Pest Managment

This season Beetles of many varieties have caused a lot of damage to the crops. The Colorado Potato Beetle damaged our potatoes, and the Mexican Bean Beetle attacked our string beans.

One way that we have tried to manage the bugs has been to pick off the adults and the larva by hand. However, we still lost a large number of plants to the beetles. In an effort to save the broccoli and the cauliflower that we are planting now for fall harvesting, we have decided to use preventative measures. We covered the crops with row cover, a thin net-like material to keep the Flea Beetle from eating the baby brassica's leaves. Rather than dealing with the infestation after the fact, we are hoping that the row cover will prevent the bugs from establishing a population.