Wally Richards: PREPARING FOR AUTUMN

Written by Wally Richards.

Wally Richards

March is the first month of Autumn but according to my plants, autumn conditions started in early February which does not bode well to what the next few months will bring us.

It is an interesting situation this gardening season having a very poor spring then through summer till January. After which summer hit for about a month with some very warm/hot conditions but lacking in strong direct sunlight as a result of many hazy days (likely trapping heat).  Then in February it was like a fight between the heat tempered by some fairly chilly winds.

I had a call this week from a reader who has been studying sun spots and the effects they have on global weather. An interesting discussion which would appear that low or no sun spot activity means cold temperatures and a possible mini ice age.  Lots of solar activity tends to create the reverse.

The current solar cycle (number 24) ends in 2020 when a the new cycle number 25 begins.

It would appear that we may have peaked with sunspot activity about now and predictions are that there will be less activity heading to no activity around about 2020 which would indicate some chilly times ahead. The whole thing can be very confusing as to what is natural and what maybe influenced by mankind. In my book I think I would rather prefer natural no matter what that means to the possible effects mankind has on the climate or this Geo-engineering thing.

We have had a couple of milder winters but poorer summers – it’s as if the seasons are becoming less distinct; while people in our senior years can relate to hard frosts in winter, for instance, coming out of school at lunchtime to see frost still thick on the ground especially in shaded areas. Yet on the other hand we had lovely long hot summers. (I am referring to the Palmerston North area, and realise it’s not the same everywhere in NZ).

Passion Fruit

Plants tell us what we can’t see or realise. For instance about 40 years ago, I could grow passion fruit vines in the open, in good draining soil and have ample fruit in summer. In winter I would throw sacks over the vines to protect them from frosts. In more recent years I really struggle to grow a passion fruit vine outside without the help of a glasshouse or shelter. I put this down to milder springs and summers.

My phone conversation has lead me to think maybe we could be heading for some cold times.

No matter what the weather makers throw at us one thing is for certain the day light hours are decreasing and that is one factor that plants really relate to.

March is normally the last month to plant up vegetables for harvest later in winter.

Taking advantage of the light hours and warmth still available you can get good growth towards maturity as the light/growing times diminish.

It really is getting a bit late in many areas to start vegetables off by seed so buying seedlings is the best option.

Vegetable seedlings of foliage plants (brassicas, lettuce etc) need to be young plants in their punnets, not large plants which likely have been stressed already. Stressed plants dont mature, they go to seed.

Often when you plant out seedlings from punnets they collapse initially then slowly pick themselves up and start growing.

You can reduce this stress situation by spraying the seedlings with Vaporgard which reduces loss of moisture from foliage and helps balance out the potential root damage.

Prepare your soil or raised garden/container with a good amount of food such as chicken manure, any animal manures, blood & bone, sheep manure pellets and garden lime.

Good food will stimulate good growth and that is what we want, to take advantage of autumn conditions.

In the planting holes for the seedlings place a little of each of the following, Rok Solid, BioPhos and Neem Granules.

If planting out brassicas check the seedlings before planting and rub off any yellow eggs on the leaves as these are caterpillar eggs.

To keep white butterflies and moths from laying more eggs use the crop cover mesh over hoops so they cant reach the plants.

This will also stop birds and cats from doing damage.

Keep the soil moist by light watering till autumn rains take over. We are now seeing dew in the mornings so that means there is less watering to do overall.

Strawberry plants are running now and that means you have free new plants to use or give away later on.

There is nothing to do other than direct them to areas of clear soil so they can root up.

The time to lift and re-organise your strawberries is about May.

If you are wanting to grow tomatoes through the winter in a glasshouse now is the time to take cuttings of existing plants. The laterals on the plants are ideal for this.

Russian Red and other cool temperature varieties are best as they will produce pollen in the lower temperatures of winter.

Capsicums and hot pepper plants in containers can be moved into your glasshouse or similar to protect them through the winter and continue harvesting them.

Open ground grown plants maybe lifted carefully after spraying with Vaporgard to pot up and keep growing.

Talking about Vaporgard you could start thinking about frost protection of tender plants and spray them soon.

A sprinkling of Fruit and Flower Power around them will also assist in toughening up the plants for winter.

If you want a nice show of winter flowering plants now is the time to get them in.

