permaculture

[Scott Vlaun <scott@moosepondarts.com>]

Carrie,

Are the four-o-clocks a trap or a repellant?

We have tons of tons of japanese beetles here in Maine. We've found  
Midwest Evening Primrose to be the best trap crop for us so far. Also  
Zinnias and Hollyhocks seem to attract them. As far as crops go,  
soybeans have been the most affected but we found an extremely  
pubescent variety that seems to repel them.

We just got a flock of chickens and look forward to developing ways  
to utilize them in the fight. We're planning to integrate pheromone  
traps into our chicken tractors for a start.

I'm also wondering about bringing the chickens into the garden when  
things mature and letting them forage, maybe shaking the plants first  
thing in the morning to get the sluggish beetles to fall to the  
ground where the chickens can eat them.

Good luck to all who have the misfortune of having this devastating  
pest and keep us posted on any more controls.




Scott Vlaun
Moose Pond Arts & Ecology
Otisfield, ME


On Jun 17, 2005, at 8:28 AM, Carrie Shepard wrote:

> Sharon,
>
> Do you have 4 o'clock flowers planted?
>
> I think they make a difference and have planted lots more of them  
> and I have
> a lot of seed I could share with you for postage if you want to try,
>
> Carrie
>
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