2018/2019 SFG in Brooks, GA

Yolos wrote:They look similar to lady bugs with small black dots on their backs. I do not think they can fly. Their shells seem fairly hard.

Could they be ladybug larvae?

countrynaturals wrote:

Yolos wrote:They look similar to lady bugs with small black dots on their backs.  I do not think they can fly.  Their shells seem fairly hard.

Could they be ladybug larvae?

No larvae, they are full grown.  This is the size that all of them are.  And they can fly.  Here is a picture.




Some other insect eggs.  I do have another pest that likes the leaves of my beans.  It is bright yellow and kind of wirey things sticking out of the body.  I assume these are the eggs.

I think that is Mexican Bean beetle and their eggs. I had some show up several years ago, I hope never again.
https://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/garden-pests/mexican-bean-beetle/

Turan wrote:I think that is Mexican Bean beetle and their eggs.  I had some show up several years ago, I hope never again.
https://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/garden-pests/mexican-bean-beetle/

Crud.  I thought the yellow eggs and yellow Insect were different insects than the orange one with black spots.  But using your diagnosis of Mexican Bean Beetle I was able to go onto google and see what the eggs and nymphs look like.  And you are correct - Mexican Bean Beetle.

sanderson wrote:Thank you for reminding what beans I recently planted - Rattlesnake!  . . .
I look to you for gardening hints and schedules because, for some reason, your environmental timing matches mine.  

My mistake. It's the pink eyed purple cow peas that are doing good.

Fall Update 09/30/18

Planted fall tomatoes that are doing nicely.  6 tomato plants.  The tomatoes shown below are Brandywine.  I think they like this cooler weather because there are more on the plant now than I have seen in years.




I usually plant my peas (English garden pea) around labor day.  This year it was too hot so I planted them around Sept 15.  Following are the strike peas planted (4x8) and the Alaska peas (2x9).




Also planted some buckwheat cover crop in anticipation of planting the fava beans in middle Nov.

The Strike peas you gave me are coming up! Thank you! I planted them in the south end of the bed with Alaska peas in the north end, plus in another smaller 2'x3' bed.

sanderson wrote:The Strike peas you gave me are coming up!  Thank you!  I planted them in the south end of the bed with Alaska peas in the north end, plus in another smaller 2'x3' bed.  

Glad they are coming up.  My strike peas almost all germinated and are doing gang busters but the Alaska peas are a bit spotty.

Alaska in the northern foreground and Strike in the southern end.  The Strike are having a higher germination rate as of 10-4-18.

sanderson wrote:Alaska in the northern foreground and Strike in the southern end.  The Strike are having a higher germination rate as of 10-4-18.

So when is your first frost date.????

11/7 though it is often as late as Dec. Why? I have only grown snow peas over the winter time, so maybe I have something to learn about shelling peas??

sanderson wrote:11/7 though it is often as late as Dec.  Why?  I have only grown snow peas over the winter time, so maybe I have something to learn about shelling peas??  

I did a lot of research many years ago concerning this question.  You have to plant your peas late enough in the fall to keep from planting them in the heat.  But you also have to be able to harvest them before it gets too cold in the late fall/ winter because the blooms and pods can be damaged in a heavy frost/freeze.

So, if planting fall peas I have to be very careful to plant them early enough to get to harvestable stage before it gets too cold.  Planting in the spring you have to time your planting that the last spring hard frost occurs before they are blooming. 

Here is some research:

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/much-cold-can-peas-tolerate-75331.html
Early Growth
Young pea plants can survive light frosts, which are classified as air temperatures between 28 and 32 degrees F. These light frosts are actually beneficial to young pea plants, encouraging more vigorous growth and more pods. Harder frosts might harm them, depending on growing conditions and their stage of development.
 
Mature Plants
Older plants suffer more damage from cold weather and are often killed when temperatures dip below 32 degrees. This problem is rare in a spring planting, but more common in the fall. Just as the peas mature, fall frosts nip them.
 
https://www.gardenguides.com/info_8738674_frost-damage-pea-plants.html
Blossom Damage
While the pea plant can survive cool temperatures, the blossoms and pods of the pea plant may be damaged by late spring frost. Once the plants have begun to flower and produce fruit, they are vulnerable. Watch the weather forecast, and take care to protect the plants if frost is predicted. Planting your pea plants late enough in the season will help prevent this. Depending on the variety, plant peas 70 to 90 days before the date of the average earliest hard frost for your area. This should prevent plants from blooming while there is still the possibility of a hard frost.
 
https://harvesttotable.com/pea_growing_problems_troublesh/
When planting peas, keep this in mind: young pea plants are frost tolerant, but peas blossoms and pods are frost sensitive.

Thank you, and thank you for posting the sources!

I will just have to ride out this experiment with shelling peas. We had such a late spring and then bam, it was 100*F! I really try to plant some things in the spring when the chance of dampening off is past. So snow peas have been a winter crop for me. The freeze rarely gets below 28*F. In the 23 years we have lived here, I think we had to cover the outdoor faucets and main water line just one year.

