Got a favorite plant protection method? Drop it in the comments. Here are the links to the products I talked about: 1. Pop-Up Crop Protector: bit.ly/popupcrop 2. Sunny Forcing Cloches: bit.ly/sunnycloche 3. Cool Weather Row Cloches Set: bit.ly/rowcloche 4. Floating Row Covers: bit.ly/floatingrowcover 4a. Super Hoops: bit.ly/gscsuperhoops 5. bit.ly/shadenetting
My white house reflects so much onto my gardent that it completely cooks my plants. Once I used shade cloth my yield was like triple maybe even quadruple what it used to be. Made a world of difference
I’ve been watching and listening to your content for a few months now and I really have to thank you for doing what you do in this style. I love the intro music, you explain concepts from biology in layman’s terms very well without “dumbing them down” and also bring in fresh ideas to urban gardening that I wouldn’t have considered myself. Everything I’ve mentioned have really helped me provide for my parents during this outbreak- almost everything we’re eating is being growing on the property👏🏽thank you Kevin 🌿keep cultivating your crops and your character
A good way to get some free/cheap row cover is to ask a farmer. They will often have pieces that they have used for years, have gotten rips, and are no longer 100% effective for their long beds. But as a home gardener, you can cut the pieces down and still get strips long enough for your garden beds. Most farmers will be happy to see their garbage getting new life.
I actually was looking at season extenders on gardener's supply and wasn't sure what to get, so I came over to your channel to see what might fit my needs best. Good site, and I'm glad they're sponsoring your work!
Earwigs. They come by the thousands from my neighbor's yard every year as soon as transplant my seedlings. Going to try better biodiversity / companion planting this year.... Along with maybe some of that garden fabric. 👍 Thanks!
This is what I've been missing in my garden life. I'll have to buy these if I ever want to have a chance against leaf miners. Don't even get me started on leaf miners! Thank you Kevin for this video!
The ones I fight the most are those big green fig eater (Japanese) beetle larvae in my soil. I sifted hundreds of them out of my bed a few years back. Luckily I had a friend with chickens.
Thank you so much for this timely video. We need to protect our plants. Mr rabbit stoled my first yellow squash. I did what you said and made little wire cages. So he wont be stealing my squash anymore lol.
Squash vine borers are the bane of my existence. I was able to successfully start pumpkins and squash from seed for the first time last year. The plants were doing so well! Until suddenly vine borers. I had never heard of them till then.
i just use burlap as shade cloth. fighting cucumber beetles and squash beetles on my zucchini at the moment, plus a groundhog couple who have mowed down half my lettuce, my chamomile, and started eating my dhalias.
I’ve been binge-watching your videos as I’m trying to try growing this year (and not completely kill it all like I’ve done in the past). Any cover options that can be DIYed to keep out rabbits and squirrels? They are running rampant in my area!
this is maybe one of the biggest problems that I have had. Cabbage whites destroyed all my brassicas. I added to cart before realizing no shipping outside of the US :(. Still appreciate the tips, I'll try to make a makeshift version :)
Wow, your video was right on time for me! I have just transplanted some of my kale and greens, from the starter cells, and I have been worrying about how I can prevent the cabbage moth from getting to them this year! I need to look into those super hoops as well as the floating row covers! Going to visit their website and take a look. So timely! Thanks for your video, I am learning quite a bit.
My biggest problem is with squirrels. Those little bastards will dig and annihilate anything. Right now I have two bent pvc pipes with a netting over them to protect my plants. It works for the most part but early on this year they tore a couple holes in it and i've just tried to cover the holes with the extra netting and then clamp down over it. My rosie pak choy seems to have bolted, but i'm not sure what caused it to do that. Then the other thing is i'm finding these tiny little white things over many of the leaves. They look like nearly microscopic worms, but i'm not even sure they're living creatures
Vine borer! I start seeing them early May & they are still here Labor Day! I've tried everything. Last year I put out floating row covers; came out to check on my pumpkins only to find 2 borer moths UNDER the cover! 🤦🏽♀️🤯😡 Oh, & Bean leaf roller!
Love your channel. Love the Gardeners catalog too. But I do have to say that while they have amazing ideas and I've spent hundreds of dollars with them, a lot of their products are made as cheaply as they can get by with. I wish they would put a little higher quality materials with their great ideas and they would have the best products out there.
We appreciate the feedback. Your satisfaction is important to us and we're sorry you've been disappointed with some of our products. Every purchase is guaranteed, so please reach out to us at info@gardeners.com with your order and contact details so we can be of help. Thanks, Amanda E.
