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  • From: jay sleichter <jaysleichter AT yahoo.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 10:24:40 -0700 (PDT)

Lucy,

I just thought that was at my house.  The cucumber beetles must get confused by their shape and color! I know my customers do.   I guess it is because they are not bitter?

Every year those to types/varieties always out last the green slicers.

Thanks for adding that info.

--- On Fri, 5/15/09, Owsley lucy <boulderbelt AT embarqmail.com> wrote:

From: Owsley lucy <boulderbelt AT embarqmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] row covers and flea beetles and white-on-black mulch
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Friday, May 15, 2009, 12:19 PM

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
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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
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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
> _______________________________________________
> Market-farming mailing list
> Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
>

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  • Re: [Market-farming] row covers and flea beetles and white-on-black mulch, jay sleichter, 05/15/2009

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