My 9 month old daughter helps me collect cutworms.
As plants start to leaf out, you'll notice garden pests appear in your garden too. Spring growth is especially tender, and it's easy for pests like these cutworms to completely destroy a plant before it even gets started. It's tempting to spray for pests, but of course pesticides linger around and kill off all the predators too, locking you into a cycle of increasing pesticide use. I've found it more effective to harvest cutworms by hand, using a flashlight at night. It looks eccentric. But in the end, I have a good meal for my chickens to enjoy.
Trust me. You're gonna love it.
Don't miss Leigh's extensive tips on
organic pest control.
Shared by Hotglu via Flickr
I took my son and wife to the Piper's Creek Orchard at Seattle's Carkeek Park recently. It's an old pioneer orchard, recently saved from the blackberries and partially restored by volunteers. Almost every tree is a different kind of historic apple or pear or quince.
Anyway, as we walked in, this dude's lying there on his back in the middle of the orchard. Was he barefoot? My mind may have embellished the memory. But he looked all the world like Johnny Appleseed.
It turns out he's the protector of this orchard and an expert on heirloom apples. He gives free advice to anyone who asks. I asked about my apple problems. He made me feel better.
Here's what Johnny said: The
nylon booties I've been using did keep out the apple maggot. He says I got away with my mid-June application this year because the spring was about two weeks late. Generally I should apply the nylon booties June 1. However, it doesn't keep out the coddling moth (or of course the scab). To keep out the moth, he's experimenting with dipping the booties in BT prior to their application. (BT is an organic pest control method, a bacteria that various bugs eat which causes them to lose their appetite and then starve to death.)
The apple maggot tunnels all over the place and destroys the apple. That pest was stopped by my booties.
However the coddling moth, after penetrating my booties, tunneled straight to the core via a visible hole and straight back out again. This is consistent with what I found when I dug into one of those troubled apples a few weeks ago. You can cut around that kind of damage.
The crop is saved! Thanks, Johnny.
If you aren't a regular reader of Z Recommends, make sure to check out today's post - children spot all kinds of wonderful detritus outdoors, and you can make a great display box by recycling cigar boxes. Read and see more
here!
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