Kudzu Bugs and Other Things!

This Morning...

The strawberries and bell peppers were looking great on the way to work this morning. The strawberries are showing some nice progress...

Of course, the bell peppers aren't really doing anything yet, but at least they were still alive!

Later...

This afternoon, I received the dreaded text from Zack: We have Kudzu Bugs on our strawberries! I was heartbroken! For those of you that don't know, Kudzu Bugs (Megacopta cribaria) are ugly, little, ladybug-looking, black bugs that SWARM all over kudzu vines. I didn't know what they were until last year, I ran into a swarm of them while cutting grass and I was COVERED in less than 10 seconds. It was awful. I hate to admit this, but I just plain DON'T like bugs.

We did a little bit of Googling to try to find out what to do about them, but our results were sparse at best. Even the Agricultural Gods at Clemson don't know how to get rid of them! I found a couple of results that suggested a garlic/jalapeno juice  mixture may or may not repel them.

....Time for another late night trip to Wal-Mart!

Hell Juice...

In a frenzy, I obtained my supplies. I really didn't have any idea how to actually MAKE garlic/jalapeno juice, but I was going to figure it out! I ended up leaving with a bag of jalapenos, one of habaneros, a huge thingy of elephant ear garlic, a garlic press, and a tomato plant. 

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! If you are stupid enough to do so, please wear gloves, long sleeves, goggles, and a respirator! I didn't think to use ANY of the above.

I began by squeezing the jalapenos and habaneros into a spray bottle with the garlic press, one miserable drop at a time. I quickly realized that: 1) I may have purchased a defective garlic press, or 2) Jalapenos and habaneros are not supposed to be squeezed with a garlic press! I switched to actual garlic, but it really didn't work well either. Garlic doesn't make JUICE in a garlic press, it makes little garlic pulp things! I finally just kind of scooped the smushed garlic into the spray bottle, along with two crushed habaneros and two crushed jalapenos. I added hot water, shook it, and set it to the side to marinate. 

Maybe it will work, maybe not! If not, I'm only out $6 and some severely burning hands.

The tomato plant...

Of course, we couldn't visit Wal-Mart without visiting the garden department! Somehow, we ended up with a Cherokee Purple tomato plant. Zack had watched a YouTube video by mhpgardener about the variety and he fell in love. I don't really get it, we don't eat tomatoes, but I'm game for anything!

I'll try to get the tomato into a bucket tomorrow, or maybe Thursday.