I had my first pick of Chokos yesterday. I picked some other stuff while I was out there and sent it down to
daughter L's place.
I will tell hubby not to worry, there is plenty
left for us. haha.
The
snails like this plant so I need to keep on top of picking them, the snails, off.
It's a time consuming job but as a part of my early morning routine it
keeps them under control. (down boy!) A few years ago I'd get dozens
at a time, every day. Now, not so many and sometimes don't find any at
all. The vine is a rampant grower though and I know that there will
always be some up too high for me to reach. They are the lucky ones.
The rest become chookfood.
One good thing about the snails is that they are big so easy to find and remove. Not so with the slaters that are infesting the big tank garden where I have Brassicas growing. This morning I have been out there with boiling water killing hundreds, probably thousands. There are tons more to go, I have the Choko leaf traps spread around the place, the Slaters comes and eat the leaves, I get lots in one spot and goodbye to that lot.
The *traps* are just green leaves, I'm using Choko this time because I have them close by. I just put a couple of leaves down a bit away from the plants, the Slaters come and get under them, they can eat a big leaf overnight...I come along with boiling water...I have used the gas burner too and that is easier but I ran out of the gas for it last week and as yet haven't bought more. Will do that today if I remember. Pest control is an ongoing thing and choosing not to use poisons makes it all a lot harder.
I keep forgetting what slaters are, so it was baffling what leaves had to do with catching them. Now that I figured out they are the same as our roly polys, I understand. I find them under any board on the ground. Could you put down a scrap about 4-5" x 2' and just lift once? Actually, any size board would work. You could flip up one board and not lots of leaves. Of course, Australian ones might prefer leaves to boards...lol. I have never seen these bugs high on anything. Actually, I have only seem them under the garbage container and boards or bricks. I will have to be more observant. Slaters=pill bugs=sow bugs=roly poly. Now, I am going to look this up and see what plants they might eat, especially food plants.
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