This past month has been a whirr of weeding, harvesting, upkeep, and endurance. The heatwaves of July have ebbed into more tolerable August conditions. Yet, one thing (or should I say many) that persists, is creatures intent on taking a share of the crop.
Ecologically, it makes sense. Nature is a series of struggles for survival. If you plunk rows of resources down, of course pests are going to take advantage--it’s what they do. Unfortunately, the organic farmer doesn’t have the luxury of a quick fix (looking at you, pesticides), they have to work within specific parameters to address this inevitability.
Sometimes this looks dry, like row covers and mulch to prevent bugs from accessing vulnerable seedlings:
Floating row cover (L) moved to the side to access brassica sprouts
Sometimes it looks like modern necromancy by using the skeletons of diatoms to form a glass-like barrier around tantalizing sprouts:
Diatomaceous Earth over brassica sprouts. The fossilized remains of diatoms are made up of silica, which will dessicate insects that come into contact with it
Most of the time, however, it looks like tedious inspection and removal. This latter method was utilized to combat two nefarious culprits of destruction: The Tomato Hornworm and the Potato Beetle.
The Tomato Hornworm
Tomato hornworms are the caterpillar of the Five-spotted hawk moth. They have a voracious appetite and can defoliate entire plants. Fortunately, a good old-fashioned “pluck-n-chuck” is generally considered the most effective means to combat them.
Potato Beetle Larvae on Eggplant
The potato beetle on the other hand, is much more problematic. They have four instars (growth stages) and can cycle through them in as little as 21 days, allowing for multiple generations in a season.
While the third and fourth instars (that bear a striking resemblance to Vogons from “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,”) are relatively simple to remove by hand, the smaller stages are much more of a pain to remove as they can tuck right in to the nodes of plants. It is this elusiveness, coupled with their prolific reproduction rates and a propensity for defoliation that makes the potato beetle such a devastating pest.
This applies to farms that utilize sprays, too. While pesticides are the primary method of control on many commercial farms, the potato beetle is exceptional at developing resistance. In fact, between populations, they have managed to develop resistance to all major classes of pesticides.
Sneaky, sneaky underside hideout
Thankfully, there are other options to protect organic farms. There’s crop rotation, mulching, the aforementioned “pluck-n-chuck,” and possibly one of the most exciting methods--attempting to train chickens to eat interlopers:
