Friday, November 14, 2008

Time to Burn




Yesterday was cold and rainy and an easy day to stay inside. Today is a beautiful day and perfect for working outside. Since everything is wet it is a perfect time to build a fire, but since everything is wet it's a smoky business. This particular fire is not a happy bonfire but a final farewell to our thrip infested gladiola bulbs. Having read the soak in disinfectant, spread out to dry, and repeat in the spring treatment for thrip infested bulbs, we decided to do the more final but perhaps more sensible thing and burn them. We will have a glad free garden next year.

I never had thrips before and I don't know where they came from. One has to wonder if it was the weather or if they came in on a new bulb purchase? Three of the most infested varieties came from one nursery. I'm sad about the bulbs, but for the thrips I say "Burn baby burn"!

3 comments:

Daphne Gould said...

I saw thrips in my garden for the first time too this year. They were on some of my flowers. They didn't seem to be doing any damage so I left them alone. Frankly I wouldn't be able to tell a good thrip from a bad thrip.

tina said...

A sad bonfire indeed-at least for the thrips. I hope it solves your problem with them.

Anonymous said...

My hubby insists that "fire kills all", so hopefully that rids your garden of the thrips!