Unlike vegetable seedlings you can now go for the over grown ones in punnets or colour spots as that is what you want, for them to flower.

Some sheep manure pellets and blood & bone are ideal under the plants along with a little Rok Solid.

Spring bulb time is now with new seasons stocks in the garden centres.
If you are in drought situations or with water restrictions delay planting out till the autumn rains come.

Otherwise the sooner in after the soil temperatures have drop to 10 degrees or lower.

If growing in containers place the pots in a more shaded area getting only early of late sun so the bulbs will not cook.

Later as winter comes on they can then be relocated into full sun areas for flowering in spring.

Place some Rok Solid under each bulb at planting time as you get better flowers.

That was a tip from a daffodil hobbyist than grows competition daffodils.

Problems ring me at 0800 466464 (Palmerston North 3570606)
Email wallyjr@gardenews.co.nz
Web site www.gardenews.co.nz

Phone 0800 466464
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

Proud sufferer of Orthorexia nervosa

The new eating disorder invented by

the broken
medical-pharmaceutical
and agricultural/food systems for people that prefer to eat
healthy which is effecting these company's bottom lines.

CALL TO ACTION! Critical Geoengineering Film!‏

Fellow supporters and activists,

I am writing to announce my commitment to producing a third and hopefully final film about chemtrails/geoengineering.

Because geoengineers are moving quickly to establish global legislation to make geoengineering legal, time is of the essence to start this project. My third film (name yet to be determined) will expose more agendas associated with chemtrail/geoengineering programs and include an atmospheric test that will change the dynamics of our growing movement. Plans also include a call to action for a class action lawsuit which I am currently in discussion with attorneys. If able to be complete by Fall, the film will also include a call to action for the public to attend a protest at the climate summit in France in December 2015. Because governments are moving towards a global climate treaty which is expected to take place during the France conference, I feel strongly that 2015 is the year to move forward with this project before geoengineering legislation is established. Please take time to help me kick start his next project and utilize my film making gifts in helping to bring unity and legal action towards getting geoengineering stopped. Thank-you for your support and as always, “Keep looking up!!!!!”

Click on this link to support my efforts: gofundme.com

Sincerely,

Michael Murphy

whyintheworldaretheyspraying.com

coalitionagainstgeoengineering.org

organicsulfur.net

Wally Richards: Agricultural worker believes food production reduced owing to strange vapour trails

By Wally Richards

Wally Richards

My articles for many years have had a thread running through them; Namely, Gardening is Healthy.

Gardening is getting close to nature, it has a calming effect, relieves stress and you are rewarded by your efforts. Gardening is good exercise for both body and mind.

Gardening gets you outside into the fresh air and through the sunlight gives your body the Vitamin D it needs to be healthy. (As long as you dont cover up all the time with sunscreens)

Garden practices, being natural without the use of man made chemicals, creates healthy soil and healthy plants, which when applied to your vegetables and fruit, makes your immune system strong and your body healthy as you consume them as part of your food chain.

If more people gardened, the health of our citizens would greatly improve and waiting lists for hospital treatments would shrink.  (Like they were 50 odd years ago).

There is a problem when this happens because food producers and pharmaceutical companies would not make so much money out of us and they would either have to find new jobs or fight against us making ourselves healthy.

This week I received an news item from America which is amazing to say the least. It reads:

  'As the people continue to walk away from the broken
medical and agricultural/food systems, like any abusive relationship, 
the abuser will do anything to maintain their waning control. 

Organic and non-GMO food markets have exploded in the last five 
years so much so that any corporation wishing to not follow the 
trend risks financial hardship or ruin. 

    In addition, pharmaceutical companies are feeling the
strain as less people want their toxic medications and crippling side
effects. In an attempt to curb this mass rush for the exits, 
psychiatry has green lighted a public relations push to spread 
awareness about their new buzzword “orthorexia nervosa”. 

CNN, Fast Company, Popular Science, and other top outlets have 
all began to trumpet the talking points on cue recently. 

“Orthorexia nervosa is a label designated to those who are concerned
about eating healthy. Characterized by disordered eating fueled by a
desire for "clean" or "healthy" foods, those diagnosed with the
condition are overly pre-occupied with the nutritional make-up of
what they eat.

In short, if you turn your back on low quality, corporate food 
containing known cancer causing toxic additives,
and a rich history of dishonesty rooted in a continuous “profits 
over people” modus operandi…then you have a mental illness. 