Thanks, Kevin, for another great video. There are so many options, it's really helpful for people to get a closer look at the features of each one, and how and why someone uses them. And apparently the pop up protector can double as an umbrella in a pinch? :-)
I just lay a floating cover of bridal veil fabric over my lettuce. No bugs! Birds ruined all my later tomatoes, even crawled under the netting and working their way up the cattle panels.
First of all, I love your videos and I am learning so much! Thank you. My current plant protection needs are for the soon to come cold windy Chicago winters! I could not find any of your videos discussing this super cold issue yet. This is my first year attempting to keep a plant over the winter so for now I need to figure out what to do. I have done some research and so far I'm getting that for my new blueberry bushes (in fabric bags) one way to protect them is by wrapping the bags to a height 6 inches over the top of the plant with bubble wrap and then fill with straw. The same was suggested for my strawberries in a 3ft x 3ft fabric bag. How soon should that be done? Will they need water at all? Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks, Kevin
If I had total control over a yard, I would do a large huggelkulture underneath everything. Maybe get a ton of compost in good amounts and keep it around things as if you do hot compost properly it should maintain and be kept around 131° on its own. I know those are a bit of work but those are some things I’ve seen. Huggelkulture didn’t click for me till I had someone explain the science behind it. Ideally it’s like taking tree logs (like the whole tree trunk) and a bunch of them and piling them up and (either in a mound or a hole, like underneath a garden, or in and underneath a greenhouse) Put all manner of small sticks and stuff too, small stuff happens faster than big stuff. I even saw people heating green houses with huggelkulture, and then also having a seperate hot compost pit inside (difference is after you add soil and stuff back on top of huggelkulture you can actually plant on it, compost typically you keep turning. I’ve even seen a guy who created a concrete slab to do their compost on and under it he had water pipes and insulation. This was like geothermal heat being taken from compost. He had the pole next to one green house and he used the insulated water pipes to heat another greeen house. I’ve also seen people add a lot of bottles /jugs of water (hot water) around a plant and even in a green house to improve the thermal mass in the area. Ive heard that misting when super cold ironically protects the plant from colder temps. Like the ice that forms on it is at freezing which blocks it from the -10° that might be outside. Maybe check on that one but it made sense to me. Also I think it would seem to be possible to find lights that emit heat like old time christmas lights. Or even purpose built heat emitters, I’ve even seen it described that with trees too you can flood the ground and even build up soil and dirt a couple of feet up the trunk. I assume soil and snow would both insulate (I.e. igloos). At some point I would assume some sort of plastic covering would be needed. Also might also be better to store if plants are moveable on the south side of a body of water nearby( across from me is a sort of flooding basin that also has a decent pond in it. And cold air typically comes from the north. Some day I want a house with a deep huggelculture in ground, a green house on top, and to have the green house partly in the ground and have compost pit in or on the side of it, and maybe have a rocket stove (burns clean) that could also heat it. Then to have geothermal that could go through all this and even heat my house or cycle back into greenhouse. It seems to me you either need to also know what foods are perennial for zone 5 (I’m 5b 30 miles west of chicago I’m wheaton) cuz at least things like alpine strawberries (as well as a specific variety of each berry for most part(at least the ones in my smoothie) is perennial and hardy for zone 5. Alpine strawberries are the ones we can grow. I think one way or another your going to have to at least cover them with a single or likley double plastic sheet. Just get some bendable pvc pipes and make them stick in ground like a hoop.
Thanks for the video. I'm in a new home and starting my first raised bed/container veg garden. I know from the holes in my flower leaves that my main pests are snails and slugs. Any tips to keep them out are appreciated! 🐌🐌🚫
I wish I can get the pop up crop protector and row cloches set in Canada. My entire vegetables garden was completely destroyed by heavy hail yesterday 😫.
Look at solar shields or sun sails. They are fabric, are moveable, shield the sun, and should protect against hail as well. If heavy rain is due, you can just use rolled fabric attached to stakes around the perimeter or long fabric roll covers you can buy online.
Love your channel! What would you recommend for rain protection for a dragon fruit trellis up here in the Bay Area (northernmost zone 10b) with wetter/windier winters than SD? Should I just wrap the whole trellis with a water-resistant fabric?
RATS are my #1 problem (I'm in San Diego, too). I'm back down here from school, quarantining with my family, and my parents say I can't put a garden back in unless I can keep the rats out. I have one giant ~6'x10' raised bed that is bordered on one side by a building and another by a dense hedge, and a ton of herbs and succulents in pots. My dad has done really well with tomatoes in past years, but the rats run along the half wall outside their bedroom and it scares the heck out of my mom, so she's put her foot down this year 🤷♀️ I was hoping to get some supplemental veggies out of it during the pandemic, but I may have to reassess.
