Every month or so, my frustration tends to peak, and this is one of those peaks. Let the rant begin:
We lost our Tom turkey to a coyote attack last night/early this morning, just feet away from our house. That makes four adult turkeys lost (2 carcasses found, 2 presumably dragged to a coyote lair). Lesson learned: turkeys cannot free range range on this farm--not without some major coyote countermeasures. I'm glad the poults will be protected in their range pens.
The slugs and the cold, wet weather go together because the slug population keeps going up, up up, up with all the perfect moist conditions. We have heavily applied Sluggo, and it worked to an extent, but we can't apply enough to keep up with the slug pressure and the prolonged wet weather. We've lost almost all the kale and most of the brussel sprouts we planted and now they've started in on the carrots. I will definitely have to replant both of those and hope there is enough time left this year for a crop. On some wet mornings, the slugs average four or five per square foot.
The cold and wet is also not a friend of the beans. According to OSU, we are -75 below normal in growing degree days. Two years in a row of Junuary! I'm starting to lose my patience. Sequim is looking awfully nice fight now.\
Oh, and we've lost three of our five bee hives due to the cold and wet. The conventional wisdom states that one can stop feeding the new hive supplemental sugar water after the nectar flow begins. Well, I installed the hives in mid-may, and within the first week we had good nectar flow and I stopped feeding. Unfortunately, the cold, dreary mess of the last month followed, and the bees did not leave the hive on those cold days. The result was a hive that was rapidly growing with lots of new brood, but no food. In other words, starvation. I suppose we're lucky to have had two of the hives survive.
Rant complete. Here's hoping the next week is better.
We lost our Tom turkey to a coyote attack last night/early this morning, just feet away from our house. That makes four adult turkeys lost (2 carcasses found, 2 presumably dragged to a coyote lair). Lesson learned: turkeys cannot free range range on this farm--not without some major coyote countermeasures. I'm glad the poults will be protected in their range pens.
The slugs and the cold, wet weather go together because the slug population keeps going up, up up, up with all the perfect moist conditions. We have heavily applied Sluggo, and it worked to an extent, but we can't apply enough to keep up with the slug pressure and the prolonged wet weather. We've lost almost all the kale and most of the brussel sprouts we planted and now they've started in on the carrots. I will definitely have to replant both of those and hope there is enough time left this year for a crop. On some wet mornings, the slugs average four or five per square foot.
The cold and wet is also not a friend of the beans. According to OSU, we are -75 below normal in growing degree days. Two years in a row of Junuary! I'm starting to lose my patience. Sequim is looking awfully nice fight now.\
Oh, and we've lost three of our five bee hives due to the cold and wet. The conventional wisdom states that one can stop feeding the new hive supplemental sugar water after the nectar flow begins. Well, I installed the hives in mid-may, and within the first week we had good nectar flow and I stopped feeding. Unfortunately, the cold, dreary mess of the last month followed, and the bees did not leave the hive on those cold days. The result was a hive that was rapidly growing with lots of new brood, but no food. In other words, starvation. I suppose we're lucky to have had two of the hives survive.
Rant complete. Here's hoping the next week is better.
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