Daily Archives: September 12, 2008

Read more about the article Green Beetles – What’s the Buzz?

Green Beetles – What’s the Buzz?

Another question came in today:

"Metallic green beetles keep invading my garden--about 1" long. Green wings with brown edges. Friend or foe?"

Well - I know my Permaculture friends would say that there's no such thing as a bad insect, but to answer your question in a word: foe.

I've watched these little buggers make lunch out of my neighbor's roses.  They sure love 'em.  They are known as Figeater Beetles with a Latin name of Cotinis Mutabilis.  Here is a blog entry I found about them:

http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2008/03/08/figeater-beetle/

The bugs themselves are harmless, meaning they ...

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New Gardener’s Dilemma

"I just started gardening recently, so my first garden is full of mistakes. I was watering my cherry tomatoes every day, until I was told that was way too often.  They didn't show any signs of being over watered, but I cut it down to twice a week.  Several of their lower branches have turned yellow or brown and died since I cut down on watering.  What should I do?

Also, my squash and cucumbers haven't shown much growth in a little while.  I made the mistake of planting them too close together.  I'm also worried that I haven't given them ...

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What’s a Fig to Do?

A savvy gardener writes in:

"My young mission fig tree has very few fruit forming, can I use an organic fertilizer now to encourage more fruit output?"

In general, the best time to fertilize fig trees is in spring and as needed until late summer (which is now for Californians) - so go ahead and fertilize your fig.  Many fig trees don't require fertilizing at all, but there may be some conditions that are contributing to your low fig yield:

Fig trees can take up to two years to produce fruit from their planting date. You mentioned that your fig is young, though I ...

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