had a problem until I saw half my plant was gone. Closer inspection revealed the tiny, hungry culprits hiding in the very center of the plant and on the undersides of leaves.

Here's a very close-up shot of the cross-striped
cabbageworms.

Unlike the tomato hornworms that get big and fat, these guys never get bigger than an inch long. If you don't look carefully, they can go through a whole life cycle before you ever see them. In warm weather like we've been having, they can go from egg to moth in 18 days, devouring your vegetables in the process.

Since I only have a few plants in the cabbage family right now, and the plants are small, it was easy to find all the worms and pick them off with my hands (wearing gloves, of course). Now that I know they're an issue, I'll inspect every couple of days while I'm watering the garden and remove them as I see them. If they continue to be a problem, especially as I get closer to having little baby heads of cauliflower, I might spray with an insecticidal soap as an extra measure. Any insecticide product that's labeled for caterpillars can handle these.

What's growing in your garden this week?

Signs of Autumn in the Garden

I love autumn, but fall in the South is weird. Down here in zone 8, fall temperatures are short-lived and easily punctuated by hot spells or cold snaps. We don't really get the glorious displays of fall color that you find farther north. This September has been a perfect example--while you expect summer to be coming to an end, we've had some of the hottest weather all year. (At the local farmer's market, one grower was lamenting that they finally got their first good tomato crop for the year just this month.)

Most of the leaves have fallen from our
cherry tree.

In spite of the crazy temperatures, there are still signs of fall beyond Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks. Due to the shot-hole fungus, my cherry tree defoliated early, and I found myself this past weekend doing a typical fall chore: raking leaves. As I mentioned in my post on fungus, raking up all those disease-ridden leaves can help keep the disease from returning next year. Otherwise, the fungus just continues to live and breed in the dead leaves.

Lycoris radiata (Red spider lily) blooms in the field out
back.

The first of the red spider lilies (Lycoris radiata) just started blooming out back, which is a sure sign that summer is coming to an end. These lilies are native to China, but they naturalize quite readily in the South. They were originally introduced in the U.S. in 1854. Who knows how long ago they were planted under the dogwood tree in our backyard--they continue to spread every year. The flowers appear like magic out of the ground, without any leaves, in a great big mass in late summer or fall. They almost grow in reverse from most bulbs: after the flowers fade, then the leaves follow, growing through fall and winter until they disappear in early spring. The bulbs are actually dormant in summertime.

My white chrysanthemum looks small now, but it will fill
its pot soon.

The ubiquitous, fall-flowering Chrysanthemum ("mum" for short) is available in all the garden centers this month. I'm not a huge fan of mums--perhaps because they're everywhere, or because I don't like most of the color choices. I have to admit, though, that there are so many different varieties out there, that I actually liked a couple of the ones I saw in a recent trip to Lowe's. Also, mums are such a symbol of fall, that I decided I needed one in my garden. I settled on this creamy-white variety. I'm all about saving money in the garden, so instead of buying one of those large mums they'll be selling soon in decorative containers for $10, I bought this little guy (who's not quite in bloom yet) for $2. In the end, he'll probably be happier and healthier. Tip: When buying flowering plants, look for plants with healthy leaves and lots of buds that aren't in flower yet. Younger plants will adjust more readily to your garden than fully mature plants.

Sometimes you just have to take time to notice the little details of the season. What signs of fall do you see this week?

Planting a Fall Vegetable Garden

In my checklist for August, I mentioned several fall vegetables you could be planting in August. But if you're like me, you probably looked outside every day and thought to yourself, "It's too hot for a fall garden." Honestly, I've read a couple of different sources about when to plant what--some say August, some say September, depending on the vegetable. Well, on Labor Day I decided fall has officially started by some definitions (even if it is 90 degrees outside here in Georgia), so I would start on my fall vegetables. Since this is my first year at a real attempt at a vegetable garden, it's still all one grand experiment for me. I started by going to Lowe's and seeing what I could find.

Some of the seeds I picked up include Mesclun Salad Mix, 'Early Green'
broccoli, and 'Red Core Chantenay' carrots. I also bought cauliflower
seedlings to get a head start.

They didn't have much that I wanted in the way of other seedlings, but the cauliflower seedlings looked appealing. Then I headed to the seed rack. The Seeds of Change rack was calling to me--all organic seeds, with many heirloom varieties, and they only cost a little bit more than the conventional seeds. I love the idea of heirloom plants--varieties that have been passed down through generations, grown by farmers who came before us 80 or 800 years ago. I picked up a handful of seed packets that promised me a tasty, organic harvest.

The next step was cleaning out my garden. I wasn't quite ready to pull up all my summer vegetables. After all, some of them were actually producing more now than they had been all summer! The sun has moved, so my vegetable bed is getting more sunshine, and we've had nice hot weather with a more reasonable amount of rain. The bell peppers are finally bearing their first fruit, and the jalapenos and banana peppers are producing more. The tomatoes have stopped producing, but I thought if I left one or two plants, they might start back up. I pulled out the tired bush beans and one of the tomato plants and threw them in the compost bin. In the empty squares, I pulled the weeds, added a scoop of compost, and mixed it up real well.

That left me with seven squares ready to plant. Unfortunately, cauliflower and broccoli are space hogs, so I could only plant one cauliflower seedling per square foot. I planted two squares of cauliflower, and two squares of broccoli seed. In another square I planted 16 carrots, and in the 6th square I scattered mesclun salad mix without thought to rows. Since mesclun (aka baby salad greens) is harvested when it's young and tender, I thought it would be happy being a little crowded. I couldn't decide what to do with the 7th square. I have more cauliflower seedlings that need a home, but I also have radish seeds I could plant, or another square of salad greens. I'll probably do some more planting next week. I finished up my planting by watering everything in really well. With all this heat, I'll need to stay on top of watering to keep those seedlings happy.

My vegetable garden before (left) and after (right) my fall planting.

The whole process took me an hour. The longest part was getting the bed ready--deciding what to keep, pulling out old plants, and preparing the soil. The planting part was quick. I can't wait to enjoy my delicious harvest this fall!