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  • From: John Hendrickson <jhendric AT wisc.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 09:36:49 -0500

I've done this without using the water. Flea beetles are attracted to white things, so I've used while plastic containers smeared with tangle foot under row cover. -John

Bill Shoemaker wrote:
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
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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
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--
John Hendrickson
Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1535 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
608-265-3704
www.cias.wisc.edu





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