Market Farming

["jay gee" <jgj23 AT mindspring.com>]

nan j wrote:
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also, what kind of insect eats through the stem of the uppermost sunflower
in a multi branched sunflower plant (not the russian mammoth kind).....
not every blossom is chopped off (about an inch below the flower head),
but there are quite a few just hanging by a thread each day when i check..
weird.....leaves are unaffected as are the rest of the heads on a plant,...
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Hi Nan,

The symptoms you describe match the experience I have had in S. Calif.
with squirrels.  Typically, they chew off the entire flower head and drag
it off to be eaten.  The ones left hanging by a thread or two or three
came about because the squirrels took off in fear (sunflowerus interruptus,
i call it) when a dog or human cruises by.

If there are total beheadings occurring and you can't find the heads, it may
be squirrels or some other kind of rodent.  I think they like the seeds...



Jay Gee
not a farmer -- but interested in farming