I really need help with white flies! I got some last year on my cannas and I hosed and neem oiled the crap out of them. They returned again this year and moved to my other Canna pot and now my hibiscus. I m currently just hosing them off every other day. And not I have a resident mantis so I dont want to neem oil with her there. What else can I do? Alsi spider mites ruined my tomatoes. 8(
How about homemade pesticides? Like Salt spray, oil & soap sprays and onion & garlic spray... Do they work? Are they harmful for the plants? How frequently can i apply them?
Squirrels are what's killing me now, 2 months into my first ever gardening season. They dig and make a mess everywhere. They seem to be ignoring my baby veggies for now but I need to protect them once they get bigger. I might do the popup or the row cover.
My favorite tomato plant got recylcled today. I cut off some cuttings from it, planted one in a pot, and the other in water to root. I left the base where it was. Favorite plants can be propagated so not to waste them.
This summer will be my first time growing vegetables. I'm starting with just potatoes, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Do you have any advice on growing bell peppers from seed and tomatoes from a plant I buy at a nursery?
Does the shade cloth have to be dark? I bought this cloth that said to protect against frost, but thought it could work against the sun as well......until I saw this video. 😄
It will a bit. But plants don't need 100% full sun anyway. They benefit from some buffer from direct sunlight, depending on where you live. So many are losing their plants to heat and sun, row covers or shade cloths are becoming very popular as they keep the temperature of the air, soil and plant down about 10 degrees or more.
The evil that I normally deal with is humidity, rain, tomato worms and leaf miners. I am in central Florida now and not quite used to warm temps all the time. I am originally from Colorado where spring veggies start inside.
I am in central Florida too, and the horn worms have devastated my attempts to grow tomatoes. And the squirrels just pluck the seedlings right out of the ground for their salad, leaving a little hole. I bought some "fruit protector" bags that are a very fine synthetic mesh. They come with ties, and in different sizes from the size of your hand to the size of your arm. So they will fit just over the fruit, or over the whole branch. Squirrels also eat my loquats, and even though my tree is huge, they keep it bare once the fruit starts to turn. So I tied the hand sized ones on (I didn't do it right at first and I paid the price) VERY securely, and I have had some real luck. It's only been a few days. Four have been pulled off, but three still had the fruit inside and I ate it. The other one wasn't ripe and he bit it and dropped it. The way I tied it wasn't right at first, and it was all those that got pulled off. I am using the bigger ones over my pots, with dollar store wooden kabob skewers around the edge to hold them up off the plant. I tie them and tuck the tie under the pot or bury it in the ground. I can water just fine through it. They are reusable for years. Squirrels can, if they want, chew through these, as one customer showed a picture of, but none of my bags had any chew marks. I think in areas where there is little or no fruit/veg, the squirrels will try harder. My squirrels have tons of things to eat around, and my starfruit tree is testimony. I am using them on my orange tree, but don't cover flowers that need polinating. Once the plant starts flowering, pull off the protector or hand polinate and put it back on.
It might help to move your garden to a shadier spot. I have utilized my several partially shady areas for potted plants, and they do so much better. Even if you break your garden into two or three smaller plots in partial shade, that would be OK.
Slugs, and snails eat my lettuces, kale, cucurbits, basically anything with a green leaf..I've tried diatomaceous earth, beer traps, ground egg shells. The one thing that has helped a little has been dumping a lot of coffee grds over the soil. But would like to know if u had any suggestions? Thanks man!
Hey can you please help me, I had planted 40 corn plants on 15 feb now my 4 plants died already something is eating the roots can you please tell me how to kill those underground insects/pests whatever it is !
Check for cutworms. I placed toothpicks at the base of my plants and was able to protect them. Idea is to not give a chance for the cut worms to curl around the base of the plant and cut them, please check UA-cam for details. Good luck.
My worst pests are squirrels... they don’t even have a problem coming up to my story high balcony. Didn’t want to but I had to put out snap traps this year, no other way. They are some of the most determined assholes you’ll ever encounter.
How about snails? I’m worried for my salad I still need to plant in the ground. They’re small bunches like yours, but I don’t have a raised bed, they’ll go straight into the ground. Will the black shady fabric help?
My pest is flea beetles! What kind of lettuce is the super deep red lettuce in your garden? Also, where did you purchase the blue grow bag in your videos that has your Swiss chard in it?
