Which veggies get flying pests?

Sunsanvil 6/9/2015, 11:07 am

Was debating putting this in the pest forum but its more of a vegetable question. I've made a couple of nice net boxes and am just wondering which veggies would benefit most. IE, which are most threatened by flying pests (as oppose to crawling ones)?

Marc Iverson 6/9/2015, 1:34 pm

Well, it's often the flying ones who lay the crawling ones. Imported cabbage worm on cole crops, for example, comes from a moth. Tomato hornworm comes from a moth. Those are two of the worst pests I can think of.

Besides pests that lay caterpillars, which are sometimes only interested in eating one or two types of plants, there are things like flea beetles and aphids which will eat many different plants. Beans, tomato leaves, etc. Cucumbers attract cucumber beetles.

Really, if there's a vacuum, nature will try to fill it until it finds a pest that sticks. So hardly anything doesn't have flying pests of one sort or another ... insect, moth, even bird. Rare exceptions are some herbs, which smell so strongly or maybe taste so yucky to insects that they may be largely left alone.

And some allium crops, like garlic, have few pests rather than the usual wide assortment.

**sanderson** 6/10/2015, 1:54 am

Marc, I like your answer. It seems like if something doesn't fly or crawl in, it drifts in.

Sunsanvil 6/11/2015, 2:59 pm

Thanks. I guess I was asking if anything, particularly when it first comes up, is susceptible. Since the covers are only about 11" cubed most stuff will outgrow it anyway so its really just a "protect them while they sprout" sort of thing.

boffer 6/11/2015, 3:44 pm

My baby pepper seedlings are very susceptible to aphids.

My newly sprouted beans get eaten by birds.

My new spinach, chard, and beets are a favorite for one type of leafminer.

It will take some experience on your part to determine what insects will become your nemesis!

CapeCoddess 6/11/2015, 4:57 pm

I see you're on the east coast?

Most squash gets the squash vine borer from an orange wasp looking moth.
And just about all brassicas get worms from the white cabbage butterfly.

CC

**AtlantaMarie** 6/12/2015, 7:37 am

Birds seem to like just-sprouted plants - corn, sunflowers, beans, etc...

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Which veggies get flying pests?

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