  The cherry on top is that if you have the pseudo-science labeled
disorder of orthorexia nervosa, you will be prescribed known toxic,
pharmaceutical drugs from some of the same conglomerate corporations
that you are trying to avoid by eating healthy in the first place.

    Orthorexia has not yet found its way into the latest
edition of the psychiatric bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), yet is commonly being lumped in 
with other eating disorders.

  Stepping back and looking at the ones pushing this label on us
shows highly questionable motives. Psychiatry as a whole is deeply
in bed with a pharmaceutical industry that makes the drugs to 
“treat” every one of these “disorders”. 

It is often these companies that are wielding influence behind the 
scenes to invent more mental health categories with their toxic
products as the answer. 

This latest media push to popularize orthorexia as a mental disorder
with a goal to marginalize or derail the food revolution appears 
to have been dead on arrival.' End.

Reference:


http://www.jeffereyjaxen.com/blog/officials-declare-eating-health-a-mental-disorder

Orthorexia comes from Greek orthos, “correct or right”, plus orexis,
“appetite”. 

 Would you believe that? People that have the common sense to grow
and eat healthy food because it keeps/makes them healthy, active and
mentally astute are labeled as having an eating disorder because
pharmaceutical and agriculture companies are loosing market share. 
Tough. 

 The Food Act which currently is being fast tracked through
Government is placing more controls and regulations on food, reducing
your rights and looking after the corporations under the pretext of
food safety!

  I had the privilege this week to be visited by a retired 86 year
old agricultural worker who has been collecting data on his 
vegetable garden performance and the many commercial agriculture 
operations in his area of Rata and his expertise.

  Commercial growers are suffering with reduced returns because they
are not getting the volume of produce they normally obtain.

I was shown a pile of newspaper clippings most of which were from 
farming publications and light readings taken by this gentleman 
which confirm the amount of direct sunlight needed for successful 
vegetables and fruit growing is being reduced. 

The reason he told me is what he called strange Vapor Trails that
progressively turn the clear blue sky to a hazy blue, deflecting 
sunlight while trapping heat.

Photo: Helen. Ohakune sky full of chemtrails which spread out and block out sunlight, Jan 23, 2015.

I was shown a series of photos that he had taken over a day showing
exactly how this transpires.

Here is a man that has spent his life growing commercial crops, 
according to him just about bathing in chemicals in the process 
because protection was not even thought of years ago.

But he is healthy, alert and doing well because he grows all his own
vegetables and fruit naturally for his own home consumption. Because
of this he has likely avoided the damage the chemicals should 
have done to his health.

Reminds me of a Chinese family of Market Gardeners that had acres of
vegetables growing yet well protected by their home was a nice size
vegetable garden.

When asked why have a private garden when you can walk out into the
fields and pick vegetables to eat. He looked at me for a few moments,
likely summing me up, then he said “no too dangerous for family”

 One bit of good news this week in the DomPost said that a report by
the local government and environmental select committee was tabled 
in Parliament in response to a petition of nearly 6600 people in 2008.

The report says that the EPA should reassess neonicotinoids (the
insecticide such as Confidor). 

The EU has placed controls on its use in member countries (And being
sued by Bayer for doing so; how can a company be allowed to sue 
the EU or a country? Sounds like TTP stuff.) 

Honey bees and Bumble bees are badly effected by this chemical 
family as we showed in last weeks article. Hopefully they will be 
sensible and either ban or strictly control these dangerous
insecticides, especially in regards to the home garden market.

  On the brighter note now is the time to plant your winter
vegetables out but if buying seedlings of vegetable plants look 
for the smaller ones in punnets. 

I was in one of the chain store garden departments this week and saw
vegetable seedlings that had been knocked down in price but if
planted they would be useless as they would just go to seed. 
They were over grown in their punnets and stressed.

Good garden shops would have composted them.

Small is good in vegetable seedling and you can grow them on at home
till ready to plant out. Use hoops and crop cover over brassicas 
seedlings to keep birds and white butterflies off. 
Happy Healthy Gardening for Autumn.    

