Monarda punctata, spotted bee balm, is a native wildflower here in Florida and an important pest control plant at Arendell Hill. Spotted bee balm attracts beneficial pollinators and wasps and beetles, such as native ladybugs. Spotted bee balm also serves as a decoy, diverting pest bugs away from hemp crops. Seeking out Monarda's nectar, potential pest insects soon find themselves consumed by lady beetles, dragonflies and other insects foraging in the bee balm.
 |
| Organic Hemp IPM Incorporates Spotted Bee Balm, Arendell Hill Nursery |
December, with its cooler and shorter days here in Florida is the perfect time to root cuttings. I cut six to eight inch healthy stem tips from a thriving bee balm plant and place the cuttings in a 72 count seed tray filled with a mixture of perlite, vermiculite and rockwool. Cuttings are placed in a shade house and misted every twenty minutes for ten seconds.
 |
| Organic Pest Control Plants; Monarda cuttings root easily without hormones |
That is it. In two to three weeks the cuttings are rooted and ready to be potted up into four inch pots filled with an organic potting mixture.
Moreover, a very important benefit of incorporating Monarda punctata into a native plant based organic pest control management plan for the hemp garden is the plant's ability to attract the predatory sand wasps! Sand wasps are highly effective at controlling hemp damaging marmorated stink bugs.
A stink bug infestation can quickly devour much of a hemp crop in short time.
Fortunately sand wasps love to feed their larvae stink bugs. Sand wasps are a group of predatory wasps that include the Astata and the brightly colored Bicyrtes species. Sand wasps seek out the nectar of Monarda, mountain mint (Pycnanthemum spp.) and milkweeds (Asclepias spp). Adult sand wasps especially love to hone in on the odor of marmorated stink bugs.
Mamorated stink bugs, Halyomorpha halys, are an exotic pest native to the far east but now widespread in North America. These pests can inflict significant damage on hemp crops as well as cannabis and other agricultural plants. Yet sand wasps will kill these stink bugs and carry their bodies into tunnels in the ground to feed wasp larvae where they live during maturation.
A single sand wasp may kill dozens of stink bugs across the hemp cultivation area, greatly reducing potential pest damage risk.
 |
| Organic Hemp Pest Control involves many native plants, like Spotted Bee Balm which attracts beneficial insects |
Spotted bee balm is also one of the most carefree and easiest native plants and wildflowers to grow, requiring little if any attention while being resilient to salt, wind and drought.
Native plants are often ignored when integrated pest management programs are developed for organic hemp cultivation, yet native plants offer so many benefits to the hemp and cannabis grower. Just as Monarda punctata attracts the stink bug killing sand wasp, other native species too play host to insects, amphibians, reptiles and birds that work together as an efficient team, keeping ecosystem balanced and effectively reducing pest pressures on crops.
No comments:
Post a Comment