My enemies are aphids, whiteflies and Japanese beetle grubs. I like your techniques for above ground protection, but the grubs are in the soil. If you have any grub issues, what do you use?
use sticks. have them sticking straight out of your beds and the cats will leave them alone. my dogs keep the cats away though, so not too much problem. also keep soil covered with mulch or palm fronds. kitties won’t dig rough surfaces.
The earwigs are my biggest problem besides the deer. If my plants aren't enclosed in bird netting, they will be eaten by the deer. Too bad the bird netting does nothing for the damn earwigs.
This year it's EARWIGS. So gross. They have flat bodies and can crawl under barriers like those, but they also can fly. I don't know how to stop them. They've been eating all of my seedlings and marigolds.
I don’t agree with all this excess plastic... It’s not aligned with an environmentally-friendly gardening ethos. If absolutely necessary, a lot of things we already own can serve these purposes. Please don’t encourage more consumption of toxic plastic.
Got a favorite plant protection method? Drop it in the comments. Here are the links to the products I talked about:
1. Pop-Up Crop Protector: bit.ly/popupcrop
2. Sunny Forcing Cloches: bit.ly/sunnycloche
3. Cool Weather Row Cloches Set: bit.ly/rowcloche
4. Floating Row Covers: bit.ly/floatingrowcover
4a. Super Hoops: bit.ly/gscsuperhoops
5. bit.ly/shadenetting
snails ate a couple of my squash seedlings, but otherwise, I will have plenty left for a giant crop this year...
My white house reflects so much onto my gardent that it completely cooks my plants. Once I used shade cloth my yield was like triple maybe even quadruple what it used to be. Made a world of difference
I’ve been watching and listening to your content for a few months now and I really have to thank you for doing what you do in this style. I love the intro music, you explain concepts from biology in layman’s terms very well without “dumbing them down” and also bring in fresh ideas to urban gardening that I wouldn’t have considered myself. Everything I’ve mentioned have really helped me provide for my parents during this outbreak- almost everything we’re eating is being growing on the property👏🏽thank you Kevin 🌿keep cultivating your crops and your character
Thank you so much Christian, that means a lot to me
A good way to get some free/cheap row cover is to ask a farmer. They will often have pieces that they have used for years, have gotten rips, and are no longer 100% effective for their long beds. But as a home gardener, you can cut the pieces down and still get strips long enough for your garden beds. Most farmers will be happy to see their garbage getting new life.
Yeah that's a great tip Andrew!
Neat.
I actually was looking at season extenders on gardener's supply and wasn't sure what to get, so I came over to your channel to see what might fit my needs best. Good site, and I'm glad they're sponsoring your work!
Earwigs. They come by the thousands from my neighbor's yard every year as soon as transplant my seedlings. Going to try better biodiversity / companion planting this year.... Along with maybe some of that garden fabric. 👍 Thanks!
This is what I've been missing in my garden life. I'll have to buy these if I ever want to have a chance against leaf miners. Don't even get me started on leaf miners! Thank you Kevin for this video!
Ugh they are the worst...squish those bad bois!
You’re the best, man. My favorite gardening channel by far.
Appreciate you
Great video, Kevin! I battled squash bugs last year for the first time. I’ll be doing row covers for sure this year!
You won't regret it!
The ones I fight the most are those big green fig eater (Japanese) beetle larvae in my soil. I sifted hundreds of them out of my bed a few years back. Luckily I had a friend with chickens.
Thank you so much for this timely video. We need to protect our plants. Mr rabbit stoled my first yellow squash. I did what you said and made little wire cages. So he wont be stealing my squash anymore lol.
Thanks Kev. Stay safe. Protect yourself mate.
Squash vine borers are the bane of my existence. I was able to successfully start pumpkins and squash from seed for the first time last year. The plants were doing so well! Until suddenly vine borers. I had never heard of them till then.
My catnip has been really helpful with aphids
i just use burlap as shade cloth.
fighting cucumber beetles and squash beetles on my zucchini at the moment, plus a groundhog couple who have mowed down half my lettuce, my chamomile, and started eating my dhalias.
I’ve been binge-watching your videos as I’m trying to try growing this year (and not completely kill it all like I’ve done in the past). Any cover options that can be DIYed to keep out rabbits and squirrels? They are running rampant in my area!
this is maybe one of the biggest problems that I have had. Cabbage whites destroyed all my brassicas. I added to cart before realizing no shipping outside of the US :(. Still appreciate the tips, I'll try to make a makeshift version :)
Wow, your video was right on time for me! I have just transplanted some of my kale and greens, from the starter cells, and I have been worrying about how I can prevent the cabbage moth from getting to them this year! I need to look into those super hoops as well as the floating row covers! Going to visit their website and take a look. So timely! Thanks for your video, I am learning quite a bit.