Problems ring me at 0800 466464 (Palmerston North 3570606)
Email wallyjr@gardenews.co.nz
Web site www.gardenews.co.nz
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

“Surely by now there can be few here who still believe the purpose of government is to protect us from the destructive activities of corporations. At last most of us must understand that the opposite is true: that the primary purpose of government is to protect the destroyers of our Earth, our Home from the outrage of injured citizens.
If we do not resist using whatever means necessary, we condemn ourselves, our children and future generations to trying to exist on a lifeless planet. Make no mistake, we are in a fight for our very survival.”

Chemtrails Exposed: A History of the New Manhattan Project

February 17, 2015, Peter A. Kirby, Activist Post

“Discoveries and inventions are not terminals; they are fresh starting points from which we can climb to new knowledge.” - Dr. Willis R. Whitney, founder of General Electric Laboratories

After so many years of watching airplanes produce the lines in the sky, largely without knowing of what this Project consists or why, we have recently gained an understanding. Evidence suggests that today’s chemtrail spraying operations consist of airplanes saturating our atmosphere with nano-sized particles influenced by electromagnetic energy for the purpose of weather modification.

U.S. patent #4,686,605 “Method and Apparatus for Altering a Region in the Earth’s Atmosphere, Ionosphere and/or Magnetosphere” shows how stratospheric and tropospheric aerosols can be manipulated using electromagnetic energy in order to modify the weather. The ground-based antennas (known as ionospheric heaters) needed to produce the appropriate electromagnetic energy exist. For a detailed discussion, please see the author’s previous article “Smoking Gun: The HAARP and Chemtrails Connection.”

The 1996 U.S. military document “Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025″ outlines a program using aerosols sprayed from airplanes which are then manipulated with electromagnetic energy in order to modify the weather. This document will be discussed shortly.

The common thread here is weather modification; or as the Library of Congress calls it, “weather control.” Lots of other evidence supporting this assertion exists as well, but these two documents are the most salient.

Motives are plenty. Most notably, significant direct benefits can be gained by playing financial markets which rise and fall with the weather such as the weather derivatives and catastrophe reinsurance markets; not to mention agricultural and energy commodities. Enron pioneered the markets. With foreknowledge of the weather, so many scams could be concocted that it boggles the mind. Weather routinely changes the course of Human history. It determines what we do every day. It determines the outcomes of wars and influences elections. Control of the weather is God-like power. Money and power junkies want it.

Controlling Earth’s weather would necessarily require a gigantic scientific effort. Oddly enough, when one looks for a National effort in weather modification, one finds a lot. Specifically, if one looks, one can find a history of weather control programs involving electromagnetic energy and atmospheric particles; all in a coherent chronological order.

More: http://www.activistpost.com/2015/02/chemtrails-exposed-history-of-new.html

Michael Murphy – His New Film and Defeating the Geoengineering Agenda

Sage of Quay Radio

Tonight Michael Murphy returns to the show.

Michael Murphy

As an independent reporter and community organizer, his work includes directing and co-producing the groundbreaking documentaries “WHY in the World are They Spraying?” and “WHAT in the World are They Spraying?” Each film has awakened millions to the environmental threats of the chemtrail/geoengineering programs.

In tonight’s discussion Michael will talk to us about his new film which he promises will take a very deep dive into the Geoengineering agenda which includes dispersal techniques which Michael believes can lead to a class action law suit.

Michael’s initiative – as with most initiatives – requires funding and in an effort to gather those funds he is asking folks to please consider donating to his new film by heading over to his GoFundMe page – called Michael J. Murphy’s Next Film – the site is up and running as we speak. The link is also included in the show notes below.

GoFundMe: http://www.gofundme.com/mri4es

Link to interview on Mixcloud here.

Michael Murphy: “Chemtrails cause Abiotic Stress and Monsanto created a seed to combat it!”

The Richie Allen Show, 19 February, 2015

Michael Murphy is an author, producer and a filmmaker.  He was behind ‘What in the World are they spraying?’ and ‘Why in the World are they spraying?’ two excellent documentaries that have helped to wake up millions globally.  He was interviewed by Richie Allen on the topics of his journey as a filmmaker, fibers, weather control, Monsanto and seeds produced to counter effects caused by chemtrails and much more.

Michael Murphy’s website :  http://www.stopspraying.us/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDPk_jHkx7o#t=160

Related:

Michael Murphy and Vinny Eastwood on Chemtrails (2012)

TV3’s “Historic Cloud News” Another Attempt to Brainwash The Public

TV3 news presenter, Hillary Barry reads the news regarding a “new” kind of cloud.

