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market-farming - [Market-farming] Sugar as a soil amendment for insect pest suppression

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  • From: "Marlin Burkholder" <glenecofarm AT planetcomm.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Sugar as a soil amendment for insect pest suppression
  • Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 07:56:32 -0400

 
A fellow told me yesterday that they use white sugar (spread on and worked into the soil much like you would incorporate fertilizer) as a strategy for suppressing potato bugs.  This is usually done at potato planting time so the growing plants will have time to take up the sugar into the plant tissues.  The idea is that increasing the brix in the plant creates an environment that bugs do not like.  He said that they use about 5-10 lbs of sugar per 1000 square feet.  Sounds a little crazy to me.   But hey!  Sugar is cheap and I would be crazy enough to try it on a small area.  If this is true then it should work great for growing good sweet potatoes or sweet corn?  It always seems to me that corn earworms really go for the sweet corn because it is sweet.  The same also seems true for the low acid sweeter tomatoes.  I've stopped growing some varieties of them because they always seem to be prone to something eating them before I can get to them.  Has anyone else heard of or done such a thing?
 
Marlin Burkholder
Virginia



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