A ? for those who are actively farming...

Tracy Rimmer · #1 03/13/12, 12:59 PM

In doing some research for an article, I was talking to a researcher who is involved in biological sciences at a university -- he was answering some questions for me on an article on mosquito management, and posed a question to me himself.

He asked me if I would mind, in talking to those who are actually farming, what they feel their #1 insect pest is. I told him I would put it out there, and see what kind of responses we got.

So, I'm asking

If you actively farm, could you please share with me what you think your number one pest concern is? If you could attach your location, that might be a help, too -- if you're not comfortable revealing your location on the open forums, please feel free to PM me -- I promise you, the information will go no further than myself and my contact.

piglady · #2 03/13/12, 01:12 PM

Not sure what you mean by "actively" farming. Are you looking for commercial farms such as several hundred or thousand acres of corn fields or are you looking for the homesteaders here. If you are looking for small farmers, our biggest problem down here in south texas is the little black ants. They can kill a brooder full of poultry in a matter of hours and get on everything. I hate those bugs.

Tracy Rimmer · #3 03/13/12, 01:14 PM

I really mean anyone who has more than a salad garden, I think. The money for researchers, of course, is in the commercial farming, but it all has an impact, I think -- the only difference is scale.

Thanks for your response!

T.

Rick · #4 03/13/12, 01:28 PM

We garden,so I'll trow that out - we still have green beans, tomato sauce, jams, frozen corn, broccoli and green peppers. We ate our fill and even sold a few dollars worth also.

We are 30 miles East of the Ohio River, West Central WV.

Our biggest pest is the Japanese Beetle: Yeah Yeah Yeah!
With a pest - like - that, You have to but the traps.

We use Bonide Beetle Bagger, and they do work. You can get a second season out of the lures, before you replace them, but they attract slightly fewer pests.

We also dumped the beetles into soapy wash water every couple days, and rinsed out the bags. This will be our 3rd year on the original bags.

Chixarecute · #5 03/13/12, 01:33 PM

Colorado potato beetle

honeyrobber · #6 03/13/12, 01:40 PM

Potatoe beetle as they eat the potatoes tomatoe and egg plant(real bad on eggplant) is my number one. The number 2 is squash vine bore as it takes out all cuccurbits. I have not grown pumpkins in 2 years on the main farm because of them. I got away with several years back to back(not on same ground but same 13 acres) then they destroyed my crop. Moved to some land my Uncle had and did good 3 years before the losses really showed much. Went back to dad's farm and my first year back I spotted quite a few so moved to another farm. There is a good spray to use to kill them but it is soaked into the plant and partly ends up in the fruit. I want organic method that really works for both these pest for use on a large scale(did 12 acres of pumpkins a few times).

Middle TN.

EDDIE BUCK · #7 03/13/12, 02:07 PM

Well I garden, but its much more than a salad garden.Around here the absolutely worst Garden pest is the Diamondback Moth Caterpillar.

If you can get BT close to them, it will kill them,but the problem is they are always on the undersides of the leaves of cabbage and collards, where its next to impossible to spray.

Plus they have a tendency to not eat all the way through the leaf,thus protected from any insecticide on the top surface of the leaf.Many gardeners have stopped planting spring cabbage and collard plants and wait till fall to plant them.

A ? for those who are actively farming... - Homesteading Questions

A ? for those who are actively farming... - Homesteading Questions

piglady · #8 03/13/12, 03:01 PM

Try adding young turkeys to the mix. They love bugs and anything crawly and can see like nothing else. In fact, they used to be used in the tobacco fields for pest control.

oregon woodsmok · #9 03/13/12, 03:02 PM

Coddling moth.

Central Oregon.

uncle Will in In. · #10 03/13/12, 03:40 PM

Mosquitoes <> They get so thick in wet weather that it's hard to go out to see what is eating the crops!! Seen a big one carrying off our tom cat once. His buddy asked him if he was going to suck him dry here, or carry him back to the marsh? The one with old tom said, "We'd better do it here. If we take him back to the marsk, the big skeeters will take him away from us.

farmerDale · #11 03/13/12, 04:10 PM

Hey Tracy. I would say our most watched for pests are, in no particular order, Flea beetles, Wheat midge, Aphids, Root maggots, Diamond back moth larvae, (these must blow in on the wind), and bertha army worms.

I think the number one pest would be difficult to say, as it depends so much on the year, the winds, the crop. Every year there is an alarm sounded, and some spray, most do not. I have only sprayed a crop twice for insects before. It was aphids on flax, and Diamondbacks and berthas the other time, and they were covering the plants, literally. Had I not sprayed, I would have lost the crop. And my job, lol. And no, there is no other cultural control method, as they are wind born. Rotation does not help, for example.

