Today we got to try something new (to us)… using beneficial insects! Our greenhouse cucumbers have been hit hard by spider mites, and so Stephanie went looking and discovered that there’s a predatory mite that can be used to help control spider mite populations. Did you know that spider mites usually have a life cycle around 20 days, but in high temperatures (like a greenhouse) they can shorten to 4 days? If each adult can lay over 100 eggs under the leaves… I can see why we can go from a few to an infestation very very quickly. Thankfully, with a little poking at her phone, we have predatory mites on site within 24h to help us bring the spider mite population back down!
This is what’s called biological control, when we use an understanding of ecology to control pests. In this case by bringing in a predator mite, the idea is they’ll eat the spider mites and thrive. Once their food source (spider mites) runs out, these predator mites will be out of food and will also die off or back, keeping the population levels in check. Let’s root for the good bugs this week, hard at work for us!
We've also got some good bounties to share with you this week, if anyone wants to freeze or pickle batches of garlic scapes I've listed them by the lb this week! There's as many zucchini and pattypans as you could eat. Lots of basil and cilantro too this week, and gorgeous big romaine heads as well as mini red romaine heads. We originally thought we'd package up the mini-romaine heads with a red and a green... but the greens were ready to harvest earlier than the reds, oh well! Maybe next round ;)