Strike Peas - the peas are setting on so it won't be long before I will be eating fresh English Peas.


Alaska Peas - Still growing tall but I do not think they will reach as tall as in the past.  They are starting to flower but peas are not setting on yet.


Fall tomatoes - most I have ever planted in the fall.  They look like I will get some more tomatoes before the first frost. 

Always beautiful. When did you plant the tomatoes?

sanderson wrote:Always beautiful.  When did you plant the tomatoes?

Planted these late tomatoes in the pots in the garden approximately 8/15.  But they were fairly large before I planted them in the garden.  The transplants came from planting suckers in smaller pots.  They were suckered from the first planting of tomatoes.

Ah, ha! Thanks

Today's harvest - small harvest but exceptionally good and appreciated this time of year.  Last week we ate my favorite - a Brandywine.  This week - the two tomatoes in the back row are Brandyboy, the two smaller tomatoes on the left side are Early girls ,the smaller grape tomatoes are Juliet.


The Strike bush peas I planted around 9/15 now have pods setting on and should be ready to harvest within the next week or two.

I just planted another 300+ Strike garden peas (bush).  They will not mature before our average last frost but I may cover them.  If not, they can act as a cover crop.

Doing some fall cleanup and fall planting.  Found a snake in one bed hunkered down under a small covered area in the bed.  

Cleaned out a 4 x 8 bed and added some compost, peat moss and vermiculite.  This is a bed that I just dumped purchased soil and compost in a few years ago when I found out that I had Southern Blight in a couple other beds.  This will be my garlic/onion/leek bed this year.  Will be planting garlic in the next few weeks.

Cleaned out another 4 x 8 bed and planted a cover crop of oats and peas.  This will be my potato bed in the early spring.

Cleaned out another 4 x 10 bed that was not planted last year.  This is an area I gave my 9 year old grandson to keep up and plant anything he wanted.  He did not plant anything this past summer and it went to weeds and this is the bed where I found the snake (unknown variety).  

Last week I cleaned out another 4 x 10 bed and planted a late batch of Strike English peas.  They are just now starting to sprout but I planted this batch late and will have to cover if I want to harvest any peas as the pods and flowers are not freeze tolerant.

As soon as the rain goes away, I will clean out a 2 x 20 bed that has a cover crop (Buckwheat) growing until it is time to plant my Fava Beans.

I harvested a few (3) Strike English peas that I planted around 9/15.  I shelled them and gave them to my 14 month old grandson.  He loved them.

So far, we have not had a frost so my tomatoes are still growing and I have been harvesting a few each day.  There are no longer any flowers emerging due to the cold weather so what is on the vine will be the end of the harvest.  But, if I do not cover, they will be killed by frost within the next month.

I looked at your weather and it looks like it is a few degrees cooler than here in Fresno, CA. Are fava beans cold tolerant??

sanderson wrote:I looked at your weather and it looks like it is a few degrees cooler than here in Fresno, CA.  Are fava beans cold tolerant??  

I think I only grew Fava Beans once before.  Here is some information on the back of the seed Package.

Fava Bean - Aquadulce.  Days to germination - 8 to 16.  Days to harvest - 90 days.  Fava beans can be planted in cooler weather.  Generally as soon as the soil can be worked.  Sow in well manured soil, one inch deep, three to six inches apart in rows spaced at 24 inches. This variety can stand very cold conditions (to about 15*F) and can be planted in the fall or winter for spring harvest.  Used for early crops. Plants reach 36 to 40 inches.

My notes for the year I planted Fava Beans follows:
The bean stalk tended to sink down on itself so grow it on a trellis and tie the stalk to the trellis so it will not tip over when it gets cold.  12 hour soak seed before planting.  Planted 11/8/16.  First harvest 4/23/17.  Last harvest 5/10/17.  

So if planted in the fall and grown over the winter, they will not be ready to harvest in 90 days.  The cold weather does slow down the growth.  Very cold weather will make the stalks kind of sink so they need to be tied to a trellis or string to keep them from bending over.  I think the flowers were damaged when we had a very, very hard freeze but they came back again when the weather warmed a bit.

I am interested in the peas.  I have grown sugar snaps, but never shell peas.  How labor intensive is the shelling, yolos?  I have read on here that they are amazing and like no other that I have had...

Scorpio Rising wrote:I am interested in the peas.  I have grown sugar snaps, but never shell peas.  How labor intensive is the shelling, yolos?  I have read on here that they are amazing and like no other that I have had...

Pages 2-3 of this thread will give you some idea of time involved.  But here is one stat - 
5 lbs of peas in pods
takes 2 hrs 15 min to shell
converts to 2 lbs shelled peas
converts to 7.5 cups
So very labor intensive but we all love them.  The grand kids eat them right out of the shell without cooking.  I could grow some along the edge of a bed and just let the grand kids harvest and eat a few each time they come out to the garden.

Your tomatoes look mouthwatering, Yolos!  I think I probably ate my last one of this year today.

What kind of peas did you plant as a cover crop with the oats?