Not sure how I managed to miss this little gem all Summer and most of the Fall. Only defense I have is that I have been so busy getting things ready for Winter that I haven't had much time to really look around much since September.
My Tomato clones are not doing well. The first snips I took did not root and this latest bunch doesn't seem to want to root either. I have tried tap water and rain water perhaps I should have used some rooting stuff but I don't have any since I have never needed it before and I have not had time to get any either.
So while waiting on the results of this last attempt (as there are no more viable Tomato plants to make clones from) I decided to gather seeds. While out picking and squeezing I looked up and about 40 feet away in one of the BoxElder trees I allow to grow in the West pasture I see the above. Look close or click on the pic you will see it.
Complete with about 1000 hornets still crawling around on top of it.
I mowed under that tree about a dozen times this Summer and spent hours that close and never saw it until all the leaves blew off this week with the winds we get before a major front that is coming in.
I went ahead and closed the pasture off just to be sure if it comes down none of the critters will be nearby and I guess I will wait now until January or so and see if I can't use my pole saw to take it down. I have no experience messing with these things, except once when I was a kid and a few of us were throwing rocks at one. My friend was in the hospital for weeks as I remember it. Since then anytime I see one I make sure I get away from it pronto.
The guy I take my small engine stuff into when it needs work done has about half a dozen of these things hanging in his shop I might ask him the best way to deal with em.
Anyway I am trying a new method of seed saving this time around too. Squeezing out the seeds with some pulp and then adding a bit of water to let em ferment before drying. Before I have always just got a way over ripe tomato and just took seeds out and dried em on a paper towel but this way is suppose to work better.
We will see.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!
My friend and I threw apples at one of those things back in the day. My friend's offering connected and knocked the thing down. Just so y'know, hornets KNOW whose apple hits the nest!
ReplyDeleteI just dry out the tomatoes and plant the whole or part of them in the spring... This works especially well with the smaller varieties.
Pete - Usually that's about how I always did it, or sometimes I will just wait until early spring and catch the new seedlings when they start to push through from the area that contained the ones I want the year before, However I cannot remember the type name on the yellow ones I grew and my tag plus note seems to be awol so I was hoping to make a clone and not worry about cross pollination. Oh well.
DeleteAs for the seeds just thought I would try this new method.
And ya when my friend hit that old nest they came right at him. I would like to claim my survival instincts helped but truth is when that first hornet stung me I ran and was just lucky I went the right way. My friend found a shallow creek and manged to survive but they were all after him. Another fiend said they came back and found him almost 1/4 mile away after they left the original target for dead in the creek. I did have the foresight to go straight to the nearest neighbor and report the thing so there were people already coming to help.
If you have a willow tree you have rooting hormone. Green a hand full of twigs in non chlorinated water over night and off you go. A very useful tree for basketry to keep the chicken from destroying their chicken gardens.
ReplyDeleteMichael - There are a few WIllows nearby but the only time I have tried to get one growing on the Small-Hold land I failed. I did not know they had natural rooting properties.
Deletejust put the green inner bark of the willow in the rooting water they should start putting out roots
DeleteThanks Deb!!! - I am now determined to plant a Willow for the Small-Hold next year as well.
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