Eleven Spotter

So far this season I had seen only twospotted ladybirds, but today there were dozens of elevenspotted ones on the drying Angelica seed heads. I also saw nymphs and the odd chrysalis. Coccinella undecimpunctata, introduced in New Zealand in 1874 to help control aphids.


Tomato Experiment

Today I began an experiment with my tomatoes in the greenhouse. There was an article in our newspaper written by John Morton, a retired nurseryman. He's a potato expert, and years ago I had some enlightening conversations with him in his shop as he helped me choose my potato seed. He had this tomato tip from an old commercial tomato grower. It involves pruning the leaves of the tomato plants back by about two-thirds. Mr Morton pruned half of his crop. The pruned plants produced ripe fruit earlier than the unpruned plants and they cropped more heavily.

I pruned 9 of my 22 plants, with all but one variety represented. I photographed them before and after, and with a similar plant for comparison. I intend to prune the leaves as they grow, along with removing laterals and lower leaves. We shall see.