permaculture

[Neil Bertrando <neilbertrando@gmail.com>]

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions,

I'll pass the info along.

mostly the problem occurs when dealing with annuals, although young
perennials get it bad too.  Any thoughts on what the other problems might be
Loren?

One of my concerns is working with developing Zone II food forest plantings
because they take a few years to produce yields.  One strategy we've used is
interplanting annuals such as squash, beans, and tomatoes as ground covers
to time stack.  However, the insect issue has frustrated our attempts in
many locations, which has led us to look at non-mulching or living mulch
strategies as preferable.  I will also try the mid-season mulch timing.  I
agree with you Loren that using finer, more 'composted OM' as a strategy for
mitigating habitat creation.  We've been working with this as well, building
both hot composts and large woody mulch piles in separate locations from
gardens and watering them for 12-18 months to facilitate breakdown prior to
applying to growing areas.

I think one aspect of the issue here is the urban/sub-urban corridor effect
where the earwig pest issue is most pronounced.  After years of people
living with cats, dogs, sprays, traffic, etc, I see very few small critters
which might be predators of these bugs.  Even when habitat is built (rock
piles, wood piles, etc) I've been hard pressed to find insectivores such as
lizards or toads at all, not to mention in abundance.  So it may not be as
much of a climate context as a human habitat context that is creating this
phenomenon.

Any other thoughts,
Neil

On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 8:18 AM, Bob Waldrop <bwaldrop@cox.net> wrote:

> This is interesting, what does your Bug Town look like? (Plants, etc.)
>
> Bob Waldrop
> Oklahoma City
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alan Post
> Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 9:28 AM
> To: permaculture
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] mulch and arthropod herbivore habitat
>
>
> I live in the Rio Grande Bosque in New Mexico, and use the same
> strategy as Michael.  Mulch partway through the first year after
> seedlings are established, and maintain a mulch layer after that.
>
> I also haven't observed sowbugs, pill bugs, or earwigs to be a
> problem.  I actually maintain separate habitat for them (we call it
> "Bug Town", because that habitat attracts skinks and mice, which
> attracts road runners, &c.
>
> -Alan
>
> On Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 11:14:03PM -0700, Michael Pilarski wrote:
> > Hello Neil,
> >
> > Here are a few observations from someone who lives in a semi-arid climate
> > a lot like Reno.
> >
> > I have sowbugs and earwigs as part of my garden fauna but they do me no
> > harm that I can tell.
> >
> > My practice with new plantings (1st year) is to weed meticulously and do
> > not apply mulch.  Everything works fine.
> >
> > After the first year, I do mulch perennials, berries, trees, biennials
> and
> > everything works fine.
> >
> > I think, in your case, it is a matter of timing the mulch.  Just don't
> use
> > it the first year when your new plants are at the tender seedling stage..
> > Actually I think you can mulch partway through the first year in most
> > cases.
> >
> > Good luck,
> >
> > Michael Pilarski, 40 years of gardening
> >
> >
> > So perhaps your solution is to not mulch in year one
> >
> >
> >
> > --- On Mon, 7/18/11, Neil Bertrando <neilbertrando@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > From: Neil Bertrando <neilbertrando@gmail.com>
> > Subject: [permaculture] mulch and arthropod herbivore habitat
> > To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Date: Monday, July 18, 2011, 1:56 PM
> >
> > HI all,
> >
> > Have people dealt with the situation where mulching areas in Zone I and
> II
> > leads to excessive pest problems which eat all seedling starts?
> >
> > We consistently have this problem here in Reno, NV in the high desert,
> and
> > have stopped mulching our gardens for the most part for this reason.
> > Sometimes we do light straw mulches, but we are straying away from deep
> > mulch beds and no-till regimes.
> >
> > Here's my assessment of the problem, and perhaps other people have dealt
> > successfully with this issue.
> >
> > pest populations increased by deep mulching
> >
> >    - european earwigs
> >    http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/european_earwig.htm
> >    - sowbugs/rollypolly isopods
> >
> http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/O&T/flowers/note11/note11.html
> >
> >
> > most info I have read does not include these as major crop pests however
> > through direct observation we have seen them here to be the culprits.
> >
> > they prevent seedling establishment eating them at the cotyledon stage,
> > and
> > even eat small trees when planted in an area with dense populations.
> >
> > Strategies tried:
> >
> >    - traps:soap and sugar, soy sauce and oil, beer, etc.  work for
> >    established plants but don't drastically diminish populations and are
> > time
> >    consuming
> >    - diatomaceous earth: also works for established plants when applied
> at
> >    night to feeding insects, time consuming, needs reapplication
> > consistently
> >    - chicken food: grazing with chickens in late fall and early spring.
> >     chickens eat them happily and we tried to get them in when small
> > veggies
> >    are not growing and at key stages in the insect life cycle to minimize
> >    reproduction.  still not effective at diminishing populations to a
> > level
> >    where we can get seedlings established.
> >    - transplanting in established seedlings: still get heavily eaten
> >    - get plants established before the populations boom as weather warms:
> >    works fairly well, but not a strategy for warm season crops and makes
> > fall
> >    cropping difficult.
> >    - raised beds: works for a while until populations get established
> (1-2
> >    years) in the beds and structural material
> >
> > so now we've stopped mulching heavily in Zone I and use mostly on-site
> > generated mulch in Zone II, using only a scattered straw mulch to
> decrease
> > wind and sun evaporation and a focus on row covers instead of mulch to
> > achieve this function.  any off-site woody mulch needs to be composted
> > through hot compost piles before being applied to the Zone I and II
> > gardens.
> >  and this seems to work well since there is no habitat for them in the
> > garden.
> >
> > My conclusion is that sheet mulching (and deep mulching) is not an
> > effective
> > strategy in our climate context for Zones I and II.  Has anyone else
> found
> > this to be the case?  or are we just applying the technique incorrectly?
> >
> > some thoughts are
> >
> >    - that N is being tied up in the mulch, and the insects are relying
> > upon
> >    seedlings to fulfill this need, although this occurs in mulches with
> >    relatively high manure content as well.
> >    - natural foods and predators of these organisms are not in balance
> and
> >    take years to come into balance (or are not present at all in our
> > climate?)
> >    - mulch increases the humidity in summer and decreases the cold in
> > winter
> >    which allows populations to grow rapidly out of balance with plants.
> >    - there is some other factor that is causing plants to lack hardiness
> > and
> >    become attractive to these organisms
> >
> > This situation has been very disheartening to many beginning Permaculture
> > gardeners who read about the wonderful benefits of mulch and have their
> > veggie gardens decimated.  Any thought and suggestions would be very
> > helpful
> > for gardeners in our region.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Neil
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> --
> ..i ma'a lo bradi cu penmi gi'e du
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