bt phone home

Short and sweet today.

Leaves, grass clippings, chicken coop litter shavings, coffee grounds, and chicken scraps make for a powerful pile…

Newly planted kohlrabi, with the spring lettuce, peas and spinach in the background.  It was too hot last night at 7:00 to mulch (84° F), so that has to wait till morning…

And one more thing just to make the post longer. Since I’ve started blogging I’ve come across a lot of folks who have mentioned cabbage loopers, the little green worms that make Swiss cheese out of your cole crop leaves. Believe me, I have too.

There are a couple of ways to save your broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kohlrabi from holey leaves and floating green things in the cooking water. One of them is to cover your plants. I cover too many things already, and there’s another way to fix the problem; it’s called Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt for short (much less intimidating).

It’s OMRI listed (Organic Materials Review Institute). Bt is a bacteria that only works on the guts of leaf chewing insects, and safe for people and other wildlife. You mix it with water and spray it on the leaves, and when the little green wigglies eat your stuff, they get a life sentence of indigestion. Maybe that seems harsh. If it rips your conscience to hurt little green creatures, then by all means cover.

I’m not that complex. If you steal my food, you have to deal with my form of justice.

Bt really works. You have my word. Unless you get sloppy and don’t apply it again after rains or after watering.