Effective control of crickets

After losing successful starter seedlings to crickets, I have had to undertake a total cricket eradication program in the greenhouse.

This included removing all dead leaves and debris from the floor, getting rid of clutter an extra buckets and other items that were not in use, and spraying the greenhouse floor, wall and doorway with an organic pesticide.

Essentria IC3 is an organic pesticide with plant oils as its active ingredients. Although I was skeptical that the product would work as I needed it to, it turns out that after two applications I have almost totally eliminated all crickets that were already in the greenhouse and ones that migrated into it after application.

I still must follow up with a light spraying daily in order to control the crickets that have entered each night through crevices and cracks between bricks in the floor of the greenhouse. But I have lost no more seedlings since I have using the product..

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Greenhouse seeds started

148 tomato seeds, started 1/5/2024. Seeds maintained at 80° F. 35 ground cherry seeds and 10 pepino seeds started 1/5/24, maintained at the same temperature. 56 pepper seeds started 1/6/24, maintained at 84° F. Notes: cutting back on tomato production, experimenting with novel crops. This is the latest that I've ever started the greenhouse tomatoes.

Pumpkin harvest August 2016

Despite the fact that the melon crop this year was almost an entire loss because of the rain that came in late August and didn't stop for two weeks, I was still able to harvest a dozen sugar pie pumpkins. These 12 pumpkins came from four or five plants only. I started them as transplants in late May when ongoing spring rains showed no signs of letting up. I planted sugar pie and Howden pumpkins but the Jack O'Lantern pumpkins only produced two fruits that were taken by rot and insects. I planted the transplants in mid June into a hydroponic Dutch bucket system where they grew for 3 months until the pumpkins were ready to pick and cure.

Microgreens sprouted, steamed

My six trial microgreens trays have now sprouted. I have left the clear tops in place for two days in a row now that they're in the greenhouse, and this has been a mistake. Temps inside the trays rise high enough to steam the greens. So far, they have all survived. I will need to leave the tops off a little from the trays so that heat does not build up in them. I hope that their flavor has not been altered by the excessive heat, as heat makes greens taste bitter.

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