tomato plant that have been decapitated by cutworms will sometimes sprout again, but since you cant

be sure that they will, you must still replant. Control. Be sure to protect your plants from cutworms when you set them out. The very next day may be too late. Two natural controls for cutworms include a tiny wasp, Trichogramma prtiosum, which parasitizes cutworm eggs, and the beneficial nematode Neoplectana carpocapsae, offered as Seek, which preys on cutworms, wireworms, cabbage root maggots, and other soil-dwelling caterpillars. Birds will also pluck cutworms from tilled soil, but you probably shouldnt rely on them to protect your plants from this pest. The cutworm must wrap itself around the stem of a plant in order to bite through it. Consequently, any device that will make this encircling maneuver difficult or impossible for the cutworm will protect the plant. We have used each of the following three method successfully: 1. cut slits in index card or any stiff paper and wrap the card snugly around each plant stem to form a cylinder around the plant. Half the card should be above soil level and half below. This works, but its a nuisance to do when cold spring winds are stiffening your fingers. 2. Stick a small twig into the ground three inches below soil level and protruding two to three inches above the soil near each seedling,. The twig should be right next to the plant stem, touching it, so that it forms a tough barrier that foils the soft-bodied, bristlymouthed larvae. If youve dug wood chips into your garden soil, youll probably have plenty of twigs within reach as you work your way down the row with the flats and trowel. Otherwise, collect a supply in advance. Dry asparagus stalks are often handy and work quite well. 3. Tear scrap aluminum foil into pieces about three inches by two inches. Wrap the foil around the plant stem a you get the seedlings in the ground, again making certain that half will extent below ground level and half above. Flea Beetles. These tiny, very active, black insects are the size of a pinhead. They appear early and riddle certain plant leaves with small round holes. Eggplant, tomato, broccoli, and other small cabbage-family seedlings are especially vulnerable. Last year I lost a flat of cabbage seedlings to flea beetles, which devoured them in just a day. I had made the mistake of putting the flat out at the edge of the garden near some weeds infested with flea beetles. Control. Flea beetles thrive in hot, dry places. They dislike moisture and shade. In small gardens they can be washed off the plants with a stream of water from the hose. It helps some to diversify your plantings, too. Flea beetle infestations are usually worse when large areas are planted to the same crops. Keep seedlings well supplied with fertilizer and water; rapidly growing plants can usually outlive an early-spring beetle outbreak. Also, keep the garden clear of boards and other hiding places over winter so that flea beetles wont have handy shelters to help them survive the winter. Mexican Bean Beetles. The coppery-colored adult beetles resemble large ladybugs. Their destructive soft-bodied yellow larvae eat holes in plant leaves and scar and deform the beans, too. Affected plants die from loss of leaf surface. Control. Bean beetles also often can be circumvented by making both an extra-early planting of a cold-resistant bean like Royalty and a late planting of a quick-maturing kind like Bountiful Stringless (matures in 47 days). The early beans will usually yield one good picking before the

