Organic Hemp Cultivation Pest Plant Alert, Lamium amplexicaule aka Henbit

 Henbit, Lamium amplexicaule, is a purple flowered non-native groundcover with an aggressive growing habit renown for taking away native plants growing space.

Lamium amplexicaule, Henbit and Organic Hemp Cultivation

Once established, henbit is difficult to eradicate.

There are two main species of Lamium in Florida, henbit and purple deadnettle, L. purpureum.  Purple deadnettle differs from henbit visually with purple hued leaved near the plant top, or apex.  Henbit also can be usually recognized by the way it's leaves directly clasp the stem.

Although diminutive, lacy in appearance and a rather pretty groundcover, henbit might be thought of as harmless yet the opposite is true.  It is estimated by many ecological experts that almost half of all native plant species are in population decline due to loss of habitat as a result of competition from non-native species.

Lamium competes with native groundcovers for water, growing space, nutrients and importantly can be a host for hemp or other crop damaging pest insects, including a number of nematode species such as Ditylenchus spp., Heterodera spp., and Meloidogyne spp. along with a number of viruses (including Arabis mosaic virus) and fungal pathogens.

Controlling Lamium spp. in rowcrop cultivation settings can be difficult.  This weedy plant is often thought of as an annual species however it may often behave as a biennial in Florida climates.

I prefer to help establish lyre-leaf sage, Salvia lyrata or turkey tangled frog fruit, Phyla nodiflora along with a host of much better suited native groundcovers that support beneficial predatory insects, beneficial pollinators and positive biological pest management.

Personally, if I see henbit growing in the hemp cultivation areas the plant quickly becomes a candidate for pulling and mechanical eradication/composting.  Better safe than sorry when growing hemp.

Raptor Perches for Organic Integrated Pest Management

 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.

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.

Raptor perch, horizontal wooden dowel attached to vertical metal support pole

The materials list is for two perches:

• Three 10' galvanized chain link fence top rail posts for vertical support
• One 4' in length 1 1/4" diameter wooden dowel for horizontal perch
• two galvanized chain link fence 1 3/8" T connectors 

Raptor Perch materials, IPM for Organic Hemp Cultivation

The tools I used to construct the raptor perches included; a fence post hammer (so much easier than a sledge hammer), level, portable ratchet, metal screws and portable screwdriver.

Raptor perch support pole should be plumb vertical

I cut one of the three ten foot top rail posts in half and drove the smaller diameter end into the ground using the pipe hammer approximately three feet or depending on the soil composition deep enough to keep the five foot pipe section sturdy.

Using the level I made sure the support pipe I was driving into the ground was vertically plumb, straight up and not skewed or leaning to the side.

Raptor perch support poles are fastened together and secured with metal screws

Once the support pipe is hammered into the ground then the small diameter end of the uncut ten foot six inch top rail pipe with the wooden dowel attached are placed into the support pipe. The two vertical pipes are fastened together with two metal screws.  A pilot hole can be drilled for the two metal screws.

Because the raptor perch support post is not permanently anchored in concrete, it can be moved depending upon hawk or other raptor flight patterns.  Disassembly is easy; unscrew the two metal screws, remove the longer top rail with perch attached then pull up the support pipe hammered into the ground.

Birds of prey such as both the red-shoulder and red-tail hawks, swallow tail kites, sharp-shinned hawks, Cooper's hawks, broad-winged hawk, Swainson's hawk, Screech owls, Barred owls, Great horned owls, Barn owls, Peregrine falcons, Kestrels and even vultures scour hemp cultivation areas for rodents and other vermin.

Rats, mice and other vermin will eat hemp and cannabis plants and flower buds for food and also for the phytochemical action upon their bodies. Once a vermin devours enough cannabis flower they make an easy target for a nearby bird of prey.

Raptor perches afford the birds of prey a reason to stop and check out the hemp farm.  For the grower, hawks and owls are an important part of the beneficial organic pest control team.

Rooting Bee Balm Cuttings Organically, Hemp Cultivation and Pest Control With Wasps

 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.

Organic Hemp Pest Control, a Native Plants & Songbird Partnership

 Last post we discussed the important roles wild birds have in organic based pest control for hemp cultivation.  

