permaculture

[rrandall1 <rrandall1@houston.rr.com>]

I agree with everyone that advocates dry mulches.  I have had good luck 
with pine straw. The best solution for small numbers of plants is to 
hang the berries on small letter H wire made from cutting up old 
useless wire fencing say with 2 x 3 inch mesh.  Later in the season, I 
find the berries have long enough stems so that when I am out there 
picking, I can place the green berries hanging from the leaf stems.  If 
they are off the ground, they avoid the sow bugs.

Removing mulch entirely, at least when I lived in BC, reduced the 
number of ground beetles so the slugs proliferated.

I once happened to see a toad sitting and eating sow bugs.  Must have 
eaten 50 before I got bored. I don't think toads either are effective 
biocontrols, but ground beetles are effective on slugs.

Bob Randall
On Sunday, June 12, 2005, at 11:44  AM, Kevin Topek wrote:

> I find that mulching with straw or dry feed hay around strawberries
> discourages sow bugs. They like composting, moist mulch, but the dry
> material is not to their liking. If you mulch with straw over the
> decomposing mulch just prior to strawberry fruiting you get the maximum
> benefit of the material for the longest time. It stays dry and does not
> begin to break down for a couple of months. It also keeps the berries 
> dry
> and free of dirt. I think this is where the term straw-berry came from.
>
> Kevin
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lisa in Oregon" <lisamaciver8@yahoo.com>
> To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 11:13 AM
> Subject: RE: [permaculture] Sow bugs eating the strawberries
>
>
> > I have a cordless vac I use mostly for earwigs, which are devastating
> > here for this few months in spring.  I get the occasional sowbug and
> > slug with it, too... going out at night with one might be a way to
> > quickly reduce populations.  I really only have sowbug problems inside
> > wall-o-waters or with plants that are right on the ground, like
> > emerging bean seedlings.  Maybe humidity/darkness/air circulation.
> >
> > You might read Steve Soloman's "Growing Vegetables West of the
> > Cascades." He specifically says mulch is the problem as in our climate
> > it allows buildup of earwigs and sowbugs; recommends not mulching, or
> > removing and composting mulch in early spring and reapplying fresh
> > mulch later.  I haven't been able to not mulch, though.
> >
> > Lisa in Ashland Oregon
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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