beetles have a chance to multiply, and late plantings, even though cold nights may slow them down a bit, often thrive in the absence of the heat-loving beetles during early fall. For more certain control, try the recently released Pediobius foveolatus wasp, a tiny parasite that preys on Mexican bean beetle larvae. The Pediobius wasp is not native and cant be depended on to overwinter, so a new supply must be ordered each spring. The wraps should be placed in the garden when larvae first appear. Another natural ally, Coccipolipus, is a mite that attacks adult Mexican bean beetles. Research looks promising, and I hope the mites will soon be available to gardeners. Nematodes. Nematodes exists everywhere, even in the polar tundra. Most of the thousands of different nematodes that have been identified are smaller than a printed period. The majority of nematodes are helpful, or at least innocuous, but the minority (one-tenth or so) that do damage plants are responsible for a vast amount of plant destruction. Tiny as they are, their sharp mouthparts, formed like a hollow spear, are capable of penetrating tough roots. Then a suction-forming bulb behind the nematodes esophagus draws out plant juices. All this violence goes on underground, unseen. Symptoms of nematode infestation are, in fact, vague and nonspecific. The plant may simply go into a slow decline. Often the nematode-weakened plant succumbs to a secondary bacterial or fungal invasion. Control. Helpful organisms live in the soil, too. Predacious fungi, which thrive on organic matter in the soil, are capable of trapping and engulfing, even of hunting down nematodes. At least 50 different nematode-attacking fungi have been identified so far, and more are being found as studies continue. Once again, then, we find that good soil-building practices like composting, green manuring, and digging in mulch will defend plants on many levels. Marigolds, especially the French varieties, produce a root exudate that makes the soil around their roots inhospitable to nematodes. It is sometimes necessary to plant the flowers in the same spot several years in a row to get the full benefit of their nematode-spooking activity. Slugs . These soft-bodied, snaillike creatures without shells are on the prowl during the damp, early days of spring. They seem to be especially fond of lettuce and peas, and they seek acid soil. Control. If you know what they like (beer or yeast solution in saucers or halves of citrus fruit) you can trap them. Or consider what they dont like - powdery, sharp, dry, or abrasive surfaces - and guard your garden accordingly by spreading lime, wood ashes, or diatomaceous earth around your plants. It is also helps to spread ashes, sand, or cinders along garden paths. Sowbugs . These are half-inch-long, gray crustaceans that roll up into balls when disturbed (hence their other common name, pillbugs). They feed on tender roots and shoots of young plants and can be a real problem in garden bed next to buildings, for they lurk in crevices and under boards and debris. Control. Ive never had any luck in getting rid of them once they were established. The best defense is prevention. Clear away all boards, boxes, piles of plant refuse, and other objects from the garden area, and try moving your vegetable patch to an open space in the yard if plantings next to your house are bitten hard by these pests. Woody and mature plants are not as attractive to sowbugs as young, tender seedlings. Watch out for sowbugs under the protective covers you put over new transplants, especially opaque covers. Wireworms. These inch-long, brown, hard-shelled, segmented larvae of the click beetle eat the juicy interior tissue of roots and seeds. The damage they do to young seedlings can be severe in a badly infested plot. They often persist in gardens recently dug from sod.

Control. Baiting them with potatoes or other food is a short-term remedy. The best plan is to correct the conditions that favor wireworm population growth: poor drainage and lack of aeration. Dig up the sod patch early in the season and disk (cultivate with a harrow or plow) or till it. At the same time, incorporate as much compost, old mulch, rooted manure, or other organic material as possible into the soil to increase aeration deep down. The beneficial nematode Neoplectana carpocapsae, offered as Seek, preys on wireworms. An insect Solution as Control. A new insect-control method, that of spraying affected plants with a diluted solution made from the ground-up pests themselves, has been gaining favor among adventurous gardeners and experiments. Although its been suggested that the effectiveness of the spray is due to its ability to infect healthy insects with contagious diseases from infected insects, the whole idea is still very much in the experimental stage. The nice thing about it, though, is that it doesnt cost much to try. Predatory Insects as Controls. The large wasps and yellow jackets that live near your garden are probably already at work feasting on insect pests. They kill leafhoppers, moth and potato beetle larvae, grasshoppers, and other undesirables. Blooming fennel, dill, and other plants of the Umbelliferae family often attract tiny beneficial wasps. Lacewing and syrphid fly larvae consume moth eggs, aphids, thrips, and leaf hoppers. Lacewing larvae, also called aphid lions, are more likely to remain in your garden than imported ladybugs. As with the Pediobius wasp, mail-order companies sell the eggs (see the source list in the back of this book for addresses). With any biological control, try to time your release of helpful predators so that there are some insects for them to work on but before the infestation becomes overwhelming. Better yet, make several releases, which is still less trouble than spraying several times.

