Fungi play an important part in our integrated pest management program. Tracking fungi appearance and location is an important part of the organic matrix at Arendell Hill. January fungi under live oaks, coral fungi, Ramaria sp. considering R. formosa. Leon County
Tracking fungi across Hemp Cultivation area helps us understand the role fungi play in pest control
Caterpillars, when their population numbers grow unchecked, can devastate a hemp or cannabis crop in a matter of hours.
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| Organic Hemp Cultivation Pest Control, Managing Eastern Tent Caterpillar Web Masses |
Last year there was a significant population bloom of the Eastern Tent Caterpillars, Malacosoma americanum in east Leon County. The thick, web masses began to appear during spring and continued to grow in size through summer into autumn, finally falling to the ground with winter winds and rainstorms.
Here across Arendell Hill we counted thousands of the Eastern Tent Caterpillars over the course of the growing season. They would crawl down from the safety of their web nests, across the ground and find any number of plants, including trees, to feed on, devouring blossoms, buds and leaves alike.
Our Myers lemons were hit especially hard from hungry caterpillar appetites.
Arendell Hill Nursery was not the only place infested with an over-population of the M. americanum, I encountered significant numbers of these caterpillars all across the city. Park benches placed around our local library green space were often covered in masses of M. americanum.
As autumn leaves fall, so often do Eastern Tent Caterpillar eggs. Their eggs are usually laid en masse around twigs, at the base of leaves. Winter storms often blow these egg masses to the ground where they become mixed with leaf litter and await warmer weather before hatching.
An important part of any organic based integrated pest management program is prevention. One way to control on-site Eastern Tent Caterpillar populations is through daily ground surveillance. Make it a habit to be on the lookout for fallen egg or web masses. When you come across the eggs or webs on the ground, pick them up, place in a trash bag, tie securely then drop the bag into the garbage can for landfill destination pick up.
Chances are the web masses may not actually contain eggs but chances are also they may.
Eastern Tent Caterpillar egg and web masses blend in well with fallen leaf litter. With a little practice one can soon find these well camouflaged potential future pest masses and begin disposing of in a convenient refuse container.
Much of the time the most successful organic pest control practices spring forth from common sense practices and an understanding of pest insect and bug life cycles.
Controlling Eastern Tent Caterpillars before they hatch is much easier than battling hoards of hungry pests.
Arendell Hill has two new raptor perches now and we hope the birds of prey make themselves at home on the fourteen feet tall bird stands. These raptor perches are inexpensive and easy to build, and can be moved as necessary to different locations in the future.
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| Organic Hemp Cultivation incorporates birds as pest control partners. Here is one of two raptor perches at Arendell Hill. |
The horizontal perch section is a 1 1/4" diameter wooden dowel and is fastened to the vertical support pole.
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| Raptor perch, horizontal wooden dowel attached to vertical metal support pole |
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| Raptor Perch materials, IPM for Organic Hemp Cultivation |
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| Raptor perch support pole should be plumb vertical |
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| Raptor perch support poles are fastened together and secured with metal screws |
Last post we discussed the important roles wild birds have in organic based pest control for hemp cultivation.
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| Ruby throated hummingbird, Archilochus colubris attracted to the many native plants of Arendell Hill Nursery, feeds on nectar & tiny insects |
As we previously read, a wild songbird partnership begins with native plant landscaping. Birds have always sought out native plant species for foraging, communal and safe harbor habitat. Native plant species are their first choice when they are deciding to take up residence on a site. This also holds true for raptors and migratory birds. The connection with native plants lies deep within all birds DNA, a quid pro quo arrangement formed during earth's deep time.
Certainly non-native horticultural type plants may be popular and even attractive, however they do not offer the level of wild bird provisions afforded by native plant species. This is a proven fact. Moreover, non-native horticultural plants may also provide unwanted hemp pests a place to proliferate and do harm to native plant species through hybridization and even DNA alteration.