But I will only spray as a last resort, even being a conventional, commercial farm. Insecticides are potentially nasty, and some use them too liberally in my view. I mean, if i see insects in my crops, I will scout carefully and wait for threshholds before I even think of spraying. On my farm, the bugs need to be thick before I spray. Many guys see a bug, panic, and spray without getting off their butts and walking the entire field, because it means walking many miles, and I disagree with this profoundly.

Often, just when I have thought maybe I should spray, I see carcasses on the ground, of the bugs in question, and the numbers back off. Why? Because their predatory rivals have found them, and are attacking them. Nothing like a wheat midge wasp laying eggs inside the midge, and having the larvae eat the midge from the inside out! Disgusting, but effective, and most importantly, selective... Something most insecticides are not. Once, The day before i planned to get a field sprayed, we had a heavy rain, knocking the diamondbacks and small berthas to the ground, drowning many, so thankfully I cancelled the app.

I hope this helps you out a bit!

Dale

DavidUnderwood · #12 03/13/12, 06:04 PM

I'm surprised nobody said fire ants.
They get in hen nest, rabbit nest boxes
and on or into nearly everything in the garden.
They even get into my bee hives. While picking
vegetables you spend as much time looking
where your feet are as you do your work.

RonM · #13 03/13/12, 07:19 PM

Corn Borer..I help some guys that till over 6,000. acres...

luvrulz · #14 03/13/12, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick

We garden,so I'll trow that out - we still have green beans, tomato sauce, jams, frozen corn, broccoli and green peppers. We ate our fill and even sold a few dollars worth also.

We are 30 miles East of the Ohio River, West Central WV.

Our biggest pest is the Japanese Beetle: Yeah Yeah Yeah!
With a pest - like - that, You have to but the traps.

We use Bonide Beetle Bagger, and they do work. You can get a second season out of the lures, before you replace them, but they attract slightly fewer pests.

We also dumped the beetles into soapy wash water every couple days, and rinsed out the bags. This will be our 3rd year on the original bags.

I agree with this guy! Those Japanese beetles are the worst! We are in s central Ky, BTW. We have bats, chickens, turkeys and guineas and they take care of alot of other pests....!

luvrulz · #15 03/13/12, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidUnderwood

I'm surprised nobody said fire ants.
They get in hen nest, rabbit nest boxes
and on or into nearly everything in the garden.
They even get into my bee hives. While picking
vegetables you spend as much time looking
where your feet are as you do your work.

No fire ants in Ky

lonelyfarmgirl · #16 03/13/12, 07:32 PM

We have a large orchard, our gardens, and we have livestock, roughly 50-70 head cattle, several dozen pigs, couple hundred poultry, etc.. We are east central wisconsin. In the garden it is that little green caterpillar EDDIEBUCK just posted about. For livestock, its flies. Flies are everywhere. Manure attracts them, even though we are rotating pasture based, they are still there. We hit nearly 70 today, and they were out. Ugh.. I HATE flies!

pancho · #17 03/13/12, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piglady

Not sure what you mean by "actively" farming. Are you looking for commercial farms such as several hundred or thousand acres of corn fields or are you looking for the homesteaders here. If you are looking for small farmers, our biggest problem down here in south texas is the little black ants. They can kill a brooder full of poultry in a matter of hours and get on everything. I hate those bugs.

Another vote for the little black ants.
Worst insect there is.

pancho · #18 03/13/12, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidUnderwood

I'm surprised nobody said fire ants.
They get in hen nest, rabbit nest boxes
and on or into nearly everything in the garden.
They even get into my bee hives. While picking
vegetables you spend as much time looking
where your feet are as you do your work.

The little black ants ran the fire ants out around here.
Wish I had them back instead of the little black ants.

motdaugrnds · #19 03/13/12, 07:39 PM

Well, I'ld love to be able to help; however, the bugs that were in our garden last year were eating the wild plants we had permitted to stay there, .e. amaranth & evening primrose...as well as the ones we planted like dill and basil and the ones we planted to "draw" the good bugs to eat the bad ones...such as morning glories & French marigold.

Our garden was very large and we will be eating on it for 2 yrs. We also let the Brown Chinese geese in (after the plants were of some height) as well as the guinneas and chickens...all just before dark.

Now if you're talking about pests that disturb the goats and humans, we're talking flies and mosquitoes. We put out "Fly Predators" every year and this handles the flies quite nicely. The mosquitoes rarely bother David. They L O V E me; so I'm constantly using "Off".

Maura · #20 03/13/12, 07:59 PM

I don't farm but my friends that do absolutely hate the Japanese lady bugs. The DNR put them here to control aphids so that farmers would use less pesticide. Well, the darn things are just a little smaller than the regular ladybugs and have ruined crops, not from eating them, but because they get picked up with the beans (dry beans) and there will be so many of these bugs that the crop is refused due to the contamination. They also bite.