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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Thoughts on relating to crop damaging insects

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "E. E. Mitchamore Jr" <emitch@att.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Thoughts on relating to crop damaging insects
  • Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:56:43 -0500

Frost???  It's 90+ degrees.  I guess your cold front is heading our way, though.
 
Pests?  Seems like Armadillos like that soil as much as we do, but apparently they don't eat Sweet Potatoes - just like to dig them.
 
E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
www.hillcountrynatives.biz
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 11:11 AM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Thoughts on relating to crop damaging insects


Funny you should mention that. We heard from a nurseryman friend nearby
about his tomato pests. We had given him one of our Genovese tomatoes in a
starter pot. He related that some sort of whiteflies destroyed the plants
he'd bought commercially and had to tear them out. But the single Genovese
we gave him was still producing without harm. We don't start our 4-inch pot
tomatoes in a sterile, unnatural soilless mix drenched with NPK and
fungicide etc. 

We do see lots of bugs, squash bugs, a plague of grasshoppers, Mexican bean
beetles - you name it. But we also see lacewing, ladybugs, praying mantis -
where they came from we have no idea. And there's almost no damage at all
to the plants. People at the market keep asking what we spray with since
we're about the only ones with lots of squashes and lucious red tomatoes.
We spray with nothing. And we don't kill off the predators. As you said,
Make them welcome, and they will come. And like you we see no sign of
dieases. We saw a single tomato plant with blossom end rot but that's not
disease; it's likely uneven watering.

We have the old Rodale book, Organic Plant Protection but I haven't got
around to opening it yet. I did pick off tomato hornworms in the greenhouse
which was open all summer. They're about gone now and tomatoes are still
producing like mad. Which reminds me I gotta get back out and finish
covering up some openings with frost due this weekend.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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