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  • From: Owsley lucy <boulderbelt AT embarqmail.com>
  • 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 13:19:19 -0400

yes and not with good success-the numbers overwhelm the traps quickly.

We find the row covers keep the cuke beetles off the plants well enough. We remove them when they flower and generally they are big enough to survive the CB's long enough to get a couple of harvests. We also grow a lot of cukes early in hoop houses and they get mature before the cuke beetles emerge in any numbers. After the covers come off we do vacuum them in the early morning and that does keep the numbers down for a while.

And I have found yellow cukes like lemon and poona khera are almost ignored by the cuke beetles


On May 15, 2009, at 10:22 AM, 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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