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Re: Something is eating my Broccoli!

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

At 05:50 PM 4/10/99 -0600, Andy Arkusinski wrote:
>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>I'm gradually expanding my square foot garden.  This year is the first for
>brassicas -- 6 each broccoli and cauliflower, a couple cabbage and two
>squares of kale in a 4x4 raised bed.  I started the seeds indoors Feb 13,
>and transplanted them on March 6, under a cold frame for a week.  These
>guys have been the greenest, nicest looking plant in the garden, giving me
>a lot of pleasure watching them grow.
>
>Recently something has been attacking my brassicas.  At first some nibbles
>off one cabbage, but not the other.  I put it down to rabbits that decided
>they didn't like the taste.  Then I noticed some leaves broken off a
>broccoli or two.  That could have been the dog walking though (Great
>Pyrenees) who treats the straw-covered potato bed as her sleeping spot, and
>who has dug up one of the empty beds.  When the damage increased, I put up
>a plastic netting fence around the bed (1-inch grid) to keep out rabbits
>and such.  That was last night, and today there is another broccoli
>destroyed, and one of the cauliflowers also.
>
>The worst damage is from the main stem being broken/eaten.  Leaves also
>appear to be eaten, as well as broken off an lying next to the plant.
>There is no visible evidence of insect infestation to my novice eyes.  I
>notices some of the leaves had portions that were dried out -- it attribute
>that to mechanical trauma.  I would not expect a slug problem here in arid
>NM, and the damage does not look like pictures of slug damage I've seen.
>There are no rabbit droppings.  The bed is constructed of cinder blocks
>stacked two high, with the fencing coming down to ground level, so a rabbit
>would have to get between the fencing and the block, then climb up to get
>in the bed.  The same kind of fence protoected the salad square last year,
>so I think it will also work for the brassicas.
>
>I'm at a loss regarding what pest could be attacking my boccoli.  Can
>anyone on the list shed some light?  I'm going to put some mousetraps out
>tonight (baited with cheese?) in case it's a mouse, but that's a shot in
>the dark.
>
>Andy
>Whose black thumb with lettuce came through again this year.
>
I hesitated about answering this because this post is accompanied by a
demand that we let Andy know we've seen his post. I angrily attacked
another person a couple of days ago for this (perhaps a different list),
and he said it was an interoffice memo message that shouldn't have been in
his email.  He was very apologetic.  I hope Andy will get rid of that rider
without increasing anyone's blood pressure.

It may be armyworms eating your broccoli. Spray it with BT and see what
happens.  Margaret L


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