2 questions not related: **Beans** & Diatomaceous Earth

[chase_mommy]

This is my first garden so excuse these questions if they are stupid.

We planted and everything started to come up. I really didn't give it much attention other than watering it and there wasn't any weeds growing. Well, we had a lot of rain last week and I didn't water and the weeds popped up. This morning I went outside to peep out how things were going and everything had grown (of course) but there were decent sized gaps in my rows. At first I was thinking that the beans hadn't came up. At closer examination I could see something had ate the leafs right off the beans. They are just stalks. : What the heck? What would eat my beans? What do I do? Should replant more beans in those large gaps, can the plant recover?


I am also wondering if anyone has heard of Diatomaceous Earth? I was told by a friend to use it in my garden and yard. I did some reading on it, it seems to be natural and organic but I have never heard of this stuff. Does anyone know anything about this? Have ya used it and is it worth the money or time?

[Hibou]

I'm going to leave the bean question for someone else. As for the diatomaceous earth, I would use it sparingly only as necessary because AFAIK, it doesn't discriminate between those insects you want to keep in the garden, and those you want to get rid of. Not toxic though. Food grade DE can even be ingested by humans who are trying to do a parasite cleanse.

[spring978]

Love DE!!! I use it in my chiken coop for mites and worms use it on the dogs fleas and worms. use it around the house for earwigs and ants, we use it in the pantry storage as well.

[chase_mommy]

Thanks for the replies on the Diatomaceous Earth! I am going to give it a go.

Now, How about these beans??

[momtoalexsarah]

I would bet with the bean you either have a resident cut worm (who will cut the plant off a littl above the ground) or you have a bird who likes bean leaves an has picked them off.
Have you had any frost - that will kill bean plants faster then anything - dropping the leaves and leaving a stem

[chase_mommy]

Originally Posted by momtoalexsarah

I would bet with the bean you either have a resident cut worm (who will cut the plant off a littl above the ground) or you have a bird who likes bean leaves an has picked them off.
Have you had any frost - that will kill bean plants faster then anything - dropping the leaves and leaving a stem

Thank you for your reply. No frost. I haven't seen any worms but I wasn't out there the week it happened. Should I replant or will they make it? The stems/stalks are still green.

[goldfinches]

From what I've heard of DE, it reminds me of asbestos in the way it gets into the body and never leaves. I am scared it would enter human bodies and do damage, but I've only researched it's use with chickens, not garden bugs.

About the beans, I say leave the stalks, plant another seed near them, giving them a chance to recover, but having a back-up plan in case they don't.

[mindymom]

op, a bean plant's bottom leaves are also often attacked by slugs. they seem to be too lazy to climb much higher than that for beans. usually the plant will put out more leaves and recover, but we have had a really sluggy year and i lost a couple of plants. heavy/frequent rains seem to encourage them, so you might want to check if they're a problem in your area. comically, one frequent recommendation for slugs is DE!

eta: i have never seen these slime trails i hear so much about. if you want to know if it's slugs the best way is to check your plants at night. they can be all streched out and slimy, or they can ball themselves up into little wet lumps. yuck.