Many non-native plants can quickly spread across the landscape, their seeds dispersed by winds, wildlife and human activity. An organic hemp farmer will need to be able recognize invasive plants, such as Coral Ardisia, Ardisia crenata, or air potato vine, Dioscorea buldifera and implement control actions to stop the non-native's spread throughout the hemp agriculture site.
Importantly, one of the keys to high terpene content in flower buds of any variety is a high level of biodiversity and complexity in the surrounding ecosystem matrix. Non-native species reduce biodiversity, sometimes drastically. The coral ardisia and air potato vines mentioned above are one particular threat to hemp farms because invasive plants can quickly displace hundreds of native plant species that previously existed within the hemp ecosystem matrix depleting biodiversity and throttling production of complex terpene expression in hemp flowers.
Complexity of terpenes in hemp due to biodiversity is what makes a flower special. When a flower is desirable to the consumer, demand and sales increase. High quality hemp is the goal of most growers. By attracting cultivation site songbirds and planting a diverse landscape of native plants the grower gains more control over unwanted pests and also increases the quality of the hemp product by keeping cultivation site biodiversity high. The songbird-ecosystem matrix complexity-terpene-hemp plant relationship is a very important grow optimization concept for the farmer to explore.
History is full of examples of plants providing humans with amazing phytochemicals, substances rich in healing properties. For instance, yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria contains caffeine and many terpenes too. Songbirds love to eat holly berries. Yaupon also provides a home across its bark for countless different species of lichens and mosses. Older yaupon plants support a complexity of fungi and mushrooms. All of these ecosystem variables; the fungi, the lichens, mosses, birds, plant and wildlife litter interact together to help form a web of ecosystem matrix diversity that is essential to comprehensive terpene creation in hemp and other plants.
Native plants have evolved over the ages alongside soil formation, fungi & lichens, plants, weather trends, insects, birds, fish, lake, river and stream creation and flow, climate changes and other biological and geophysical factors. The ecosystems we are a part of today were fashioned and shaped through millennia, a result of 'trial and error' over vast expanses of time.
Native ecosystems are the product of natures long term refinement processes. In fact the time factor nature has invested into forming the ecosystems around us is so vast that it is practically impossible for us to comprehend what has taken really place.
The result of these evolutionary process can be witnessed in the precisely balanced interactions associated with native ecosystems. Natural checks and balances keep seasonal life cycles functioning smoothly. This way no one or two life types becomes over abundant or out of control.
So for the hemp farmer, outdoor growing can expose hemp plants to geophysical and biological variables that may activate both biological and epigenetic process resulting in increased terpene production and diversity. Many terpenes important to humans for cosmetic, pharmaceutical, agricultural and food purposes are synthesized by plants as responses to outside influences, or ecosystem variables. Some of these may be related to the ecosystematic complexities surrounding presence of native plants, insects, fungi, birds and wildlife.
A strategically designed native plant filled landscape not only provides the basis for increased terpene development but also serves as the foundation for organic integrated pest management purposes.
Once native flora is established, birds will make themselves at home and begin to assist in managing insect populations.
I've found the following native plant species to be especially helpful in recruiting songbirds, raptors and other wild birds.
Shrubs and small trees:
In the last several posts we've introduced the concept of ecosystem matrices into our discussion of organic integrated pest management (OIPM). A balanced ecosystem exists when all of the many existing biological and geophysical entities are functioning in equilibrium with themselves and each other. This seamless functioning forms the basis of an organic integrated pest management approach for the hemp farm.
Balanced ecosystems function efficiently. Throughout deep time nature has refined how ecosystems work so that all life within an ecosystem has a place, function and role to play. Within the biological and geophysical parameters of a balanced ecosystem, all life forms carry out predictable, functional duty. Change does occurs but in a measured sense. Functional ecosystem homeostasis is usually maintained on a rolling basis.
However, when the ecosystem becomes unbalanced some life forms may become overly dominant, consuming and damaging to other ecosystem entities. Hemp farm pests such as certain caterpillars for example may play an important role in a balanced ecosystem yet in the absence of normally present control factors and predators, such as fire or birds, may experience such a rise in population numbers that they disrupt the predictable garden homeostasis and cause uncontrolled damage to crops.