Animal Pests
Fending off raids by seedling-destroying wildlife has brought out the creative ingenuity of many a gardener. The following devices have worked for a good number of people. Perhaps one of them will help you. Ask elderly neighbors and relatives, too. Folklore is particularly strong and often effective in this department. Deer. Deer are especially fond of legumes - soybeans, peanuts, snap beans, and peas. They can wipe out a whole bed or several rows in an evening of snacking. Control. Spread wire-mesh fencing flat on the ground where the deer must cross it to get to the garden. Scatter lion manure around the garden; the essence of fierce predator that this conveys to noncarnivorous animals makes them uneasy. (This repellent, commercialized as Zoo-Doo, is produced by the Bronx Zoo in New York and the Portland Zoo in Oregon. If you dont live in either of these areas, try asking at the nearest zoo). Sprinkle blood meal around the edge of the garden, or water around the plants with water in which youve soaked the liver of a butchered animal. In extreme cases, fence in the garden with six-to eight-foot fence. Rabbits. Rabbits are most likely to eat beans and other legumes, lettuce, and sometimes beet greens - anything tender - but they also enjoy pansies. Both deer and rabbits will often chomp off the tender top leaves and leave the tougher bottom stems. Control. Either the lion manure or the blood meal treatment used with deer will scare rabbits off until it gets rained into the ground. Then it must be repeated. Ive read that a few dead fish spotted around will deter rabbits, but I havent tried it.

Moles. Although their tunnels are unsightly on the lawn, the moles may not really be damaging your vegetable seedlings. Theyre after grubs, not your plants roots, when they burrow underground. Control. If they search for food does disrupt your young plants, though, try one of the following control: place unwrapped sticks of Juicy Fruit chewing gum in the runways. It gums up the moles digestive system. My gardening cousin Wally informs me that this method banished the moles from this garden. Plant scilla bulbs over the runways. Flood the runways with water. Poke into the tunnel a windmill or pinwheel on a stick or any other device that will send vibrations into the tunnel. Plant castor beans near the runs. (Be aware, though, that the seeds of this plant are poisonous).

Once you start to ask around, youll hear all kinds of mole cures. Some of them even work sometimes. Try the gum first. Its the earliest. Crows. Are crows eating your young corn? Control. The crow is no dummy; any scare device you use to drive him off must be changed frequently. Try the following setups: crisscross the patch with string about five inches above the ground. This makes take off difficult for the birds. Hang fur shiny pie plates or other reflectors that blow in the wind and catch the light. Make a scarecrow, though this will be more picturesque than effective. String several kernels of corn on a long piece of horsehair and leave it in the field. Crows that get the hair stuck in their throats are said to give out alarm cries, warning other crows away. Plant thickly.

Red-winged Blackbirds. Red-winged blackbirds also eat corn. Control. Try applying one teaspoon of turpentine to each pound of corn seeds several hours before planting.

22 The Young Seed-Planter

Tending a small plot or garden row of a certain crop can be a fine activity for the child, provided he or she really wants to have a garden. It is the garden assignment imposed from above, as a worthwhile experience, that may lead to trouble, because the expectations of parent and child differ. Im not taking here about the help that a child is expected to give in the main garden with weeding, picking, and shelling, but about the special plots that are sometimes unrealistically give to the child for his or her own use. Above all, you want the childs first garden efforts to be successful and satisfying. A child who experiences repeated gardening failures, such as poor germination or weed takeover, would be better off not having had a garden experience, but rather waiting until motivation and capability were better matched.

Help to Make It Work

Sooner or later, though, most children want to plant something. How will you guide them in their first seed-planting efforts? Whole books have been written on this subject (see Recommended Reading, at the back of this book). Ill just sketch here a few things we learned when helping our own children with their small gardens, which enjoyed varying degree of success. Choose Easily Grown Plants. Give the child something besides radishes to plant. I dont care what the gardening books say: Radishes can be tricky. Yes, theyre fast and bright colored, but they can be strong tasting and maggot tunnelled just as easily as not. Beans take only a few weeks longer, and the large seed are easy for a child to handle. Nasturtiums are good, you can eat the leaves and the flowers. A small plot of corn attains spectacular growth, but be sure to protect it well from animal raiders. Cherry tomatoes grow fast and make good snacks. Sugar peas bear before the weeds get bad. They were one of our childrens most dependable garden vegetables. Sunflowers are natural for kids - fast growing and a good snack food. Onion sets shoot up quickly, but need pretty thorough weeding. Save the carrots and eggplant for later. Use Good Soil . Choose a patch of good soil, not a rubble of builders fill or hard clay ground where you wouldnt want a garden. Give the child every chance to succeed by providing the best possible conditions. Start with a Small Plot. Begin simply and keep the plot small. Nothing is more discouraging than feeling overwhelmed by the garden, and no child needs the guilt feelings engendered by a weedy, unmanageable patch.