Little bee drinking some water

Pest control was one of our top priorities, we used multiple methods to control pests. One method was planting buckwheat as a trap crop, another was leaving some of the wild mustard along the boarder of our garden to harbor beneficial insects. We also used a foliar application of home made pepper extract. everal pests were spotted in the garden but pest damage remained relatively low. Nathan provided the information below detailing the pests in our garden and pest control methods used throughout the semester. 

These Parasitic wasps are brutal when it comes to survival. There are many types.  Some 
are parasites to specific animals (mostly arthropods) while others may parasite a variety of animals.  I think the parasitic wasp above is Anomalon ejuncidum.  It’s a parasite of caterpillars and beetles… maybe even our precious ladybugs.  Most parasitic wasps lay eggs inside the host; the eggs hatch while the host is still alive and then eat their way out.

This guy is not welcome!

These are lady bug eggs on our lettuce.

Few harmful pests were found due to high diversity in our system. This guy is holding still waiting for a snack.

A young transplant was chewed in half from by a worm. We lost only 2 due to this issue. 

Very few plants were lost completely due to pest problems. Here is one that suffered damage on only a few leaves yet survived.

According to Wikipedia there are over 7000 species of long legged flies. Almost all of them have a beautiful iridescent metallic blue green body. The adults are predators of small animals and they’re also scavengers. There were plenty of these in our garden as well as in the sweet potatoes right next to our plot show in photo. 

Chop then let ingredients shown here simmer for 3-4 hours in 2 qts of water. Strain through coffee filter and you have active ingredient for your pesticide formulation. 

Allow for ingredient to chill to room temperature before pouring into plastic mixing bottle. Use about a 1:5 with water.  

Our buckwheat is going to work also attracting many beneficial insects. 

Using wood chips as mulch worked wonders. The picture below was taken just before adding a third layer of wood chips, the picture above was taken after. This is a major component to how we solved our dwarf transplant problems. Wood chips are great for storing and absorbing based on its site specific conditions.

The wood chips did a great job at suppressing weeds and holding in moisture. 

Reminder of what the beds looked like during construction. 

Just after transplanting but before adding wood chips. At this time we were watering more often and weeding more as well.

First harvest
Just in time for Thanksgiving!!

Oh hey carrots!