Flea Beetles are our first pest...

[Doug Butdorf]

Hello All,

Martha Warmuth reports seeing flea beetles among our gardens. These are generally not too much of a problem, but as you can see from the quote from the recent Vegetable Growers Update from the Cornell Cooperative, they are particularly damaging to new seedling transplants of cole plants when the weather is dry, as it has been for us (Cole Plants are generally the cold hardy plants you have out right now: Brussels sprout, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, broccoli, turnips and watercress).

From Cornell Cooperative: "Severe infestations of flea beetles will stunt and kill transplants, with cole crops being the favored choice of the insect. Flea beetles do best in stable warm spring weather and seedlings of crops are most vulnerable to flea beetle feeding when stressed, particularly by inadequate moisture. In other words, our crops are currently very vulnerable!

Small-scale and organic growers can often exclude flea beetles by immediately covering transplants with light-weight row cover. It is important to cover the edges with soil to prevent gaps that flea beetles will find."

Here is a video from Johnny's Seeds on how to install the row cover correctly (you can do it over just a few plants, too, you don't have to cover your whole bed). Row Cover is available for sale at Cook & Gardner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7aqJM7_ueE

IMPORTANT NOTE - Row Cover should be installed BEFORE you have beetles. Please remember that we'll probably have a problem with Cucumber beetles on our squash plants, too, so you'll very much want to get this on if you plan to grow those. The row cover lets in about 85 % of the light and will hold in some soil heat too, so they are a good solution if we see a light frost, as well.

Thanks, Martha, for the report!

Doug
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Doug Butdorf
Plattsburgh Community Garden Group
http://www.PlattsburghCommunityGarden.org
dbut...@gmail.com
518-314-1390 - desk