Little white things and black soot

Zote is a non-detergent natural soap

The last time I did this it was on tomatoes and white flies. Didn't have much luck. I have no tomatoes now but my limes are really suffering. Little white things that look like eggs, black soot on most leaves and some leaves are curling unnaturally. What worries me is you are supposed to spray both sides of the leaves and my trees are a tightly packed maze of branches. My pruning so far has only been to cut the suckers that shoot straight up.

So I pulled out what was left of my last batch, ran it through a strainer and added water in a gallon bucket. Then I put the bar of soap in and will leave it over night. All sites say a 1% solution so I may need to make this a 3-gallon batch. How the heck do you measure 1%. Liquid soap like Dr. Bronners would be easier.

Homemade Insecticidal Soap Recipe Variations

Like any other home remedy, there are as many variations on this recipe as there are gardeners! You can also try:

Diluted Solution: If the spray causes damage or burns your plant foliage, cut the amount of soap in half and try a 1% solution. This is the concentration usually found in commercial sprays. The lighter solution might be less effective but is gentler on plants.

Cooking Oil: To help the solution stick a little longer, add two tablespoons of light cooking oil (such as corn, canola, olive, or safflower) per gallon of water to the mix.

Vinegar: To make a spray that also targets powdery mildew, add a teaspoon of cider vinegar per gallon of water to the mix.

Garlic or Pepper: To help repel chewing insects, add a teaspoon of ground red pepper and/or garlic per gallon of water to the mix.

Bar Soap: For a less-exact recipe, drop a bar of pure soap (such as organic bar soap or Ivory) into a gallon of water and leave it overnight. Remove the bar and shake well before spraying.

Back to the garden

Last year Linda gave me about 3 each of three different kinds of bananas, all very small so we didn't know which was which.  I planted a couple in the back corner behind the limones. They turned out to be the big ones and soon became trees shading the limes and everything else. Just had to cut them down but saved their babies for other locations, the neighbors and the lot next door. 

The small one in the second foto already had a crop of the sweet small ones but now the plant just outside my lot has got a bunch. You have to wait until a few have a touch of yellow before you can cut them so we'll see if I or the neighbors get to them first.

Star Fruit has finished it's season, Moringa has flowers but no fruit yet, Peas (Chicharo) are up but very slow, Cherry Tomatoes going crazy as well as Beefsteak, all leafy vegetables are just leaves and not very big, Radishes are just leaves with no root

Not quite ready but not secure from hungry kids

The two remaining on my lot - Moringa on left

First crop a month ago

Indigenous girl with kinda traditional dress and traditional Coke

Most of the kids wear shorts and a Tea or school clothes so this was different

Rearranging the garden

Both lots on either side of me are vacant. One is for-sale for too much and the other I met the owner once but don't know who he is. I say that because growing stuff here is so much fun and I just don't have the room with 2 lots. Bananas, limes, star fruit (carambola), Chico Sapote, papayas, sugar cane, various vegetables, flowering shrubs and decorative palms.

The papaya was tired with only small fruit so I replaced it with the small palm that has been hidden under the huge bananas in the back corner.  In front of the palm is the new Moringa which I've been interested in for awhile.  It's grown a few inches there but I'm surprised how tender the "trunk" is.   It will out distance everything around it in a few months but still too young to flower this year I think.   I cut the large sugar cane and shared with neighbors so only smaller ones left.

The second foto was an attempt to show the Star Fruit flowers but they are 3 meters high so couldn't get close.   Makes me wonder how I'll reach the fruit in a few months. The tree is not strong enough to support a ladder.   Will have to consider a pruning plan to keep every thing in reach.  I had one fruit last year and looks like I'll have many more this.

Carambola in the center and higher than the 3 meter wall.   Last Neem in a bucket below it.  Buckets on the left are various veggies.  In the low foreground is my Avocado that has done nothing for 2 years.  It looked sick a few months ago and leaves were weird and falling off.   I sprayed it and all the leaves fell off.   Within a week it had all new leaves and the whole tree was growing like crazy.   Would love to someday have my own Avocados. 

Finally the Laurel tree which used to be totally root bound and less than a meter high when I bought it from a Gringa that was leaving Melaque.  I actually split the pot and have two Laurel plants/trees almost identical. 

A lesson on water

The few storms we've had taught me something I had forgotten, ie; plants love water. It's not that I've been ignoring the garden but it has not had the same amount of water these rains bring. The soil here absorbs water like a sponge and sometimes we don't have street water for 4-5 days up to a few weeks. I'm certainly not going to water anything but potted plants with tinaco and cistern water.

Anyway, I suddenly have a jungle. Have to cut back the limes just to get between them, bananas grew 2 feet in a week, pineapple ripened, papayas getting bigger and my neems are almost ready to transplant. My neighbors who are in Canada are in for a surprise when they come back in November. Their caretaker left for Autlan a few months ago and their garden is out of control but will be impossible in a few months.

The Neems are growing from seeds that fall under my only remaining tree. Five neighbors have them and still have 4 more in the ground. These 5 in buckets are waiting to get a good root system and we'll plant them around the plaza. I'll probably have to get the stakes and chicken wire to protect them from playing kids.

Dalila which turned out to be minimal so far

Neems in buckets

Papaya is finally getting there

Pineapple was small but delicious 

My first limones

The guy in the nursery said it might take three years before I got fruit but these trees have only been in the ground for about a year. I didn't look for a graft mark but maybe they were grafted ... meaning they will fruit sooner. We saw lots of blossoms then my neighbor noticed those below. Very cool and these are supposed to be ever-bearing. Limes are not that cheap.   Off to buy some fertilizer