At the end of the 6pm news bulletin on New Zealand’s TV3 on February the 18th, weather presenter Ingrid Hipkiss announced that news reader, Hillary Barry had “some historic cloud news.”  Barry then reported that “cloud gazers” believe they have found a new kind of cloud, which she said is a rare discovery and that if their find is confirmed, it will be the first such discovery in over half a century.  Unbeknownst to the unwitting public, it was propaganda care of CBS and a virtual re-run of a story from June, 2009.

TV3 then aired a video of Mark Phillips of CBS speaking to Gavin Pretor-Pinney, the founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society, “a global organization set up to fight ‘blue-sky’ thinking”, which keeps people in the dark about chemtrails/ weather modification technology.

Pretor-Pinney, who incidentally has not studied meteorology,  has been working with NASA to set up a CloudSpotter App.   NASA, as you may recall, produced the Introduction To Clouds, last updated in late-2011, which shows many photos of chem-clouds, but bestows them with names which make them appear natural to the unwitting eye.

Pretor-Pinney spoke about a “brand new cloud” photographed by Jane Wiggins in Iowa in 2006, which has been given the name undulatus asperatus, or agitated wave clouds.

Photo taken by Jane Wiggins in 2006 in Iowa. From CBS website.

Watch the CBS story here: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/something-new-in-the-cloud

Pretor-Pinney has a track record of normalizing evidence of the use of weather modification technology, the unnatural, bizarre and what appear to be chemically-laced cloud formations and has consequently been named on the Disinformation Directory on Facebook.com. 

For instance, his ‘The Cloudspotter’s Guide’ (2006), the inaugural publication of ‘The Cloud Appreciation Society,’ displays images and captions which conceal what is unnatural and toxic – such as the widespread use of aerosols trails and other forms of weather modification technology.   It refers to aerosol trails as contrails, coloured-aerosol clouds as Nacreous or ‘mother-of-pearl’ clouds, and claims the halos we are seeing in association with masses of aerosol particulates are due to ice-crystals, (p.219).    See below:

Above & below: From ‘The Cloudspotter’s Guide’.

Pages 164-165 in The Cloudspotter’s Guide.

Page 166-167 in The Cloudspotter’s Guide.

Wrote weatherman Scotts Stevens of Weatherwars.Info in 2009 regarding undulatus asperatus formations:

 Are they natural?  That is a valid question.  They are natural in the sense that they do occur in the sky on a rather regular basis.  But, would they take form without the technologies that are presently in place to manipulate the atmosphere?  That’s also a good question, and if I am allowed to speculate, I would say no.  These clouds wouldn’t be photographed as frequently as they are without the stimulation of the planet’s Orgone energy field, artificial and space based introduction of gravity waves into the atmosphere and the additional host of other environmental manipulations that remain active to this very moment.

Is it time for a new cloud type? Probably so.  But that then opens up a whole new can of worms.  Clouds tweaked from above, clouds littered with chemtrail debris, clouds created by airfoils manufactured by these waves. 

Carnicom Institute Moves Forward in 2015

CI Moves to New Facility In the late fall of 2014 the Carnicom Institute lab was moved to a new facility across town, but still in Wallace, Idaho. The new space is considerably larger, making it possible for expanded research opportunities. The space was filled immediately with Clifford having better access to his equipment, books, and lab gear. This transition represents a significant improvement, but CI has even greater ambitions for the future which will require more modern equipment and more space. Morgellons Research Project Rollout Planned We at CI know that many people are eager to be involved in the MRP and we are pleased to announce tha the first phase of the MRP, an online survey, is very close to being rolled out onto the Carnicom Institute website. This survey will allow participants to anonomously answer questions that pertain to their health with a space to add other pertinent information not covered in the survey questions. The last step needed before this survey becomes public is the IRB – Institutional Review Board, a process of evaluation that ensures the appropriateness of the survey and the confidentiality of the process. We have a folder with names of people who have already indicated a desire to be a part of the project. If you would like to be considered as a candidate for the MRP, please send an email to info@carnicominstitue.org and let us know. You will be contacted by email when the project is ready to begin. CDB Lipids : An Introductory Analysis. Read more: http://www.carnicominstitute.org/articles/lipids_introduction.html A GEOENGINEERING & CLIMATE CHANGE MODEL: http://www.carnicominstitute.org/javascript/climate_model/climate_model.html

Read more from the Carnicom Institute: http://www.carnicominstitute.org/

More Letters In ‘The Tribune’ Raising Awareness of The Chemtrail Issue

In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.         – Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Soviet novelist.

