As promised here is Miriam's blog about beneficial insects from our 3rd annual Rt 10 Tour on August 27th.
September 2011
A couple of weeks ago we held a tour at the farm and I gave a lecture on beneficial insects. I filled myself up with a lot of information leading up to the talk, so I thought I'd share a little while it's still fresh.
Beneficial insects fill two very important roles, as pollinators and pest killers. Traditionally, farmers hired honey bees to do the pollinating work, but with the current colony collapse crisis we aren't seeing many honeybees in the field. So who's doing the pollinating for our squash and tomatoes? A combination of native bees, wasps, butterflies, and flies. Native bees are by far the most efficient pollinators in that list. However, native bees tend to be solitary insects, meaning that they don't build hives or swarm. They nest in abandoned insect holes in wood or in tunnels in the ground. We've installed a nesting site for mason bees near our store, a 2x6 with holes drilled in it under an eave for protection.
Wasps perform in both roles, as pollinators and pest killers. In the case of wasps, the killing is in order to provide food for their young. The adults generally eat pollen and nectar (which is why they can pollinate). Some wasps are parasitoids, laying eggs in caterpillars and other insects. The larval wasps develop inside the caterpillar, sapping its strength from within. The larvae will then eat their way out of the worm to form cocoons and eventually hatch out as adult wasps. If you see these cocoons, try to resist squishing the worm so that there are more wasps in the garden to work for you. You may want to move it away from your tomatoes, though. Other wasps will kill or scavenge insects to bring back to their nests for the young to eat. To encourage nesting near the fields (and away from our buildings), we've put up bird houses without bottoms. The house will be a protected space and removing the bottom makes it unsuitable for birds, so there won't be competition for the space.
Other insects are hunters, like ladybugs and praying mantises. Ladybugs love aphids but will eat other soft-bodied insects as well (like caterpillars, scale, even potato beetle eggs and larvae). We get a lot of ladybugs here at the farm and generally don't have much trouble with aphids, so I think we're doing something right. It's important to recognize the different life stages of the ladybugs so you don't squish them by mistake. The larval stage looks very different from the adults. (There are some pictures in this article about ladybugs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladybug )
In general, to attract beneficial insects into your garden, the best thing you can do is have flowers mixed in with your veggies, especially native plants with clusters of small flowers. You can also allow your herbs and some of your brassicas to flower (like broccoli, arugula, and mustard greens). Here at B&H, we plant our flower crops and herbs in the same fields as our veggie crops. We also have the advantage of being surrounded by pasture which provides food and habitat. However, the biggest thing we do is to avoid using insecticides. This means that sometimes we have the unpleasant task of squishing a lot of bad bugs. However, nature tends to do a better job of keeping the pests in balance when we don't interfere.
Tips:
- Attract beneficial insects with a variety of flowers interspersed with your vegetables (native plants with many small flowers are best). You can allow some of your crop plants to flower as well, especially herbs like dill and parsley. Try to choose a wide range of flowers so that there are a variety blooms throughout the season.
- Avoid using pesticides, since they will kill your good bugs as well as the pests. If you do use pesticides, try to target the pests directly and use sparingly.
- In dry weather, provide a shallow water source, such as a saucer filled with pebbles or a hose dripping onto a board.
- Mulch your garden and include some low-growing plants to provide habitat and retain moisture.
Web Resources:
Penn State Cooperative Extension, Center for Pollinator Research
http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Fine Gardening, “Attracting Beneficial Insects”
http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/attracting-beneficial-insects.aspx
This week's harvest;
his week’s harvest list:
Full share: (you may receive any of these items)
- Purple potatoes 2 lb
- Lettuce- 2-3 heads
- Beets 1.5 lb
- Mixed colors and shapes of sweet peppers 1.5 lb
- Eggplant (small purple, green, large purple or orange) 1.5 lb
- 3/4 lb of chard or kale or baby pac choi or ½ lb dandelion or ¾ lb collard greens
- Winter Squash- Spaghetti or Butternut. 1 fruit.
- Beans ¾ lb
- Parsnips- 1.4 lb
- Tomatoes- cherries or larger. More cherries. 2 lb. Limited Quantities.
- Frisee- 2 heads.
- leek 1#
Half Share:
- Any 4 of the above full share items.
Optional Items: (these count as an item in your share) Some of these items are in limited quantities so can be ordered on a first come first serve basis.
- Fresh cut flower bouquets
Extra Items: (these do not count as an item) - Please let me know the quantity you would like.
- Hot peppers - 6 peppers – we have tons so order more.
- Poblano peppers- 1.5 lb – these are the peppers used to make Chiles Rellenos.
- Basil 1/4 lb
- Aji Dulce Peppers- ½ lb. These are also known as Caribbean Seasoning Peppers. They look; taste and smell like a hot pepper but have no heat. They are excellent for seasoning.
- Italian Parsley- 1/8 lb
Thank you and have a great week,
Erica
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