Cauliflower Gets Eaten By Worms: The Reason Why May Surprise You
Strange… only one cauliflower eaten by worms?
The reason may surprise you… but it holds the key to the success of every organic garden. Do this and your garden will love you!
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Hey everyone! Paul here with Born to Grow. I’ve got something really interesting I want to show you here in our garden.
You might have heard the saying that the healthier a plant is, the more resistant it will be to pests and diseases. A foundational principle when it comes to organic gardening, is you want to build the health of your plants. Which, really is the foundation of that is in the soil, so you’re really working on building up the health of your soil.
But I want to show you firsthand because it might be something that’s a little bit hard for you to believe – that a healthy plant will actually be more resistant to a pest or disease. We’ve seen it first hand over and over in our garden. There is a classic example of it right here with some of our cauliflower. Here we have a cauliflower plant that is just totally riddled and eaten by worms. I think it is probably a cabbage looper worm or something that. It has totally decimated this plant; whereas if you look around it – like this one right next to it – there’s hardly a hole on any of its leaves. On the plants all around there is not much pest damage at all.
So why did they go after this plant right here? Well I can’t say that I have the exact answer, but somehow this plant must have been stressed, had a nutrient deficiency of some kind, etc., that the the pest decided to go for it.
A similar thing happened in our hoop house. The ground was leveled, and so all the topsoil was put down onto one side of the hoop house. The plants down in the topsoil did much better and they were darker green. We were growing some spinach, and all the pests went for the ones on the opposite end where the spinach was yellow and more sickly. That spinach was completely riddled with holes from the pests, whereas the spinach down on the end with the topsoil was bright healthy green and didn’t have much pest activity or problems at all. So we’ve seen it firsthand in our garden.
If you’re having pest problems in your garden, this is where you need to throw focus first and foremost – building up the health of your plant. It’s just like your body; when we are healthy we are more resistant to diseases, right? And the plants are very similar.
So focus on building up the health of your soil, and gather all the tips that you can about making your soil really healthy because that’s where the plant is getting its nutrients from. That’s where it’s getting its food from that will build up that health and the immune system of your plant.
If you liked this video you want more tips like this, then subscribe to our channel here on YouTube. If you’re watching somewhere else jump over and subscribe on YouTube, and jump over to our website www.borntogrow.net. I’ve got a free gift there for you!
We’ll catch you next time!
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Hi Paul — thank you for sending this about the Cauliflower attack. It is on its way to Kristin in Tehachapi Valley as I write.
I must tell you about a blessing that Kristin and Don received over Father’s Day — They drove to San Diego to be with their first grandbaby and the father’s first Father’s Day, so knowing the temperature was predicted to be the hottest day of the year, they watered generously on Saturday night because they were leaving very early on Sunday morning. Southern California is having a horrific heat wave which reached a rare 98 deg. in Tehachapi Valley (and 108 in the valley where I live!)
When they returned late Sunday night, and before going into the house, they stopped to check out the garden plants (which they thought might be wilted) to find that the “whole-tree” wood chips, which Kris spreads to top off her planted areas, had protected and kept the garden soil damp in this arid semi-desert area with no need to water again right away.
These “whole-tree” wood chips, as opposed to landscaper’s bark chips, act as little sponges holding water, enough to making it possible to not need to water for sometimes two or three days. God is good.
Thank you for everything you do to help my organic- gardening family be successful in their endeavors. I believe the Diotomacious Earth you suggested for ridding the garden of Sow Bugs is working beautifully. Thank you.
Hi Kathryn – thanks for sharing about Kristin’s experience with the watering and wood chips! I’m so glad they had that blessing. And you are welcome. I hope these videos and tips will continue to be a blessing to all!
Hi! It's Paul Dysinger here and if you love gardening then you're my friend. :) I live with my amazing family on a little organic farm in TN where we've been serving the community for over 14 years with fresh fruits, veggies, herbs and berries. So, if you love growing robust veggies that burst in your mouth with flavor (or want to learn how without using all that chemical stuff) then you've come to the right place. Enjoy!
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4 Comments
Kathryn Yvonne
June 20, 2016Hi Paul — thank you for sending this about the Cauliflower attack. It is on its way to Kristin in Tehachapi Valley as I write.
I must tell you about a blessing that Kristin and Don received over Father’s Day — They drove to San Diego to be with their first grandbaby and the father’s first Father’s Day, so knowing the temperature was predicted to be the hottest day of the year, they watered generously on Saturday night because they were leaving very early on Sunday morning. Southern California is having a horrific heat wave which reached a rare 98 deg. in Tehachapi Valley (and 108 in the valley where I live!)
When they returned late Sunday night, and before going into the house, they stopped to check out the garden plants (which they thought might be wilted) to find that the “whole-tree” wood chips, which Kris spreads to top off her planted areas, had protected and kept the garden soil damp in this arid semi-desert area with no need to water again right away.
These “whole-tree” wood chips, as opposed to landscaper’s bark chips, act as little sponges holding water, enough to making it possible to not need to water for sometimes two or three days. God is good.
Thank you for everything you do to help my organic- gardening family be successful in their endeavors. I believe the Diotomacious Earth you suggested for ridding the garden of Sow Bugs is working beautifully. Thank you.
Kathryn Yvonne
Paul
June 22, 2016Hi Kathryn – thanks for sharing about Kristin’s experience with the watering and wood chips! I’m so glad they had that blessing. And you are welcome. I hope these videos and tips will continue to be a blessing to all!
Patty Stapleton
June 22, 2016I really like these tidbits of info. Helpful and inspiring to keep at improving things in the garden.
Paul
June 22, 2016Thank you Patty – it’s a privilege to share!
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