Time for Ladybugs

Posted on May 14, 2018 by vanbraman

Today I decided it was finally time to get some ladybugs. My rose bushes have a lot of aphids on them and I need to get them under control.

So, I decided to head to OSH. I also had some rewards money that was going to expire soon and needed a couple of other items.

Ladybugs, Aphid control, rose bushesHere is the container of ladybugs that I bought. Of course I immediately noticed that they left a bit too much space between the Y and the B. There is no space between these two letters.Coccinella septempunctata (seven-spotted ladybug or C-7), aphids, pest control

These are Coccinella septempunctata (seven-spotted ladybug or C-7). Ladybugs are very effective for aphid control. I have bought them before at the hardware store when I have had a lot of aphids. I haven’t had to buy them for quite some time but I guess they have dwindled out.

Coccinella septempunctata (seven-spotted ladybug or C-7), aphids, rose bushesWhen I brought the container home I put it in the refrigerator to put them to sleep. It was recommended to take them out after dark and after watering the rose bushes. After getting home from my board meeting tonight I decided that it was time to let the little critters go.

ladybugs, aphids, rose bushes, pest controlI also did not put out all the ladybugs. It was also recommended to wait a few days to put out the remaining ones. This way you establish a colony and then add to it. This will end up with more of them staying put.

I took this picture with lighting from my cell phone. You can see that there are a lot of aphids on this rose. The ladybugs will wake up in the morning with a feast awaiting them.

Rose at night, ladybug, aphid controlI though that this picture was interesting with the lighting. I hope that the ladybugs stick around and do their job well. It will be nice to have less aphids on my roses.

I thought about posting a bunch of pictures of aphids, and may still sometime soon. Perhaps some before and after pictures 🙂

I will hopefully get pictures of ladybugs hard at work in the morning.

Have you ever bought ladybugs?

Steven

 

Posted in Animals, Flowers, Yard Work | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

DaYuLing Oolong Tea

Posted on May 13, 2018 by vanbraman

Two of the students in a class that I taught earlier this month brought me some tea.

Earlier this month I posted about Darjeeling Oolong Tea and Vahdam High Mountain Oolong Tea which were brought to me by a student from India.

For the past week I have been enjoying some tea from Taiwan that was brought to me by a student from Singapore.

DaYuLing Tea, Taiwan Tea, High Mountain Tea, Oolong TeaThe tea came in a vacuum packaged bag to keep it fresh. I was able to translate the label with my Universal Translator, but it only gave me information about the store where it was purchased.

DaYuLing Tea, Taiwan Tea, High Mountain Tea, Oolong TeaThe translation app did not work so well on the characters that gave the name of the tea. I asked Erik who brought me the tea, but he was also unable to decipher the characters.

So, I used my resources and sent a picture to some of my Chinese colleagues. Both Agatha and Carol from Shanghai sent me a translation.

The tea is from DaYuLing in Taiwan. It is an oolong tea that is grown at an altitude of over 2,000 meters. There are only a few areas where tea is grown at a higher altitude.

DaYuLing Tea, Taiwan Tea, High Mountain Tea, Oolong TeaHere is a look at the tea. You can see the little tightly rolled balls of leaves. Each of these will slowly unroll during steeping.

The DaYuLing tea is lightly oxidized so is closer to a green tea than the oolong teas from India which are closer to a red tea.

DaYuLing Tea, Taiwan Tea, High Mountain Tea, Oolong TeaYou can see by the tea towel that I used that I first tried the DaYuLing tea last Sunday. In the infuser you can see that the tea leaves have unrolled, but the water is not yet changing color.

DaYuLing Tea, Taiwan Tea, High Mountain Tea, Oolong TeaThe tea had a nice golden yellow color and a nice aroma once it was infused. The color darkened a bit as it cooled and also later infusions were a bit darker.

The dry aroma is a bit sweet and nutty and it has a tropical floral smell when it is infused.

The taste is a bit sweet and mellow and has some floral tones. The mouth feel is very smooth with no harsh edges. There is a nice lingering aftertaste in the early infusions which reduces slowly.

When first trying a lightly oxidized oolong I like to see how many infusions I can get as the taste slowly changes with each one. I have lost count, but I can get at least 6-8 good infusions before it really starts to lose flavor.

The best infusions are the second and third as the leaves have had a chance to fully open and start to develop flavors. Often the first infusion of an oolong tea is thrown out, but I always like to at least give it a taste.

This is definitely one of the better teas that I have in my collection.

Steven

Posted in Culture, Food, Tea | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment