Plus, Grumpy shares his tip of the week on preventing blossom-end rot.
What can she do to stop this?
Carpenter bees to most people look exactly like a bumblebee.
Carpenter Bee.Credit: Photo by Bob Peterson from North Palm Beach Florida
They’re black, they’re about the same size.
The abdomen on a carpenter bee is black and shiny.
And they can bore into any wood imaginable, doesn’t matter if it’s pressure-treated or not.
Carpenter Bee.Credit: Photo by Bob Peterson from North Palm Beach Florida
They don’t eat the wood, they just chop it with their mandibles, and throw it out.
So if you see these things, don’t ignore it.
Don’t the eggs fall out?
How are they upside-down?
ANSWER:The reason that they do that is kind of clever, actually.
Because if they bored holes from the top, they would all drown every time it rains.
They want it to be nice and dry.
So they only bore from the sides or from underneath.
And that’s a problem called blossom end rot.
This is a very common problem.
It’s not your fault, so don’t feel bad.
This is going to happen to about anybody who grows these vegetables.
Well, that’s not something you’re gonna puton a sandwich.
And you go, “What the heck is going on here?
Am I doing something wrong?”
Well, there’s a couple of ways that are easy to fix this.
Now, why could you have a deficiency of calcium in the soil?
Well, it could be that your soil that you’re using doesn’t have enough calcium in it.
Lime is a great source of calcium, and it’s also very inexpensive.
So, that’s one way.
So, the soil should stay moist, but the excess can drain away.
So, those are the two big causes of blossom end rot.
