Comments for Rolling Hills Herbs & Annuals

Comment on Giving Thanks – Herb Roasted Turkey by Flip Flop Ranch

Flip Flop Ranch — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:56:14 +0000

Thanks for mentioning us!!

Comment on contact us by Carrie-Anne

Carrie-Anne — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:52:59 +0000

Hi there!
Sorry, we are out of stock on lemon balm until Spring. Perhaps Cherry Valley Nursery may have it 909 795 7120.
Enjoy the day!

Comment on contact us by Brian

Brian — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:49:51 +0000

Looking to see if you have any lemon balm plants or if you would happen to know where I can get one?

Comment on Got these bugs? by Robert

Robert — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:40:42 +0000

Dear Carrie-Anne,
Thank you for your suggestions to control the bug. I have begun to interplant garlic with my brassicas, but since there are no bugs present because of the cold, I am curious, does it indeed have an effect when they are numerous? I am also interested in your experience with the insecticidal soap. Toward the end of the warm season, I experimented with a soap mix of Murphy’s Oil Soap and borax by spraying one of the remnant wild mustard plants that hadn’t yet been completely destroyed, but was badly infected with the Bagrada. I wasn’t systematic enough to be able to give any meaningful results, but if there is a serious infestation of the bugs, I think that even daily spraying would not be excessive, since there is little residual value to the soap. After reading your suggestion, I did some research and came up with an interesting web site, put together by Cornell University, about various organic pest control agents. They describe the mechanism by which each one works, then give results of studies against various pests.
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/resourceguide/mfs/12soap.php
I had thought that soap killed all insects, but that is apparently not the case. It is more effective against soft-bodied insects, like aphids. It will not kill adult beetles (ladybugs, for example), although it may kill their soft-bodied larvae. Since the bagrada bug is a “true bug” (order Hemiptera), it has no larval stage, only “nymphs”; the young resemble wingless, miniature adults. Thus, I am not yet sure how effective the soap will prove to be against them, especially with soap having no residual effect and reinfestation imminent if bugs are present on nearby host plants. Very interesting, however, was Cornell’s report on Neem-based products, one of which is an insecticidal soap. Neem can apparently be taken up systemically by the roots, which would create a residual effect against the bugs. Furthermore, there are study results that indicate some effectiveness of agents in neem against bugs, specifically stink bugs, of which the bagrada bug is apparently one.
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/resourceguide/mfs/08neem.php

Comment on Got these bugs? by Robert

Robert — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 16:48:47 +0000

I am in the foothills east of San Diego and have been watching the bagrada bug’s arrival and dispersion with great interest and trepidation from my 7-acre farm. I provide here a recounting of my experience with the bug over the last year and am curious to read how others are coping. I try to adhere to organic farming methods, with the exception of an attempt to eliminate a couple of noxious weeds using spot applications of glyphosate (e.g. Roundup). With the Bagrada bug, it is with great hesitation, but I am thinking that I may have to suspend organic principles to control the bug in my cabbage-related crops, or give up their cultivation entirely.
At my first recognition of their presence here, I think it was probably May or June of this year (2010), I noticed these bugs (by the way, they are not beetles!) running in all directions through the field grass and across the bare ground. They were everywhere! When I got the identification back from the S.D. county agriculture office, along with a description of the bug, I was horrified by the understanding of what we are facing: a bug that reproduces at 100-fold every month, with no significant natural enemies. You do the math! That explains why it has shown up, almost simultaneously, in agriculture all across southern California and Arizona. The hills here are covered with wild mustard, a brassica (cabbage family), their primary host, and they have spread like wildfire across the whole countryside. I have noticed that when they have destroyed the mustard, they move on and their presence drops dramatically, unless you have cabbage-related crops, to which they switch immediately. As an aside, I also noticed that my lemon and Armenian cucumbers were destroyed by the bug; luffa, squash, and watermelons were not.
My first encounter with the bagrada in the garden was on collard plants. The plants were covered! My initial reaction was to destroy the plants and bury them. I now realize that that is no solution; by the time an individual plant is overwhelmed, the bugs are already ubiquitous. Best is to deal directly with the bugs themselves, unless you are willing to remove all of the host plants from your garden.
In October, I replanted several beds of cabbage, broccoli, collards, but the seedlings were destroyed by the bugs within a couple of weeks. Since the bugs are originally from Africa, I have high hopes that the bugs are not tolerant of the cold, although in all of my research, it surprises me that I have not come across a single mention of the effect of a freeze on the bugs. After several hard frosts here, it seemed that they were gone; I have replanted my cole crops. So far, the seedlings seem to be growing well. To my disappointment, however, I have seen a few, that is, only single bugs, after the frosts, but their activity seems to be greatly diminished. I have also noticed that the mustard in the fields in growing again, even though it was destroyed during the summer. I had thought that mustard here would be wiped out, but for the winter, it is making a come-back. Perhaps where I am, cole cultures, just like the wild mustard, will be winter-only crops, unless a grower is willing to resort to synthetic pesticides, with the warmer parts of the year limited to plants unaffected by the bagrada.
I would be very interested to hear about others’ experiences!