Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] row covers and flea beetles and white-on-black mulch

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Bill Shoemaker <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] row covers and flea beetles and white-on-black mulch
  • Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 09:22:42 -0500 (CDT)

Lucy

That's a great idea, a perfect example of an effective non-chemical strategy
that takes advantage of the insect's behaviour. I'd never heard of that one.
Have you ever tried it with cucumber beetles?

Bill


>Allan,
>
>you do need to get the row covers on as soon as you seed/set out
>transplants. if you are direct seeding the bed than put the cover on
>with no hoops. this will aid germination greatly. As soon as the
>seeds start to germinate put hoops up under the cover. the next step
>is to make sticky traps out of water bottles or quart yogurt tubs (or
>anything else that can hold water and has a lid). Smear tanglefoot on
>the water filled container (it is not easy or pleasant to fill
>containers already stickified) than place them ever 4' of so in the
>row. This should eradicate all flea beetles from the bed in about 2
>days. the way this works is the water heats up in the container
>during the day and at night the flea beetles (and any other insect
>under the cover) is attracted to the warmth and gets stuck to the
>container. I have been doing this for the past 12 or so years with my
>arugula, eggplant, mizuna, etc with incredible success.
>
>
>
>All that said I am off to make sticky traps as I have noticed the
>arugula is getting a bit holy.
>
>
>On May 15, 2009, at 7:00 AM, Allan Balliett wrote:
>
>> I'd like to grow a decent crop of rapini for the CSA this early
>> summer.
>>
>> Flea beetles are a big problem for us.
>>
>> My early experiments with row cover and flea beetles gave me crops
>> that were devoured by flea beetles when I finally lifted the row
>> cover. For this reason, I've remained dubious.
>>
>> But I hear so many proclaim the benefits of row cover that I'm ready
>> to try again.
>>
>> One error I apparently made was that I didn't put the row covers on
>> on the day of seeding. Is this a necessity? In an area of the garden
>> known to have flea beetles is bare soil/worked soil enough to repel
>> them for a while or do you spray a repellant or insecticide on the
>> bare soil before putting on the row cover?
>>
>> I have a roll of the white-on-black plastic mulch that I've never
>> used. I'm wondering if those of you who use it think it w.b. a good
>> plastic to use with a row covered raab/rapini planting. (I'm
>> concerned about leaving the row cover on until harvest, so I don't
>> want to have to worry about weeds.
>>
>> And, do I have it straight on this white-on-black plastic mulch? It
>> really will COOL the soil rather than heat it, thereby prolonging the
>> non-bolting life of brassicas grown on it?
>>
>> Thanks for listening.
>>
>> -Allan in WV
>> _______________________________________________
>> Market-farming mailing list
>> Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
>>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Market-farming mailing list
>Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
>
William H Shoemaker, UI-NRES
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
St Charles Horticulture Research Center
535 Randall Road St Charles, IL 60174
630-584-7254; FAX-584-4610




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page