Yeah give those a shot - super easy to prevent if you leave it on the first 2 weeks or so!
I’m in an endless battle with flea beetles 😡. Got a few new tricks up my sleeve for this summer though. Thanks Kevin!
Good luck Erik!
My biggest problem is with squirrels. Those little bastards will dig and annihilate anything. Right now I have two bent pvc pipes with a netting over them to protect my plants. It works for the most part but early on this year they tore a couple holes in it and i've just tried to cover the holes with the extra netting and then clamp down over it.
My rosie pak choy seems to have bolted, but i'm not sure what caused it to do that. Then the other thing is i'm finding these tiny little white things over many of the leaves. They look like nearly microscopic worms, but i'm not even sure they're living creatures
Fantastic tip for squirrels...they're so pernicious!
Vine borer! I start seeing them early May & they are still here Labor Day! I've tried everything. Last year I put out floating row covers; came out to check on my pumpkins only to find 2 borer moths UNDER the cover! 🤦🏽♀️🤯😡
Oh, & Bean leaf roller!
Ugh they are the WORST
Definitely aphids and slugs snails, and up there with the aphids are earwigs 😮
Love this Channel and I always will
Do u have link " how to make DIY pop up crop protector " Epic? That will be great
Love your channel. Love the Gardeners catalog too. But I do have to say that while they have amazing ideas and I've spent hundreds of dollars with them, a lot of their products are made as cheaply as they can get by with. I wish they would put a little higher quality materials with their great ideas and they would have the best products out there.
Thank you for the kind words - I tend to have a lot of success with the stuff I get from them, but I will definitely relay this to the team!
We appreciate the feedback. Your satisfaction is important to us and we're sorry you've been disappointed with some of our products. Every purchase is guaranteed, so please reach out to us at info@gardeners.com with your order and contact details so we can be of help. Thanks, Amanda E.
Thanks, Kevin, for another great video. There are so many options, it's really helpful for people to get a closer look at the features of each one, and how and why someone uses them. And apparently the pop up protector can double as an umbrella in a pinch? :-)
@@epicgardening It's mutual!!!
I just lay a floating cover of bridal veil fabric over my lettuce. No bugs! Birds ruined all my later tomatoes, even crawled under the netting and working their way up the cattle panels.
Bury the netting in a small long mound of dirt or secure with lines of gravel or stones.
First of all, I love your videos and I am learning so much! Thank you.
My current plant protection needs are for the soon to come cold windy Chicago winters! I could not find any of your videos discussing this super cold issue yet.
This is my first year attempting to keep a plant over the winter so for now I need to figure out what to do. I have done some research and so far I'm getting that for my new blueberry bushes (in fabric bags) one way to protect them is by wrapping the bags to a height 6 inches over the top of the plant with bubble wrap and then fill with straw. The same was suggested for my strawberries in a 3ft x 3ft fabric bag. How soon should that be done? Will they need water at all? Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks, Kevin
If I had total control over a yard, I would do a large huggelkulture underneath everything. Maybe get a ton of compost in good amounts and keep it around things as if you do hot compost properly it should maintain and be kept around 131° on its own. I know those are a bit of work but those are some things I’ve seen. Huggelkulture didn’t click for me till I had someone explain the science behind it. Ideally it’s like taking tree logs (like the whole tree trunk) and a bunch of them and piling them up and (either in a mound or a hole, like underneath a garden, or in and underneath a greenhouse) Put all manner of small sticks and stuff too, small stuff happens faster than big stuff. I even saw people heating green houses with huggelkulture, and then also having a seperate hot compost pit inside (difference is after you add soil and stuff back on top of huggelkulture you can actually plant on it, compost typically you keep turning. I’ve even seen a guy who created a concrete slab to do their compost on and under it he had water pipes and insulation. This was like geothermal heat being taken from compost. He had the pole next to one green house and he used the insulated water pipes to heat another greeen house. I’ve also seen people add a lot of bottles /jugs of water (hot water) around a plant and even in a green house to improve the thermal mass in the area. Ive heard that misting when super cold ironically protects the plant from colder temps. Like the ice that forms on it is at freezing which blocks it from the -10° that might be outside. Maybe check on that one but it made sense to me. Also I think it would seem to be possible to find lights that emit heat like old time christmas lights. Or even purpose built heat emitters, I’ve even seen it described that with trees too you can flood the ground and even build up soil and dirt a couple of feet up the trunk. I assume soil and snow would both insulate (I.e. igloos). At some point I would assume some sort of plastic covering would be needed. Also might also be better to store if plants are moveable on the south side of a body of water nearby( across from me is a sort of flooding basin that also has a decent pond in it. And cold air typically comes from the north. Some day I want a house with a deep huggelculture in ground, a green house on top, and to have the green house partly in the ground and have compost pit in or on the side of it, and maybe have a rocket stove (burns clean) that could also heat it. Then to have geothermal that could go through all this and even heat my house or cycle back into greenhouse. It seems to me you either need to also know what foods are perennial for zone 5 (I’m 5b 30 miles west of chicago I’m wheaton) cuz at least things like alpine strawberries (as well as a specific variety of each berry for most part(at least the ones in my smoothie) is perennial and hardy for zone 5. Alpine strawberries are the ones we can grow. I think one way or another your going to have to at least cover them with a single or likley double plastic sheet. Just get some bendable pvc pipes and make them stick in ground like a hoop.
Thanks for the video. I'm in a new home and starting my first raised bed/container veg garden. I know from the holes in my flower leaves that my main pests are snails and slugs. Any tips to keep them out are appreciated! 🐌🐌🚫
I'll do a slug and snail specific video!
I wish I can get the pop up crop protector and row cloches set in Canada. My entire vegetables garden was completely destroyed by heavy hail yesterday 😫.
Look at solar shields or sun sails. They are fabric, are moveable, shield the sun, and should protect against hail as well. If heavy rain is due, you can just use rolled fabric attached to stakes around the perimeter or long fabric roll covers you can buy online.
Can you make a video on your raised beds set up and how to make them or where to buy them. Thank you keep up the good work
NEW SUBSCRIBER HERE FROM CALIFORNIA 🥰
Great tips Kevin! My wife and will be starting our first seeds ever here in a couple weeks so we're curious how we'll do with pests.
Good luck to you both!
Companion planting helps
Love your channel! What would you recommend for rain protection for a dragon fruit trellis up here in the Bay Area (northernmost zone 10b) with wetter/windier winters than SD? Should I just wrap the whole trellis with a water-resistant fabric?
I appreciate this type of video! Thank you!
You're welcome!
RATS are my #1 problem (I'm in San Diego, too). I'm back down here from school, quarantining with my family, and my parents say I can't put a garden back in unless I can keep the rats out. I have one giant ~6'x10' raised bed that is bordered on one side by a building and another by a dense hedge, and a ton of herbs and succulents in pots. My dad has done really well with tomatoes in past years, but the rats run along the half wall outside their bedroom and it scares the heck out of my mom, so she's put her foot down this year 🤷♀️ I was hoping to get some supplemental veggies out of it during the pandemic, but I may have to reassess.
Rats can bite through metals. They are so prevalent and have been forever. Pros use any means necessary.
I put the row covers over my plants as soon as I plant them and it has worked. My question is, will the shade cloth keep aphids out?
I really need help with white flies! I got some last year on my cannas and I hosed and neem oiled the crap out of them. They returned again this year and moved to my other Canna pot and now my hibiscus. I m currently just hosing them off every other day. And not I have a resident mantis so I dont want to neem oil with her there. What else can I do?
Alsi spider mites ruined my tomatoes. 8(
Great tips Kevin Thank You!
I like the super hoop stuff, but also the first pop-up one...can it be tacked down for windy season?
Yup!
Check out Earth Staples on our site -- three different styles/sizes. www.gardeners.com
How about homemade pesticides? Like Salt spray, oil & soap sprays and onion & garlic spray...
Do they work? Are they harmful for the plants? How frequently can i apply them?
how do you keep the Cloches from blowing away? up here where im at they would be in the next county in 5 minutes
You didn’t speak about the chicken wire bell shaped cloche! I was waiting for that one
D'oh! Next time :P
Is that row cover fabric OK for plants that need full sun?
Squirrels are what's killing me now, 2 months into my first ever gardening season. They dig and make a mess everywhere. They seem to be ignoring my baby veggies for now but I need to protect them once they get bigger. I might do the popup or the row cover.
Very informative. Tobacco caterpillars killed my favorite cherry tomato plant. 😭.Thank you. Tips will come in handy
Oof yeah those are nasty! Hand picking helps too :)
My favorite tomato plant got recylcled today. I cut off some cuttings from it, planted one in a pot, and the other in water to root. I left the base where it was. Favorite plants can be propagated so not to waste them.
This summer will be my first time growing vegetables. I'm starting with just potatoes, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Do you have any advice on growing bell peppers from seed and tomatoes from a plant I buy at a nursery?
