next i was to spray the grapes with fungicide. i use a mixture of immunox (myclobutanil) with captan. i begin spraying when new canes are 3-5 inches long and repeat every 7-10 days until 3-4 weeks after bloom. when i checked the grapes, the new shoots were only an inch long at most, so i'll need to wait a week or two before i can start spraying.
i still got to spray though, when i brought out the jasmines, gardenia, and orchids. it's been 2 weeks since my pyrethrin application, and the mealybugs are back. instead of using pyrethrin again (i might've used too little last time), i instead mixed up an alcohol solution: about 1L water (a little less) mixed with a cup of 50% alcohol and a few drops of dawn dish soap. we just so happen to have rubbing alcohol we bought during the pandemic that has too low a concentration of alcohol for disinfection usage but good for spraying plants. i used my 2L bottle sprayer, it worked flawlessly this time after i discovered the extra o-ring. i sprayed all the plants, making sure to get underneath and the branches. i was worried the alcohol might damage the orchids so after i sprayed them i rinsed them off with rain water.
i watered the remaining grow room plants, which was mostly pileas. i brought back inside the orchids (didn't want them to get scalded in the sun) and watered them with fertilized water. i noticed one of the pileas had flowers, which were rather inconspicuous and most people probably wouldn't even have noticed.
i didn't start assembling more raised bed fencing until 1pm. it was slow going at first, while i tried to figure out the best approach. after i made my second fencing, i realized the wood pieces were not all cut to the same size. some differed as much as half an inch. this mattered because instead of a rectangular frame, the second fencing had a more trapezoid shape. i figured out the problem was the long pieces were mismatched. i ended up removing the shorter side and replaced it with one of similar length.
after that i took some time to inspect all the cut furring strips. nothing i could do about the mismatch, other than making sure when i pick long and short pieces, i match them in length. after that i managed to knock out 4 more fences relatively quickly, finishing by 4pm. during that time the weather turned cool and i brought all the plants back down into the basement. i didn't bother watering any of the jasmines they their soil still seemed moist from last weekend's watering. i did water the gardenia though, i noticed some of the topmost leaves were a little droopy.
i used soft green garden ties to secure the fences. i also had plastic-coated green wires, but i find them harder to handle; the soft green ties are more visible and easier to unwind. that means now RB2 and RB1 are protected with fencing. i still need to make more fencing for RB4, as well as a 4-piece fencing unit for half of RB3. i might come back on thursday to knock out a few more fences.
the last thing i did was to reconnect the 2 storage rain barrels. by this point it'd already been 24 hours since i silicone-caulked yesterday, so the barrels should be leakproof now. while the barrels were refilling, i also poured several buckets of rain water into the catch barrels, so eventually that water will redistribute to the other barrels.
i didn't leave belmont until 4:30pm. so much for getting done by 1-2pm. i'd also planned on doing some community garden work and going to get some groceries, but that wouldn't be happening. i took a shower after i got home. i didn't yet today, but it was so close to dinner, i decided to wait it out.
i made a ham egg avocado bagel sandwich before game 5 between the hawks and celtics. boston was supposed to win tonight, advancing to the next round. hawks played with fire, and had the lead, until the celtics turned on a switch and were up by 13 points. all signs looked to be a boston victory, but they let their foot off the proverbial pedal in the final minutes and the hawks went on a run and won the game in the final seconds with a near mid-court 3-pointer from trae young. i quickly changed the channel after that. hopefully celtics can close it out thursday night in atlanta.