The key to maintaining ecosystem homeostasis begins with an understanding of the hemp growing areas' biological and geophysical dynamics. What fungi, plants and animal live on and use the hemp farm land? What are the typical weather trends including rainfall amount and wind characteristics? What is the soil comprised of? How is the air quality? Every life form and geophysical variable that interacts with other farm life forms and geophysical parameters becomes an important part of the ecosystem matrix flux.
A good start to understanding ecosystem matrices begins with a list of what exists and what is happening across the growing area. A hemp farmer who has a good understanding of his or her farm's ecosystem matrix should be able to jot down a relatively comprehensive bullet list of their garden's parameters . This list will represent the existing site variables. The existing state is a reflection of the site in the present moment. The list of existing site parameters will usually be somewhat different than the site's historical, or intrinsic list of what has previously existed and happened across the site previous to human development impacts.
This list should evolve into an ongoing effort in identifying the hemp farm's ecosystem variables, much like a diary. The process of journalling identifies plants, animals, insects, weather conditions, sunrise and sunset times, weather events such as snow, rain and wind, and other variables. The hemp farm ecosystem matrix variable journal can be developed over time by notation of observed variables into a notebook, on a phone or the computer.
The hemp farm journal will become more and more accurate and comprehensive over time as documentation accumulates. Certainly collection of data requires a focused effort. Day in and day out the hemp farmer must record what they encounter during the day. Often, the most seemingly insignificant events can many times be the trigger that exerts influence over pests. Many times these trigger events can go unnoticed, all the while supporting an increased pest presence.
As the amount of information in the journal grows, the usefulness of the data increases. For me, the key to understanding volumes of hemp farm journal data is found in how the data is presented. The journal's daily entries need to be arranged in a visually coherent manner to be most relevant and useful. Once the raw data is compiled into a logical presentation, relationships between pest damage and ecosystem matrix variables can be more easily identified.
Although any collected data can be useful to the hemp farmer, a comprehensive journal will contain a minimum of one complete years observations. A multi-year hemp growing journal will contain invaluable information that can provide worthwhile tools to the grower.
There are several approaches to organizing hemp farm existing matrix variables. Table format is one way and graphs are another approach. As a visual learner I do best with data arranged in graphic presentation. There are any number of ways to arrange hemp farm ecosystem matrix data and while developing the existing ecosystem matrix variable list it is worthwhile to also research what the site's historical (intrinsic) ecosystem matrix might have been like. Sometimes, on non-disturbed high quality successional or native forest sites there will be few differences between the existing ecosystem matrix or matrices and the intrinsic, historical ecosystem matrices.
Across farmed, agricultural or in disturbed urban garden sites the existing and historically intrinsic ecosystem matrices will differ. As there will usually be a number of remnant matrix variables still interacting on disturbed sites, it will be important for the hemp grower to have a broad understanding of both the intrinsic and existing ecosystem matrices on their cultivation plot or greenhouse.
Knowledge of how the growing plot evolved on a historical basis and how the land functions today will allow the hemp grower to quickly assess trends, those beneficial to desired plant growth and those detrimental to the hemp crop (or any other organically grown crop).
A highly successful Organic Integrated Pest Management System must be based in comprehensive knowledge of how the growing area functioned as an ecosystem in past times and how the farm's present ecosystem variables interact.
With this knowledge the grower can hopefully begin to manage ecosystem matrix variables with organic based approaches. The finest hemp plants may be grown this way, without toxic and industrial chemicals. The beauty of organically grown plants encompasses so many health and quality benefits, always appreciated by both the consumer.
How you depict your ecosystem matrix depends on what table, illustration, chart or list works best for you. Each grower will have their own method. The important fact is that the grower understands that the cultivation site possesses a historical (intrinsic) set of ecosystem variables which have evolved over time into the unique matrix of today.
A grower who understands how their intrinsic and existing ecosystem matrices function will produce the very best organic agriculture product with minimal pest pressure. Organic integrated pest management must begin with this broad understanding of site dynamics.
