The Whiteflies Have Followed Me Up To the House

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Bob Bauer
November 11, 2019 (Last Updated: ) | Reading Time: 2 minutes

November 11, 2019

The whiteflies have followed me up to the house. They are hanging out on the back deck. This is a good thing because it made me Google do they overwinter? I !earned a lot about them and will take very seriously their appearance next spring. They are a major agricultural problem and have four stages of development, so require more than one application of prevention..

Although spraying with soapy water works, it only kills on contact the final stage, leaving three more emerging nymph stages. Neem oil can destroy all stages but it appears that multiple applications are recommended. I may carry a holstered squirt gun full of it and blast them as I go..

November 11, 2019

November is the time of year when many gardeners start thinking about finding a winter hobby. I've got blackberry vines to cut back, but most everything else is wrapped up. Raking leaves is a beneficial activity, and getting them on the garden soil is how you can produce black topsoil for spring planting. My son has a shop set up for wood and metal working, so on rainy days he turns on the heater, turns up the music, and makes stuff. Creativity is important because we all seek significance. Small things matter, like acts of kindness..

I find things to do in the greenhouse, and enjoy the sound of rain on the roof. Staying active has declined in importance as I've aged. I can live vicariously through my memories because there are so many good ones. When I sit for awhile I'll find myself smiling at something from the past and think "Are you going senile or just getting old"..

November 12, 2019

I find myself sitting in the shade a lot this hot November. Like the year before, rain is so scarce that I worry about wildfires. The truck farm down the road has all it's rainbirds on, and remay on the rows. My garden and lawn continue to need watering so there's no sense in rolling up the hoses. I can't help but wonder if this is a result of global warming. I've read that scientists, a conservative lot, may tend to underestimate the consequences of their discoveries so as not to be alarmist..

Politicians tend to not want to "rock the boat" with their constituents so as to get reelected, and oil companies and the wealthy powers that be, prefer to ignore a situation that will result in a decrease in profitability. As a result we seem to be in an escilating cycle of warming that is feeding itself. The melting of the permafrost might have been unexpected, but now it's a reality that increases warming to increase the melting. We Boomers have failed you Millennials. No doubt about it..

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