Grab-bag

Liberal tears

 A drinking story

Mabel who was a bar-lass at the neighborhood pub called to tell us that Grandpa had slipped his collar and had been drinking at the bar before leaving alone.

An hour later we heard the front doorbell and went to open the door. Grandpa was leaning against the door and fell into the room when we opened it. The fronts of his trousers were ripped and bloody and so were the palms of his hands.

"I am so drunk" he declared "that I cannot even stand. I cannot remember the last time I was this drunk"

"Mabel called us" I informed Grandpa.

"She said you forgot your wheelchair again."

Oak trees as pollen sources for insects

This is a Bur Oak (Q. macrocarpa) that is one of the corky-barked, fire-resisting clones. This clone leafs out late in the season.

It was getting a lot of attention from various insects that (I assume) were collecting pollen and maybe nectar. I never saw that before.

I am very interested in plants that produce nectar between May 10 and June 10 because that is when many fruit pests are active. Readily available nectar increases the lifespan of parasitoid wasps by a factor of three so each wasp has the potential to lay eggs on three times as many pests. Over the years, increased reproductive success of parasitoid wasps jacks up their population.

A walk around the orchard

Kubota declined to mow the orchard with a push mower. He said the grass was as high as his head.

I decided that I needed to take a look and to strip shoots from below grafts I made back in April.

Claribel quince

For the record, the seedheads of the grass were between knee and waist high.

Most of my collection of quince varieties blossomed so I might get to sample some quince this fall.

I recently read an article discussing disease resistance of quince in humid climates and the only variety I have that fared well is Ekmek. One that I do not have, Limon, fared very well.

Reference: Page 295 for a table of quince variety disease resistance (less fireblight)

Two of my trees died over the winter. I failed at rodent damage the winter before and they limped through the summer before crashing-and-burning this past winter.

Duramax diesel

Like a rabbit slinking out from beneath the brush-pile after it sees the shadow of the hawk sail away, I bided my time until the sound of the Duramax went down the driveway and thence down the road.

I mixed up some glyphosate spray and sprayed the weeds where I want to plant the tomato plants. I sprayed about 1200 square-feet. I expect Belladonna to be back tomorrow evening and will ask her to drive some stakes 48" from the east row of potatoes and stretch a string to give me a guide for popping the tomatoes in.

Stupice, which is a shorter variety will go next to the potatoes.

Sweet Aperitif and Principe Borghese are taller varieties and will be the row east of the Stupice. The reason for doing it that way is to minimize the shade thrown on the potatoes.

I know some people frown on the use of synthetic pesticides but I plead special circumstances. I frown on the possibility of Eaton Rapids Joe and the ever-lovely Mrs ERJ being hungry. I am 99.5% sure that my left knee will not be able to tolerate the forward-yanking of the rototiller. Nor is it in good enough shape to wheel truck-loads of shredded brush from the drive to the garden.

Yes, I have had a surprising number of offers from help, some from nearby states. But I can be a stubborn SOB. The other thing is this gives me one more opportunity to get my kids engaged in learning a little bit more about food production. 

Mrs ERJ is fully aware of the deficiencies in my character. I have strict orders to text her at 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM so she knows I am still kicking.

Organic methods of potato beetle control

Colorado Potato Beetles (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) are difficult to control organically/biologically.

There are strains of a bacteria that is reputed to kill beetles and grubs called Bacillus thuringiensis ssp tenebrionis, morisoni, japonensis and san diego. The difficulty is not finding B.t. based products but in finding one with the sub-species that primarily attacks beetles.

One source, pricey!

All is not lost. research suggests that the most common strain of B.t. ssp kurstaki will impair beetles and works synergistically with a fungus called Metarhizium robertsii

Most folks don't really look at bugs, especially dead ones.

But if you ever saw a dead bug covered by clumpy, green "cauliflower" then you saw Metarhizium robertsii. I will be on the look-out for these dead bugs with the plan of culturing them on black soldier fly larvae, pureeing and spraying on my CPBs.

One of the great things about biological controls is that they throw a long shadow after you build up their populations. They might not be totally self-sustaining at levels high enough to provide economic control but they can knock the population back some.

Older drivers

In God we trust. Everybody else must bring data. Data from CDC Wonder data retrieval tool.

I expected a drop-off in the mid-60s as many people no longer have to commute to work on a daily basis.

I did not expect the death-rate per year (not per mile!) to climb starting at age 65. Nor did I expect the twenties to be so uniformly bad. Yes, the early 20s but things don't settle down until about age 30.

The declining death-rate in the 20s is due to increasing risk-aversion and improved judgement. The increasing death-rate starting in the late 60s is probably due to both declining driving skills and increasing fragility of health.

Again, let me reiterate, this data is not deaths-per-mile data nor is it deaths-per-drivers. This data is death-rate as calculated against the total population of people in that age group.

Male-female breakdown. Males in red. Females in blue. Y axis is deaths due to motor vehicle accidents per 100k. The average male drives about 17k miles per year and the average female drives 11k. Average mileage drops about 30% after retirement. Source Kelly Blue Book