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  • From: Jennie Lee <tulipcreek AT dixie-net.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: flea beetles
  • Date: Sun, 2 Sep 1956 03:34:59 -0600

Title: flea beetles
Hi all -
        I need some advice about flea beetles. I lost a lot of beautiful greens last year to these guys so I've been really diligent this year about keeping row covers on all my brassicas and arugula - I put them on right after seeding and they've been on ever since. However, there are some flea beetles under my row covers - not a ton of them but enough to riddle all my little greens - particularly the Asian greens - with holes. My Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control says that I should leave the row covers on and the adults that have taken up residence underneath them will eventually die off, leaving my mizuna to continue growing¨unriddled.
        What I'd like to know is - how likely is this to happen really? I'm interested in hearing particularly from Southern gardeners (I'm in north Mississippi, zone 7) as I find my insect experiences often radically different (i.e. more vicious) from the way they're described in the books. I tried last year to avoid peak populations by staggering my plantings of susceptible plants but seemed to have peak populations pretty consistently into late June. And by then, its fairly hot and dry here to be starting leafy green things. Should I stop fighting Mother Nature and just give up on spring planted brassicas? They grow beautifully here in the fall, untouched by any insects.
        Any observations or experiences would be greatly appreciated -
Jennie Lee
Oxford, MS



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