Photo: Sharon Turner. Aerosol trail expanding over Wanganui.

It is not only important, but essential for anti-chemtrails/anti-weather modification activists to find a variety of effective ways to inform the public about chemtrails and weather modification crimes when the mainstream media, which is supposed to inform, is engaged in distorting and suppressing the truth.

One way to do this, which usually requires little effort and zero expense, is by writing punchy letters and emailing high-quality photos to the editors of newspapers and magazines.

Sharon Turner

Thank-you to a Sharon Turner of Wanganui, a member of Chemtrails over NZ,  for doing just this last week.  Her letter, as well as photograph, appeared at the top of the Letters To The Editor section in this week’s edition of  The Tribune, Palmerston North’s free community newspaper, which is delivered to over 40,000 addresses. (See below).

Fortunately, I too had a letter published in The Tribune last week and like Sharon, my letter addressed the matter of the fallacious comments made by Michael Campbell,  ‘Team Leader Safety Data Management’ at the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand, (CAA).

His letter to The Tribune (January 28th) which incorrectly claimed gardening columnist, Wally Richards had written “fanciful drivel,” provided a ripe opportunity for members of the public to write in with more information about chemtrails and weather engineering.

Mike Campbell

Campbell, who is a known disinformation agent among the New Zealand truth community,  has written comments on Northland NZ Chemtrails Watch for over two years, and in that time he has neither exhibited an appropriate concern nor acknowledged credible evidence regarding how damaging aerosols can be to the environment.

It came as no surprise to read in his reply of February 2nd, 2015 to an email I sent to his CAA email address: “… it takes little time at all to debunk your nonsense”  demonstrating that he regards it as his duty to ‘debunk.’

Today I learned a new term, “Shillidiocy,” which is applied to those who are ready and willing to sell out humanity.   I will not be that scathing, as I do believe we owe these folk a debt of gratitude, for not only can we hone our skills by arguing with them, but we can also take the battle to a wider audience, and educate members of the public with previously unpublished information in the process.

Published in the Feb 18th, 2015 edition of The Tribune.

Letter published in February 11th, 2015 edition of The Tribune.

The digital edition of the paper is here: http://thetribune.realviewdigital.com/#folio=8

Wally Richards: General Gardening, Bumblebees & Insect Pests

By Wally Richards

Wally Richards

Recently I have bemoaned the weather conditions of the current gardening season and how unusual weather patterns with lack of strong direct sunlight as a result of hazy skies.

One Dunedin reader emailed me to say “rubbish,” it’s been the best gardening season ever and some crops have done far better than normal!

Looks like gardeners will need to uproot and move to Southland, where the air is fresh and clear, where vegetables, potatoes, roses, cherries and tulips grow the best by far.

I was in Wellington this week and visited a friend who is a retired plantsman. They live on Oriental parade up the side of a cliff overlooking the harbor with a million dollar view.

The cliff, many years ago was terraced out to accommodate all the houses and part of this terracing allowed my friend to have a couple of nice size vegetable gardens and a small glasshouse.

I looked at the sky and saw a lovely deep blue, I looked at his tomatoes and sweet corn all growing well and normal. No stretching, no stunted growth as I have in my gardens and similarly reported by many gardeners from other parts of the country. Ample direct full sunlight and his only problem is keeping the soil moist. So all I can do is ask how come the skies are not hazy over Wellington as they are in many other parts of NZ? Has the Govt passed some legislation to prevent haze over the Capital? Certainly a mystery!

This week a groundsman from a school in the North Island phoned to tell me about the success he has had with their roses. Because of the poor spring early summer his roses (like mine) took a hammering and the stress caused leaf diseases such as black spot along with poor flowering.

So a few weeks back he gave all the roses a dose of Ocean Solids and Rok Solid, watered them in and according to him it was only a week or so and out came new healthy growths.

Now the roses are looking a treat going into autumn. Feedback like this is really good value.

Many gardeners are complaining about the lack of honey bees and bumble bees in their gardens.