Good luck Taylor! Peppers need patience during germination...after that it's smooth sailing
Does the shade cloth have to be dark? I bought this cloth that said to protect against frost, but thought it could work against the sun as well......until I saw this video. 😄
Hey you got your front yard fenced it...good idea! What are the sloped wooden things on the fence railing?
Yup filmed a video on the fence rebuild! They're info signs telling people about the garden!
My arch nemesis pests: deer, rabbits, lizards, squirrels, rats, grasshoppers, etc. etc. etc.
These are beautiful plant protection cover. We are a manufacturer of planter bags. We have all kinds of planter bags.
Every morning I see my seedlings leaves are gone are they being eaten?
How does the pop up crop protector stay in place?
When using the floating row cover, does it get in the way of the plant getting sun?
It will a bit. But plants don't need 100% full sun anyway. They benefit from some buffer from direct sunlight, depending on where you live. So many are losing their plants to heat and sun, row covers or shade cloths are becoming very popular as they keep the temperature of the air, soil and plant down about 10 degrees or more.
Hi ;) would it be beneficial to use Green Shade Netting for Temp. Control, than Black ?
I should do a vid on this!
Yep use green shade cloth all the time. Here , near Sydney the summer sun is a scorcher.
I wonder of these are mouse proof. I have mice that eat my lettuce and im trying to find something that keeps them plus bugs away 😭
The evil that I normally deal with is humidity, rain, tomato worms and leaf miners. I am in central Florida now and not quite used to warm temps all the time. I am originally from Colorado where spring veggies start inside.
Leaf miners are the worst!
I am in central Florida too, and the horn worms have devastated my attempts to grow tomatoes. And the squirrels just pluck the seedlings right out of the ground for their salad, leaving a little hole. I bought some "fruit protector" bags that are a very fine synthetic mesh. They come with ties, and in different sizes from the size of your hand to the size of your arm. So they will fit just over the fruit, or over the whole branch. Squirrels also eat my loquats, and even though my tree is huge, they keep it bare once the fruit starts to turn. So I tied the hand sized ones on (I didn't do it right at first and I paid the price) VERY securely, and I have had some real luck. It's only been a few days. Four have been pulled off, but three still had the fruit inside and I ate it. The other one wasn't ripe and he bit it and dropped it. The way I tied it wasn't right at first, and it was all those that got pulled off. I am using the bigger ones over my pots, with dollar store wooden kabob skewers around the edge to hold them up off the plant. I tie them and tuck the tie under the pot or bury it in the ground. I can water just fine through it. They are reusable for years. Squirrels can, if they want, chew through these, as one customer showed a picture of, but none of my bags had any chew marks. I think in areas where there is little or no fruit/veg, the squirrels will try harder. My squirrels have tons of things to eat around, and my starfruit tree is testimony. I am using them on my orange tree, but don't cover flowers that need polinating. Once the plant starts flowering, pull off the protector or hand polinate and put it back on.
I really like the shade cloth. In the heat of summer my plants suffer.
Helps SO much
It might help to move your garden to a shadier spot. I have utilized my several partially shady areas for potted plants, and they do so much better. Even if you break your garden into two or three smaller plots in partial shade, that would be OK.
Diy slug trap, sluggo plus or do u have a perfect method?
Slugs, and snails eat my lettuces, kale, cucurbits, basically anything with a green leaf..I've tried diatomaceous earth, beer traps, ground egg shells. The one thing that has helped a little has been dumping a lot of coffee grds over the soil. But would like to know if u had any suggestions? Thanks man!
None of those work foolproof, the snails will still climb over! I will do a vid!
Snail pellets and/or going out at night killing them.
What is bolting? I've heard you say it but I don't know what it is
Hey can you please help me,
I had planted 40 corn plants on 15 feb now my 4 plants died already something is eating the roots can you please tell me how to kill those underground insects/pests whatever it is !
It's hard to say w/o knowing what it is!
There is a biological control you can buy. Cannot personally comment on effectiveness though I think it would work.
Are there big grubs in your soil???
Check for cutworms. I placed toothpicks at the base of my plants and was able to protect them. Idea is to not give a chance for the cut worms to curl around the base of the plant and cut them, please check UA-cam for details. Good luck.
I have small 4 x 4 raised beds. What is a good sized super hoop for greens like kale and collards?
The set of 6 should work!
Thanks for the tips sir😊
Welcome!
Love this!! 💖
My worst pests are squirrels... they don’t even have a problem coming up to my story high balcony. Didn’t want to but I had to put out snap traps this year, no other way. They are some of the most determined assholes you’ll ever encounter.
Spider mites?
