Urban Farming woes

[stormcrow]

So I live in Vallejo, CA right now. I'm not traveling for the time and so I've laid down roots, literally. We had a pretty big earthquake last year that knocked down a big stone wall and I built terraces with the rubble and planted tomatoes. Now the ants here are bringing little bugs onto the plants. Also somebody dumped of a bunch of chickens and a rooster on the side of the road. A neighborhood stray picked off two of them so I brought them in and made a coop. The rooster gets started crowing pretty early and I've just been bringing him in at night and covering him. Is there a better way? Anybody else have similar woes?

 

[stormcrow]

 

[Mankini]

beautiful, man! Get you a wool army blanket and construct a dark bedroom for him. He might still sense dawn with his circadian rhythm, though....As for the little bugs, diatomaceous earth sometimes helps.

 

[stormcrow]

Thanks. It's been a ton of work.

True loneliness is not limited to when you are alone...

 

[Mankini]

I cant wait to return to NorCal. I grew up in Salinas, and was thinking of looking for work around Glen Ellen at the distilleries...Or maybe at Ahwahnee.

 

[Andrea Van Scoyoc]

You are awesome!

I'm a zero waste radical, so I am loving the fact that you have reused so much of what you found.

As for pest control, a quick Google search should yield an all natural and organic way to rid your garden of pests.

I know that cinnamon will get rid of ants.

That's just one of many herbal pesticides, if you will.

Best of luck and keep on recycling!

Peace!

 

[Odin]

diatomaceous earth sometimes helps.

Chalk? I haven't been to the white cliffs of dover... but yea? is that what we are... "hick" talking about?

 

[iamwhatiam]

hmm..the only bug I know that ants "bring" onto plants are aphids. and it would make sense if they are attacking your mater plants since aphids love tomato plants. ants and aphids have a symbiotic relationship, and ants are actually known to "farm" aphids and their eggs, and transport them around.
releasing a bunch of ladybugs will help keep the population down as they feed on aphids. and as someone else said - diatomaceous earth is great.
also, I've had good success with 2 methods - first, using a strong stream-blast of water from the hose to spray all the aphids off. apparently, aphids have very soft shelled bodies and a strong blast of water can kill them. I don't know if I believe that, because they always seem to come back....but I do it anyways.
2nd, after I blast them off the plant - I spray a diluted neem oil solution all over the plants which seems to help a lot. dilutued dr. bronner's soap (tea trea oil one is good) also works. you probably won't kill all the aphids off, but you can keep most of them at bay with this method. but you have to do it repeatedly and consisently or they'll come back. good luck! and nice looking garden there!

 

[Odin]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

 

[Andrea Van Scoyoc]

Forgot all about ladybugs.

They are awesome.

 

[stormcrow]

This seems like a ridiculous thing to ask, but how do I get ladybugs? Also what ratio of Dr Bronners to water? I used some neem. Helps with the aphids, but the ants just bring more and seem completely impervious, but the plants seem to have a tough time with the stuff. I'll try diatomaceous earth, it worked for fleas in the house if I mixed it in with mop solution. Should I mix it with water and spray it on? Also will neem oil hurt ladybugs? Other than all that, things are going good here with the garden. I'd definitely like to keep things natural and organic, but the ants here are ravenous and damn nigh indestructable.

True loneliness is not limited to when you are alone...

 

[Durp]

Spray neem oil on your plants. It will cause them to make a waxy coating and the bugs won't be able to get to them. Do not spray the fruit very much tho.

 

[stormcrow]

hmm..the only bug I know that ants "bring" onto plants are aphids. and it would make sense if they are attacking your mater plants since aphids love tomato plants. ants and aphids have a symbiotic relationship, and ants are actually known to "farm" aphids and their eggs, and transport them around.
releasing a bunch of ladybugs will help keep the population down as they feed on aphids. and as someone else said - diatomaceous earth is great.
also, I've had good success with 2 methods - first, using a strong stream-blast of water from the hose to spray all the aphids off. apparently, aphids have very soft shelled bodies and a strong blast of water can kill them. I don't know if I believe that, because they always seem to come back....but I do it anyways.
2nd, after I blast them off the plant - I spray a diluted neem oil solution all over the plants which seems to help a lot. dilutued dr. bronner's soap (tea trea oil one is good) also works. you probably won't kill all the aphids off, but you can keep most of them at bay with this method. but you have to do it repeatedly and consisently or they'll come back. good luck! and nice looking garden there!

Unfortunately I can't blast anything since I water with get water. I do have a pond pump pushing the water through a bunch of soaker hoses. But with the drought here "spraying ," water is kind of out of the question [emoji20] . I will definitely try the other methods though.

True loneliness is not limited to when you are alone...

 

[iamwhatiam]

This seems like a ridiculous thing to ask, but how do I get ladybugs? Also what ratio of Dr Bronners to water? I used some neem. Helps with the aphids, but the ants just bring more and seem completely impervious, but the plants seem to have a tough time with the stuff. I'll try diatomaceous earth, it worked for fleas in the house if I mixed it in with mop solution. Should I mix it with water and spray it on? Also will neem oil hurt ladybugs? Other than all that, things are going good here with the garden. I'd definitely like to keep things natural and organic, but the ants here are ravenous and damn nigh indestructable.

True loneliness is not limited to when you are alone...

haha...welcome to the world of gardening! always a battle with pests. your plants might be having a tough time with it if either A) you mixed a too strong a solution of neem or B) if you sprayed them in direct sunlight. it can burn the foliage. always try to spray them in indirect light/shade or in the evening time. neem oil won't hurt lady bugs or other benefical critters like butterflies so no worries.
With the Dr. Bronner's - if you use that, don't use more than 1-2 TBLspns per quart of water.
It sounds like diatomaceaous earth is yer best best for killing those ants naturally. I've never used it before myself personally...but I hear a lot of good stuff about it and a quick google search turned up that it is indeed very good at stopping ant populations.
oh, and I would think your local garden/hydroponics shop would have ladybugs, nematodes, and all that good stuff - or at least be able to point you in the right direction

 

[Dmac]

you can get ladybugs at home depot i/2 pint for 12 bucks or this site sells them with free shipping for 15$
http://www.highsierraladybugs.com/