It works by soaking up the excess water that’s on the plant, drying out the mold/bacteria. I was told this by an old-timer in another gardening group. I tried it and it worked. The only other thing corn meal can do is kill off ants. It makes them explode like rice does to birds. Ants are to aphids as dairy farmers are to cows. Without the ants to protect them, the aphids find another home.
I’ve grown other things in the cabbage family, but not cabbage itself. I’ve found the only way that works for me to get rid of cabbage worms is to pour a bucket of soapy water over the plant. You’ll see the cabbage worms running out of the heads. That’s when you know you’ve poured enough. When I use soap in the garden, I try to do it at dusk because it can burn the leaves in the sun.
For your tomato problem, try pulling off the diseased parts and sprinkling the whole plant with corn meal. I know it’s a little late in the season, but your tomato plants should bounce back real quick.
I think this is a good list filed under “Something is better than nothing.” It’s great for someone who just started (like me) to put something together just to have something ready to go. You can always upgrade things later. I’m currently focused on my in-home stockpile because I just started, but I’ve been debating putting something together for a mobile situation, just to have something. More than likely, most American mobile situations will be a FEMA or Red Cross shelter, in which a suitcase might blend in better than a hiking backpack. That’s just an undeniable fact. I like the idea of having both a backpack and a suitcase set aside, keeping one set up for a shelter and the other for an on-foot scenario. That way if you’re going to a shelter, you can add more stuff that would work for helping you get a job in your new city if you’re totally displaced, like toiletries and dress clothes. You could keep the backpack more geared towards camping supplies.
Another one that I just remembered – if you have a plant disease, many times it can be cleared up with a spray of 1tsp baking soda per 1 qt water.
I’ll give it a try next year.
Squash borers go after the stems, not the fruit. Otherwise that would be a good idea. Another forum recommended BT injections. One nice thing about BT is I can learn how to make it from rhubarb leaves.
Squash bugs are different than squash boring beetles. Squash bugs are bad, too, but the borers are my nemesis.
Do you have squash boring beetles? I can’t find anything that works against those things! I just gave up on growing squash. Also, I have barely any cucumber beetles, but I get fusarium wilt every time I try growing cukes. Any ideas? I do bleach the soil when I get the wilt (old trick from a florida gardener). Here are a couple of organic things that really work well for me: 1. Crushed egg shells sprinkled on the soil kill slugs and snails and act as an aphrodisiac for the worms. 2. Sprinkle corn meal over tomatoes to prevent diseases. It also kills ants. Ants encourage aphids, so that’s kind of an a=b=c kinda thing. 3. Half a stick of Double mint gum (has to be that brand) in the hole of a burrowing animal (mole, gopher, etc) will kill it. 4. Prevent birds and squirrels from eating your tomatoes by hanging red christmas bulbs on your tomato plants while your tomatoes are still green. Go with the plastic ones.
It’s kind of a prevention thing, but I spread milky spore over my yard/garden and it’s really reduced the amount of Japanese beetles. It’s a little expensive, but lasts for 10 years. Another idea – since they just fall off the plants when you shake them, is there a way you could put kiddie pools of soapy water under the trees, then shake the trees? That might be too labor-intensive for the amount of trees you have, though. How about house cleaner spray? The kind you attach to a hose to clean a house? It doesn’t matter whether you use insecticidal soap or regular soap, it’ll still kill the buggers. Just make sure that you’re spraying in the evening because it can damage the leaves if you spray during the day.
Good idea to have a small camper ready to go. I never even thought of having a small go-bag for the dog!
Check out Sierra Trading Company. They’re part of the TJ Maxx family of stores and focus on sports and outdoorsmanship. I’ve been running for the past 7 years and get most of my running tech gear there, unless I have a really good coupon for somewhere else. They have some really high-end stuff for really good prices, especially on clearance. I have to admit, I’m a newbie to physical prepping. I’ve been learning skills instead since 2008 because we were broke. I’m just now getting to the gathering of the containers to store two weeks of water phase of my prepping. I have basically a month’s worth of groceries, give or take, because that’s what they were saying to do for Covid.