Ruby throated hummingbird, Archilochus colubris attracted to the many native plants of Arendell Hill Nursery, feeds on nectar & tiny insects

Today's post will consider what the hemp grower can do using native plant species to attract and manage birds interactions with the cannabis farm.

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:

• Wax myrtle, Morella cerifera
• Yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria
• American holly, Ilex opaca
• Gallberry, Ilex glabra
• Elderberry, Sambucus nigra
• Firebush, Hamelia patens
• Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana
• Hoptree, Ptelea trifoliata
• Coontie, Zamia integrifolia
• Red mulberry, Morus rubra
• Seagrape, Coccoloba uvifera & Pigeon plum, C. diversifolia (cold tender)
• Groundsel tree, Baccharis halimifolia
• Paurotis palm, Acoelorraphe wrightii (cold tender)
• Coco plum, Chrysobalanus icaco (cold tender)
• and many more.

Native tree species to plant for birds are:

• Oaks, such as;
• Live oak, Quercus virginiana
• White oak, Quercus alba
• Myrtle oak, Quercus myrtifolia
• Shumard oak, Quercus shumardii
• Swamp chesnut oak, Quercus michauxii
• and many more
• Red maple, Acer rubrum
• Hickory, including
• Mockernut hickory, Carya tomentosa
• Pignut hickory, Carya glabra
• Black walnut, Juglans nigra
• and others
• Magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora
• Black gum, Nyssa aquatica
• Cypress, Taxodium distichum & T. ascendens
• Pines species:
• Sand pine, Pinus clausa
• Slash pine, Pinus elliottii
• Spruce pine, Pinus glabra
• Longleaf pine, Pinus palustris
• Loblolly pine, Pinus taeda
• Sabal palm, Sabal palmetto
• Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis
• Tulip popular, Liriodendron tulipifera
• Silver buttonwood, Conocarpus erectus
• Mangroves;
• Black mangrove, Avicennis germinans
• Red mangrove, Rhizophora mangle (cold tender)
• White mangrove, Laguncularia racemosa (cold tender)
• and so many others

Native plant societies, wildflower associations, local agricultural extension agencies and native nursery business associations are all excellent information resources on what species to use and how to plant and care for native plants.

Here in Florida, the following entities can provide important growing info about native plants;

• Florida Wildflower Foundation 
• Florida Association of Native Nurseries 
• UF/IFAS 
• Florida Native Plant Society 

Hemp farm landscaping should always be included during initial hemp growing planning considerations. Native plant focused landscapes should be installed concurrent with any hemp cultivation efforts.

The organic hemp farmer needs all available help with pest control.  Hemp agriculture will demand significant amounts of time from the grower.  Native plants can serve as hosts to nature's own great pest control specialists.

Birds and Hemp Cultivation Organic Pest Control

 Guarded greenhouse cultivation of hemp and cannabis is the best way to avoid birds when growing hemp. Yet, the grower might ask, 'why would I want to exclude a great organic pest control partnership from my grow operation?'

We make sure the bluebirds have plenty of nesting boxes ready to use each year.  Bluebirds consume a significant amount of pest insects across the Arendell Hill Nursery.

Birds are practically ubiquitous.  Fences don't prevent their presence, neither does hunting.  Birds always come back to the garden. 

The smart organic hemp farmer understands that though birds will always be around and may present some negative issues (such as potential vectors of disease and damage to crops), they also provide a number of significant benefits, including;

• good control of caterpillar populations
• mitigation of excess squirrel numbers
• reduction in rodent infestations 
• removal of unwanted seed fall from adjacent landscape plants
• aphid and bug control
• cricket and grasshopper management
• and more

Disadvantages brought on by the birds can include;

• feces and droppings
• seeded bud damage
• broken branches

Because many hemp and cannabis growers prefer to purchase seed from seed supply companies, the issue of seed interference by birds comes down to 'are the birds damaging flowers and buds in search of seeds' or did 'the birds take my seeds'.

One approach many growers take is installing bird feeders at strategic locations around the hemp or cannabis growing areas.  Organic black oil sunflower seed and organic wild bird seed can be placed on trays or in dispensers.  Not only will this strategy attract pest eating birds to the area but also direct the birds away from crops and towards the feeders.