Great advice
Did you build or buy those metal raised beds? Did you make a video on those?
I'd love a link!
Thanks!!!
Hey there, no they're a popular bed in Australia and I've brought them here to the USA: shop.epicgardening.com/ :)
@@epicgardening awesome thanks!
ok, so what is it that ONLY eats pepper plants, and will strip a healthy plant right down to the soil line, leaves, fruit and stem overnight?
So cool
Hey Kevin, How do you keep your plants from Gypsy moth caterpillars with homemade pesticides?
How about snails? I’m worried for my salad I still need to plant in the ground. They’re small bunches like yours, but I don’t have a raised bed, they’ll go straight into the ground. Will the black shady fabric help?
I will have to do a video on snails! As long are there are none UNDER the fabric to start with, you should be OK
@@epicgardening thanks, will give it a try
My pest is flea beetles! What kind of lettuce is the super deep red lettuce in your garden? Also, where did you purchase the blue grow bag in your videos that has your Swiss chard in it?
The blue grow bag is from Gardener's Supply Company as well! And the lettuce...I forgot the variety :x
I am in East County in San Diego and I am really struggling with rats and rabbits. They devour my kale and cabbage. Poor things never get a chance.
You could try putting a wire waste paper basket turned upside down over the top of your plants or use the fabric: tulle over the top of your plants.
If my love was like a flower, would you plant it, would you grow it?
Nope
My enemies are aphids, whiteflies and Japanese beetle grubs. I like your techniques for above ground protection, but the grubs are in the soil. If you have any grub issues, what do you use?
I'll do a video on Japanese beetles...they're definitely my nemesis
I used Milky Spore Disease in the soil.Natural
gets rid of grubs and moles which are after grubs. It is better the second year.
Since Japanese beetles can fly a long distance I also use a Japanese beetle trap. I was amazed how many beetles it caught.
Definitely consider Milky Spore. www.gardeners.com/buy/milky-spore/05-153VS.html
any tips on how to keep cats out of the garden? have one making a litter box out of my raised bed!!
Unfortunately I don't own one so not sure - will have to research!
use sticks. have them sticking straight out of your beds and the cats will leave them alone. my dogs keep the cats away though, so not too much problem. also keep soil covered with mulch or palm fronds. kitties won’t dig rough surfaces.
Maybe covering your raised bed would keep them out. I am having trouble with squirrels digging up my bulbs and plants and I am covering my plants.
Customers swear by our Cat Scat Mat. www.gardeners.com/buy/scat-mat-cat-deterrent-roll-78x11/8592448.html
Some Cats don’t like peppermint oil. I use 6 drops essential peppermint oil to a spray bottle and spray around.
I hate:
1) aphids
2) cabbage worms
3) leafminer
Oof leafminers are nasty I agree
aphids and leafminer
Rick Borghuis earwigs eat plants as well. Not a good idea to introduce those mothers in your yard. And they bite.
Got any advice for snails? They're the biggest pest in my yard I can't stand them.
Pop up cover🤯
My fav one!
Japanese Beatles they are the worst and seem to know where to come back every year and attack my fruit trees....Love your videos btw!!
Aphids & rodents are the big pest problems that I face in our OC backyard
White flies!!! I can not get rid of them! No matter what we try. They are back every morning!!
How do I stop earwigs from eating my broccoli!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😭
Earwigs is my biggest problem
Cardinals eating all my strawberries and tomatoes. Ugh! 🤦🏽♀️
If you use row cover or shade cloth, you block pollinators :(
Slugs and pill bugs
The earwigs are my biggest problem besides the deer. If my plants aren't enclosed in bird netting, they will be eaten by the deer. Too bad the bird netting does nothing for the damn earwigs.
Tomato horn worms!
I watch your tic tok
Awesome!
Epic Gardening yay he replied
Do you ever get a rat problem? Or animals eating baby plants ???
This year it's EARWIGS. So gross. They have flat bodies and can crawl under barriers like those, but they also can fly. I don't know how to stop them. They've been eating all of my seedlings and marigolds.
SLUGS. I set traps and i pick them out of my shade vegetable garden every night and I get 50-100 per night and I have like 10 small planters.
Aphids are my worst enemy, nothing has worked.
Black ants farm them. You need to stop the ants.
Haircut?
Lack of one ;)
I don’t agree with all this excess plastic... It’s not aligned with an environmentally-friendly gardening ethos. If absolutely necessary, a lot of things we already own can serve these purposes. Please don’t encourage more consumption of toxic plastic.
SLUGS SLUGS SLUGS these little jerks smash my seedlings 🙄🤬