Field Notes
Army Worms…
As I sit down to write these weekly farm updates, I look back at pictures to guide my thoughts and refresh my memory since the days tend to blend together. If the overall trend line is negative events or challenges, it is not my intention to gain sympathy, but rather highlight the reality of farming. There are a lot of positives about the lifestyle and a lot of days filled with sunshine, fresh air, and blissful solitude. That being said, it's filled with LOTS of challenges, and I think it's disingenuous to paint a Rockwell-esque portrait of me lying under a tree chewing on a hickory twig looking out at my perfectly manicured gardens.
Pests are always at the top of the challenges farmers face in sustainable agriculture, next to the weather, disease, and weed pressure. There are the larger furry pests like rabbits, groundhog, and deer which can be difficult to prevent even with electric fencing. However, I can trap or shoot the smaller ones and I can get "nuisance permits" for deer or hunt them during the hunting season to try and reduce the large population of these audacious country club deer that have taken up residence on or near the property. The small, creepy crawly pests are a little more challenging to control.
I don't spray anything, even organic approved sprays since they can sometimes be broad spectrum and kill more than the desired pest, they also cost me time and money. I would rather assume some loss and let the natural tendency of homeostasis take place in the ecosystem. Nature has order and checks and balances in place to control populations. When one species gets overpopulated, another one usually will increase its population to balance things out.
These army worms have taken over lately, and there are birds, wasps, fire ants, ladybugs and others that will help to curb this influx of crop decimating demons. The "good guys" that help me fight the "bad guys" usually don't make a significant impact until a lot of damage is already done.
Being located next to wetlands helps attract a wide variety of birds, amphibians, and reptiles that will help eat pests, and I try to plant herbs and beneficial attracting flowers to keep the beneficial insects close to the crops. I'll also plant "trap crops" of certain varieties that are especially attractive to specific pests away from my other crops I'm wanting to sell. They will flock to these rows, and I can either tarp them, or flame them with my propane torch.
Aside from spraying a bunch of nasty stuff on my veggie babies to have the unrealistic supermarket-quality "show crops", this is all I can do to limit excessive bug damage or complete crop loss. The one benefit of bugs chomping on your veggies though, is that the plants then increase antioxidant compounds as a defense response, making your healthy produce even healthier.
- I don't spray anything, even organic approved sprays since they can sometimes be broad spectrum and kill more than the desired pest.
- I would rather assume some loss and let the natural tendency of homeostasis take place in the ecosystem.
- Being located next to wetlands helps attract a wide variety of birds, amphibians, and reptiles that will help eat pests.
- I try to plant herbs and beneficial attracting flowers to keep the beneficial insects close to the crops.
- I'll also plant "trap crops" of certain varieties that are especially attractive to specific pests away from my other crops. They will flock to these rows, and I can either tarp them, or flame them with my propane torch.
- Birds
- Lizards
- Toads
- Frogs
- Fire ants
- Wasps
- Assassin bugs
- Praying mantises
- Ladybugs
- Ground beetles
- Robber flies
- Syrphid flies
- Tiny parasitic wasps and flies, which lay their eggs in caterpillars
- Small-flowered plants: sweet alyssum, cilantro, parsley, dill, buckwheat and fennel. Tiny parasitic wasps and flies feed on their nectar and pollen.
- Let carrot-family herbs flower among the vegetables: dill, fennel, cilantro, Queen Anne’s lace.
- Daisy-family flowers: sunflowers, marigolds, yarrow, calendula, coneflower and coreopsis.
- Mulch, which gives ground beetles a place to live.
- A shallow saucer of water with pebbles in it, so insects can land and drink.
- An undisturbed spot, like perennial plantings or a woods edge, where they can spend the winter.
- No broad-spectrum insecticides. Killing the good guys lets pest numbers rebound fast.