The logic cause is some insecticides sold and used without consideration to our pollinators which are being killed as a result.

The honey bee was firstly hit by the varroa mite taking out likely all the feral honey bees in the country, then along comes Confidor to further destroy the bees.

Bumblebees are not affected by the varroa mites, but their numbers have dramatically decreased in my garden and accordingly reported in many other people’s gardens.

This week I had confirmation on what I had suspected the reasons for their low numbers, I quote;

‘The scientists fed bumblebees neonicotinoid at levels commonly occurring in agricultural concerns and then measured how it accumulated in their brains. They found that the insecticide impaired brain cell function in the bees, causing them difficulty with such tasks as realizing that flower scents imply food and being able to find their way back home after foraging.

Such problems impacted whole colonies, the team found. By
providing nests with the same amount of neonicotinoid in sugar water 
in a cup, the researchers determined that bumblebee colonies that
had been exposed to the insecticide fared poorly in the number of 
bees in their nests as well as in the size and condition of the 
nests themselves.

"Our research demonstrates beyond doubt that the level of
neonicotinoids generally accepted as the average level present in the
wild causes brain dysfunction and colonies to perform poorly when
consumed by bumblebees," said Dr. Chris Connolly, of the Dundee
School of Medicine, in a statement.

Overall, the team documented that low levels of neonicotinoids 
caused a 55 percent drop in live bees; a 71 percent reduction 
in healthy brood cells; and a 57 percent drop in the total
mass of a nest.
"This is not proof that neonicotinoids are solely responsible for
the decline in insect pollinators," said Connolly, "but a clear
linear relationship is now established. 

We can now be confident that at these levels, neonicotinoids disrupt
brain function, bee learning and the ability to forage for food and
so limit colony growth”' 

The reference: Link here

It is about time the EPA, ERMA, MAF banned the sale of neonicotinoid insecticides in New Zealand including the ones for the Home Garden Market, Yates Confidor, Yates Lawn Pest Control.

If we lose our bumble bees in our gardens the world becomes a sorrier place and our food crops that require pollinators suffer badly.

It would be good to see garden shops in New Zealand make a stand as has happened in the UK and in America by refusing to stock these insecticides, they are not needed as there are many safer alternatives.

There is one aspect about the weather not being more normal is that insect pest populations don’t multiply as quickly as they would do under normal summer conditions. On the other hand disease problems become more troublesome.

February is usually the worst month for many insect pests, hot and dry with ample host plants growing in home gardens and commercial operations.

When you find an insect pest such as caterpillars, whitefly, leaf hoppers, vegetable bugs etc on your plants and you spray with an insecticide of your choice, don’t just treat the plants you have seen the insects on. Check all plants and weeds in the area for the same pest and where found spray also.

If you don’t you will find that there will be a re-infestation happening very quickly.

Sometimes you just have to spray regularly because over the fence there are thousands of the pests on plants. (Which your neighbors are not trying to control)

As the winter comes on then populations will naturally drop, but then many of your crops will also be finished and only the winter vegetables to care for.

If an insect pest can’t get to its host plant you have saved your self a lot of problems trying to control.

The new insect mesh called Crop Cover (by me) that is 4 meters wide and costs about $5.00 a meter length is ideal to put over your crop or even over branches of a fruiting tree to keep both insects and birds off the crop.

Once the flowering is done and hopefully a few bumblebees are available to pollinate then use the crop cover. It will not harm bumblebees. It would keep codlin moth, guava moth and other pests off the crop thus protected.

Alternatives which can be used include the following safe ones, Neem Tree Granules, Neem Tree Oil, Key Pyrethrum, diatomaceous earth and Liquid Sulphur (for spider mites only).

None of these would harm bumblebees unless they were sprayed directly especially with pyrethrum.

All spraying should be done just prior to dusk when the bees have gone home for the night.

Pyrethrum has a very short life of about 2 hours in UV light so less possible harm to beneficial insects next day. Neem Oil on the other hand does not kill any insect instead it (generally) prevents insects from eating once they have consumed a little of the oil. As beneficial insects don’t eat our plants they are not affected.

Problems ring me at 0800 466464 (Palmerston North 3570606)
Email wallyjr@gardenews.co.nz
Web site www.gardenews.co.nz

Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at  www.sharpei.co.nz
Mail Order products at www.0800466464.co.nz

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