Solving mysteries on the farm

As a child, I loved reading Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mystery books. As a young adult, I preferred murder mystery and crime novels. Now, as a new farmer, I am solving farm mysteries by doing a lot of research! It is a challenging new hobby that always seems to leave me with more questions at the end of the day. Here are a few of our recently solved mysteries that might help some of you other new farmers out there!

1. Why are some of our pac choi yellowing and dying off while others are healthy and still growing?  

 

Answer: Sometimes over watering can cause yellowing and wilting leaves. We noticed that the pac choi that are yellowing are in a part of a row that sometimes gets flooded after watering for an hour with our drip tape. Next year, we need to make sure to level out this part of the row, so that flooding doesn't happen.

2. What is making holes in our beautiful green bean leaves?

Answer: We think it is either bean leaf beetles or grasshopper nymphs. Bean leaf beetles, as their name implies, primarily feed on bean species including soybeans. They typically feed on younger, more tender foliage. They are not always evident at first view as they feed on the undersides of leaves.Small grasshopper nymphs will eat very small holes in the leaf, similar to the injury caused by Japanese beetles, but the holes are often jagged and not very oval in shape.



3. Why does our potato trench look like a green algae-ridden swamp land?

Answer: We meant to do that! We are growing our own bio-fuel! :) Hahaha! Okay, we are not that advanced yet... Our potato trench is a green swamp land because we mistakenly dug it at the lowest, downhill spot in our farm. All of the rain water runs downhill and into our potato trench. Unfortunately, this is where our blue potatoes are planted and I think they may not yield any harvest this year due to rotting. Lesson learned!





4. Why do slugs and roly polys like our compost bin?

Answer: Slugs and roly polys like to hide out in damp, shady places during the heat of the day. In fact, slugs, snails, worm etc are all good workers in your compost bin. You're giving them an 'all you can eat' buffet and they are helping me break down vegetable matter.





5. Why do some weeds never seem to die?
Answer: After covering rows full of weeds with black plastic for two-weeks, we killed most all of the weeds. However, there are some weeds that still seem to survive. One in particular hard-to-kill weed is this seeded pod weed. It is my professional opinion that some weeds have evolved to withstand atomic bombs, nuclear strikes, and possibly live on the face of the sun. I pull these weeds out by hand and throw them in a far off ditch.