Re: [gardeners] dishwashing liquid
margaret lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Fri, 02 Jun 2000 10:46:52 -0600
At 09:28 PM 6/1/2000 PDT, you wrote:
>Dear Margaret and list,
> Gosh, that was a good tip! (spraying dish washing liquid onto insect
>infected plants). I don't have that problem yet, well, at least not with
>ants. My basil plants are getting pretty "holed" up by slugs... I keep
>forgetting to put the diamaceous earth out around them until it's too late
>and I've already come in for the night.
>
> I have a quick question: I'm growing the 'Navaho' thornless blackberry.
>This is their second year with me. I've noticed that each of them have put
>out a remarkably fast growing tall stalk -- looks like a giant celery stalk
>-- this year. At least one each, some of the plants have had 3-4 of them.
>I've kept these mystery stalks trimmed to the height of the bush, but am
>wondering -- what the heck are these things? Male parts? (swear to god that
>is what it looks like) Is it something that I should allow to grow tall?
>They weren't there last year!
>
> Carolyn
> Zone 7a
> Bethesda, MD
Carolyn, I'm going to answer the question you didn't ask. Zap your slugs
with a homemade spray of about 50% water and 50% household ammonia. It
usually doesn't hurt plants (if you have some rare babies there, you might
want to try a leaf first). Two or three evenings with a flashlight and
spray bottle will greatly reduce your population of slugs. Margaret L, who
has never grown blackberries.