Follow the Instructions

This is good advice actually.  How often do you hear people talking about how great it was when they DIDN'T follow instructions.  Let's be honest, usually it's the opposite, which is why spouses tell stories for years on each other for how catastrophically wrong things once went as a result of NOT following (or even) reading instructions.

Which is what I did (or didn't do...?) with our live beneficial nematode treatment and ladybugs.  Sigh.  To be fair, the ladybugs that I ordered on Amazon didn't even come with instructions.  So I should have looked some up!  As should anyone who wants live insect organic treatments for their gardens to actually set up shop and work.

Release them AFTER watering in the early morning or late at night.  And DON'T release them in the heat of the day.  I think those are the highlights.  Oh, and 10 or 11 am is NOT early morning.  Having a 2 month old baby who is actually letting you sleep in, is the best excuse I've ever had for not following these instructions... but I wasted about $60 total.  That's some expensive sleep time. 

 

I bought my nematodes at a fantastic local shop in Fort Worth called Elisabeth Anna's Old World Garden, who gave me great instructions, which I followed very poorly.  Wherever you get your nematodes, the instructions are the same.  Live beneficial insects are supposed to be an amazing help to organic gardening... hopefully, I'll be able to speak from experience on this next time I give them a whirl.  In the meantime, I'm an growing expert on what NOT to do.