A ? for those who are actively farming...

Tracy,

I have a cow/calf operation in Middle Tennessee. The troublesome bugs are:

1. For me - ticks. They're everywhere. You cannot go outside without being exposed to them. I've had six and my wife has had one already this year. Before the summer is over, I will have had 30 or more bites.

2. For my cows - flies. They're horrible. I use fly spray on the herd all summer long and they are still horrible. I use back rubbers and minerals that have a chemical in it that is supposed to kill the maggots in the cows' droppings. The flies are still awful.

3. For my orchard - Japanese Beetles. They would strip every leaf off every tree if I didn't spray regularly. I hate using chemicals on edible produce, but the alternative is to buy all of my produce at Kroger. Without spray, I wouldn't have anything to harvest.

4. For my house - lady-bug-like beetles. They swarm about twice a year and cover houses around here. I use a chemical on them outside the house that kills them. They stink and bite. My wife vacuums the ones that are inside. She MUST replace the dirt bag if any get sucked into it because of the vile odor they give off.

5 For my house - tied with the beetles, spiders. My wife is the original arachniphobic. I set off bug-bombs in the house every few months just to keep her from screaming.

What was Noah thinking?

Tom in TN

I farm in north central Iowa.Aphids on the soybeans are my greatest concern.There are many other insects out here but most can be controlled by genetics------aphids can't be controlled that way yet.

last year it was grasshoppers and squash bugs,
before that it was the Japanese beetles until we used Milky Spore powder, now a rare grub and no beetles.

Varroa Mites on Honeybees. Tell him if he can figure out how to get rid of them he can retire a very rich man.

Fire ants-ticks aren't much of a problem since they moved in. Blister beetles-horn worms, thrips, both types of cabbage worms. Horn and Face flies. Chiggers/red bugs. And what I call horse flies, the blood sucker from hades.

My biggest problem is whatever eats holes in collard leaves. I'm not sure what it is, but they eat up the leaves when the weather gets hot. They are fine in early spring (look beautiful right now), but when it warms up more some type of bug eats them up all summer. When it cools off in fall they go away and I get good collards again. I am in Maryland now, but had exactly the same problem in Mississippi before I moved up here.