Where Are the Flea Beetles?

I probably shouldn’t say this, because I will jinx myself, but a lot of our usual pests have not shown up this year. Don’t get me wrong, we still have plenty of pests to deal with, and some are doing some real damage. But overall, things are looking pretty good, pest wise.

Just look at that head of cabbage! It is absolutely gorgeous! That is the most perfect cabbage I have ever grown. No slugs, no cabbage worms, no flea beetles. I will probably find some of those later, but right now I see cabbage heads that don’t have any damaged leaves to peel away. (I will peel some down to get the cabbage to a manageable size.)

We finished digging our first bed of carrots yesterday. We dug a whole bed of carrots without one vole bite! Granted, it was one of the short beds, at 90 feet long. But still, that has not ever happened to us here before, that I can recall. The vole and field mouse population has been climbing the whole time we have been at the farm in Rickreall. We think it finally crashed this past winter. The carrots are certainly evidence of that.

To keep things real, I will tell you that the gopher population seems to be growing. They have eaten quite a few cauliflower, broccoli, artichoke, and lettuce plants. Cauliflower, broccoli, and artichoke plants are big. Too see them disappear down a hole in the ground is pretty frightening. We bought a bunch of new traps and are trying to catch as many as we can.

Aphids are another pest that has been plentiful this year. It takes a while for our native ladybugs to emerge, but they are out now, in good numbers, eating up all those aphids.

So, we’ll be thankful for the pests we don’t have, keep working on the ones we do, and enjoy the beautiful, relatively pest free produce, as long as it lasts.