I hang the feeding platform about five feet above ground level on a piece of 1/2 galvanized pipe with a tee at the top hammered into the dirt.  We always have squirrels around Arendell Hill Nursery so our feeders must also be squirrel resistant too.  Audubon type squirrel guards work well.

Hawks and other raptors, while perfect for managing squirrel and rodent numbers, will also hunt the garden's songbirds.  Proper bird feeder placement requires sufficient native plant cover nearby.  

Evergreen natives, such as wax myrtle, Morella cerifera or southern magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora and American holly, Ilex opaca each offer good forage and cover for smaller songbirds.  Either place bird feeders close to the evergreen native shrub or plant a good size native close to the hemp garden's bird feeders.  The tightly shaped limb arrangement on the native shrubs allow songbirds a place to safely perch, away from the much larger raptors.

Raptor perches and owl boxes should also be placed around the garden perimeter to attract hawks and night hunters.  Owls are highly proficient when it comes to thinning gophers, moles and rodents. 

Owls being nocturnal do not usually prey upon songbirds so placing roosting boxes around the hemp garden should not significantly impact wild bird presence.

Next post we will begin discussing the specific types of wild songbirds useful to partner with in an organic pest management approach for hemp and cannabis cultivation.

Organic Hemp Cultivation and Pest Control, Documenting Weather Patterns

 Some of the most important variables the organic hemp farmer can record and analyze are weather patterns impacting the growing area.

Weather patterns are often predictive of pest outbreaks.  Droughts, floods, excess heat or cold, humidity levels, solar radiation, geomagnetism and barometric pressure fluctuations can trigger pest population explosions and also initiate certain pest activities.

Temperature changes, such as prolonged heat waves may cause insects to become much more active.  Insects are cold-blooded (poikilotherms) organisms, meaning their body temperatures fluctuate with outside temperature variations and heat is not generated internally through biological processes.  Prolonged heat waves can fuel insect activity due to increased body temperatures.

Some have estimated that for each two degrees Fahrenheit rise in temperatures over normal ranges, pest insects may inflict ten to twenty percent more damage as their metabolism and body temperatures increase.  These observations suggest climate change could have serious impacts on hemp organic integrated pest management as well as for other agriculture product pest management systems.

Droughts too may trigger prolonged insect feeding activities as bugs search for water sources within plant buds, stems and leaves.  During droughts, hemp and cannabis pest insects may be driven to eat plant matter in search of moisture.  Regular precipitation measurements may provide the hemp farmer with patterns that help predict pest activity.

Organic Hemp Pest Control, Ambient Weather wifi enabled rain gauge

Climate and weather patterns can also be helpful in determining which beneficial insects, or pest predators are most productive in an organic pest control role under certain climate conditions.  Abnormal weather patterns such as drought, extreme temperatures, winds and humidity levels may actually work against beneficial insects and favor hemp pests.

There are many low cost, reliable weather stations available today that monitor, record and summarize growing area weather variables.  Ambient Weather, La Crosse Technology and Davis Instruments are a few of more popular retail available weather instruments.

Organic Hemp Cultivation, IPM methods, Ambient Weather Station

I use an Ambient Weather ultrasonic unit that measures temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, barometric pressure, sunrise and sunset hours and other important ecosystem geophysical variables.  The Ambient Weather station was inexpensive, easy to set up and summarizes weather trends over time.

Most of the small personal weather stations also provide the capabilities to connect to the internet, allowing for participation in crowd sourced weather data sites.

Weather and climate data are an important but small part of a hemp cultivation site's ecosystem variable population.   

Our agrarian ancestors understood the importance of understanding weather patterns.  Their food growing efforts depended on weather systems knowledge.  They watched and listened to the clouds, birds, animals and other tell-tale signs of impending climatic events.

Organic Hemp Pest Control, Ambient Weather data display

Today, the hemp farmer must also be able to comprehend meteorological impacts on crops.  A daily log of cultivation site weather data provides so much important information.

A thorough understanding of geophysical weather variables driving much of the hemp farm's growing parameters will support successful organic cultivation efforts.

The successful hemp cultivator will use all available organic-based integrated pest management tools.  Weather recording systems are a critical part of any organic IPM program on hemp farms.