Well she changed her mind. Yes, our little broody hen has decided not to brood after all. At least she did it early on. We think the reason was having to share a nest with other hens. It doesn't matter that we have another nesting box available. The other hens HAD to use the one she was in. As a result two eggs were broken. Knowing the eggs she was sitting on were now messy, she moved to the other nesting box to sit on clean eggs. That's what we think. She might have done okay with those, but we aren't needing more chicks and she wasn't too determined. We'll see what happens in the near future.
So now on to the experiments I tried this season. I always try new things if I'm not gong to be out much. It's a way to learn, and perfect skills. This season I tried two different experiments.
1) Allowing my tomato plants to remain uncaged. I did have some caged, but I ran out of cages and just let the rest go to see how they'd do. I was thinking I liked uncaged better, but when all was said and done; caging is best. In a pinch though, uncaged still works. Caging did make it easier to view the tomatoes as they ripened so I could get them before they went bad. However, with indeterminate tomatoes, their continued growth can become too heavy for the cages, so have some good sturdy cages when you do. The advantage of uncaged tomatoes is they lay down more roots as they spread making an over all healthier tomato plant. However, the disadvantage is they are so thick I can't see where the tomatoes are. It's literally a jungle. Both experiments had yellowing lower leaves. However it took longer to get the yellowing leaves on the uncaged plants. Still, if I can't see tomatoes, that's a problem.
2) Elderberry Branches as pest control. The second experiment was the most promising of the two. I'd seen a lecture on the benefits of Elderberry plants. I've known about the benefits from the berries, but this lecture covered the whole plant. During the course of the lecture, he spoke of Elderberry leaves being good for pest control. We'd had a storm take down some branches off my Elderberry bushes; so I tried it out by laying the downed branches around my beans and squash plants. I'm not out anything except branches that were broken off anyway. I've dealt with Mexican Bean Beetles every year for the past 29 years we've lived here. Every. Year. Today I saw one; middle of growing season, and my bean plants are almost done. One. That one was found on the very first bed of beans I planted, and the one bed that had no Elderberry branches placed. I did find some squash borers on my yellow squash, but it was after the plants were finished producing. I'd not put more branches around it in weeks, probably longer. So while my proof is anecdotal, It's enough where I plan on doing that again next year. I've included a link to the video if you're interested.
So last but not least is my lesson learned. Do not attempt to trap Japanese Beetles or June Bugs. The scent will draw every single Beetle/Bug in the surrounding area to YOUR GARDEN! I chose to stop putting out traps this year and have seen very few of these insects. The ones I've seen I can easily knock off into soapy water, and give them to the chickens. NO TRAPS! Learn from my past mistakes. Just say NO!
So what experiments have you tried?
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