Insects

       We have come into several problems with insects on our crops. Our squash plants are being eaten by something. We have looked all over for caterpillars or some other kind of pest, but have not been able to find the culprit. Sadly, one of the six squash we planted died entirely. Another lost its blossoms. Mary and I have tried to do some research on the damage, but it's rather generic and we have had no luck figuring out what kind of insect is doing the damage. We are going to treat our plants with a general pesticide in hopes of saving the remainder.

       We are having similar problems with our carrots. Carrots have a slow germination rate. In addition, we had a relatively low success with germination and we did not have a very high percentage. In addition, a few of them have dropped their tops. They seem to be healthy until the tops just break off. Once again, it is hard to figure out what actually is causing the damage. Several things have the ability to do that, including soil pests and poor drainage. Our soil is well draining and with good nutrition the carrots should be able to withstand a marginal amount of pest damage.
 
    Another pest that is present throughout our entire garden plot is fire ants. They are not only causing damage to the foliage and roots, but they make it very unpleasant to work in the garden. We spread corn grits near the ant hills as an organic way to manage them. Already we have seen a decrease in the ant population.
 The last insect we have found present in our garden is actually beneficial. There are many different species of bees present in the garden. They have been actively pollinating our beans and tomatoes giving us a good crop yield so far. This picture however shows bees pollinating weed flowers in our plot. We are still have our work cut out for us maintaining the weeds.