I’ve also starting to grow soldier fly larva for my chics. in your region you should be able to grow them outside from ones already around your yard. google it. the grubs are 45% protein.
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I was surprised to find a BSF larva in my worm bin once, so they really are present around here. I’d like to make a dedicated bin & cage system for them but my DIY abilities are underdeveloped, to put it kindly.
I left some millipedes in with the worms and they multiplied, helping to break down the kitchen scraps faster, so there may be some good synergy going on with them and the worms.
I made the mistake of putting in Isopods with my Little Kenyan Roaches (Zebras and C. murina), and they’ve gone functionally extinct. I haven’t purchased the others I’ve wanted yet, so I don’t know when I’ll re-acquire these, but lesson learned. I also regret putting in the buffalo worms with the hissers, ‘cause I’m not sure how to remove the excess without taking the baby Hissers along (last time I gave ‘em a food trap, before there were babies).
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As for my non-insectile projects… I still haven’t set up the raised bed table. We’ve asked for help from a family friend, and he’ll be able to in a few weeks.
I went to the Ag research station and came back with fruit trees, which I’ll be sticking into the ground soon. Two avocados (Popenoe and Simmons), a white-fleshed guava, Custard Apple, a cashew (that I’ll be using to graft Cerrado Cashew when I get new seeds), Star Apple and my favorite, Sapodilla. I’ll also plant the Luc’s Garcinia I’ve had lying around for a few years. I’ve got a Mammee Apple as well, but I’m not sure I’ve made enough room for it yet.
The guinea grass is high, and the velvet beans are spreading their irritating hairs into the wind, so the back slope is a pain to work with. I’ve chopped down a few of the excess breadfruit trees, and one of them cracked my Pedalai tree, setting it back some more. I’m in desperate need of a wood chipper, but I don’t think I’ll be able to find one I could afford. At least I have a chainsaw.
Among the trees and shrubs currently bearing, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the Red Hybrid Jaboticaba is… the skin is tangy (not tannic), and the seed is just tender enough to chew up, it’s practically an honorary berry. The Blue Grape (actually another Jaboticaba, M. vexator) was underwhelming, with poor pulp to seed/skin ratio, and inedible skin and seeds. It’s a beautiful shrubby tree, but I’m tempted to cut it down and plant something else in its spot. It’s not an unpleasant fruit to eat by any stretch, but it doesn’t offer much and I have precious little space. I encountered a similar problem with Eugenia florida, but that one at least had edible skin. My Eugenia selloi is flowering and setting fruit right now, as is my Açaí Berry, but that one’s a bit of a pain to work with.
The best surprise was the Prime Ark Freedom blackberry. After a touchy start, it has adapted well to the indirect sunlight of my side yard, and is flowering and fruiting repeatedly. This one’s a keeper for sure!
Here in the pics we see the messy back slope (from the bottom), the blackberries and the Jaboticabas.
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Where are you?
Puerto Rico. Villalba specifically, so it’s the south side but closer to the mountainous middle. The south is generally drier than the north, but it’s decently moist near the middle, so my town is a mesic habitat (it gets cooler and moister the higher up you go).
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That’s awesome! I went to PR over Christmas this past year and drove around the island. Did some hiking in the middle. It’s a really beautiful area.
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I worked in Vega Baja for a short time and remember a young engineer telling me how difficult it was finding the type of job he was qualified for.
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Like Maricao .
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So many projects, so little time…
I need to find a couple extra days …
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This is true. I finished a bachelors degree in Biology and there’s not much in the way of biological fieldwork available (most of the other students were only there as a step towards medicine). I went into agriculture after that, but there’s so much political friend-placing involved in getting anything here (especially a plot of land), so I’m still stuck in the suburbs with my parents.
Indeed, I visited the Maricao Forest a few years back, and the vegetation in that forest was mostly endemic, if I remember correctly… a lot of aluminum minerals in the forest soil, which made it somewhat toxic to normal flora.
Oh yes, we could all use the extra time. Could use some extra jobs too, the other one went poof, so now my more resource-heavy projects are gonna slow down.
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I took some pics of my other trees at home and at my gramma’s, in bloom & fruit, so here we go…
The Cupuaçu’s first blooms (Theobroma grandiflorum):
The Kwai-muk (Artocarpus hypargyreus), lets hope it holds fruit this time:
The Sandpaper Fig (Ficus opposita) has fruited for years, but refuses to mature without its fig wasps:
The Australian Peanut Tree (Sterculia quadrifida), in bloom again. Surprisingly, there’s plenty of wild S. apetala growing nearby:
One of my mom’s multiple grape varieties, growing in a bucket with a tomato cage:
The still-small lychee tree, with a nearby area cleared for the new trees (too many trees for the space, but that’s what I got):
Star Cherry (Eugenia selloi), currently with several fruit and more blooms on the way:
And finally, the Violet Du Bordeaux Fig, potted up with several culinary herbs (Marjoram, Rosemary, Cuban Oregano – Plectranthus amboinicus – and Puerto Rican Oregano – Lippia micromera):
I’m currently treating the scale on the fig with insecticidal soap.
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The insecticidal soap didn’t do squat. Turns out fire ants have made their home in the pot and are taking care of the scale. As if that wasn’t bad enough, they’re swarming and chewing on the rain-cracked ripe figs. I’ll try soapy water on the anthill, and if that doesn’t work, I’m dusting with diatomaceous earth (I had been avoiding it until now to avoid damaging the local millipedes).
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A rainy and foggy evening in another part of my hometown:
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