We fed them sparingly. Perhaps they could have done with more? Yet the plants are robust. Just no sprouts nor heads of cauliflower.
Well, you may never get to the bottom of this...but I will tell you about a thing that happens here. It is a condition that sometimes happens here. it is caller "the draai". It is caused by a small caterpillar from a certain moth and it eats the growing point out (very early on) of that sore of veg. When this happens, the central stalk is severed and thus a cauli head or a sprout stalk simply never develops. I do not know if this insect with its young exist there, but it is devastating and soooo disappointing. One has to cover the brassica plants with something like enviro-mesh to have any chance ...or to spray with insecticides. The latter is out of the question for me, although it would be very effective.
Sjoerd, You may be on to the solution. One of the cauliflower actually had side shoots with tiny bits of cauliflower, but not formed into heads. Thanks for this info.
Well, I don't know how I missed this, but it was a delight S. Thanks for sharing it all with us. That pepper in the very last pic...are you sure it was a mouse? maybe pill bugs or earwigs? I have had a horrible issue with them all spring and summer. They will eat off everything.
GP-- You are welcome. I shall try and discover the name of the culprit. CAROLYN--Glad that you liked the posting. Well of course I cannot be 100% sure that it was a mouse...could have been a shrew. The day after I discovered this chewed-on pepper I set a trap and captured a mouse. No problem since. I also located a little hole under the metal sidings of the greenhouse where the mouse had burrowed under and into the greenhouse. I cannot say as I have ever seen an earwig in the greenhouse. As for pill bugs--well, I do not know what those are.
http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef439.asp Pill bugs and sow bugs are the same little creatures...they look like miniature armored insects. Normally they will eat mostly dead debris, but this year they have munched on everything in the greenhouse and garden. Totally destroying my first planting in the greenhouse of pink tomatoes and then again this Fall the entire new bed of cabbage. GRRR!!!
Ahhhh...we call this little creature a "pissebed". They can roll up into a ball. Well, I have not seen any of these in the greenhouse this year so far. I think that it may be a bit too dry for them in there, except for around the edges of the greenhouse where water seeps in from the outside. I read once that these little beasts like moisture and actually have gills that must be kept moist in order to breathe. Have you ever heard this? Sorry to hear about the decimation of your first planting in the greenhouse....and again the cabbage. That's awful.
