Heady; That is great to know that the roves are not impacted by neem sprays. Also that another grower is testifying success at having a colony form from the purchased strain.
The best way is to bring local rove beetles from outdoors but this is not practical for everyone. Thanks for the description Vortex of the ongoing fluxuations as small patches of pests appear briefly and then disappear.
I really do not think that the microbial populations on the leaf surfaces are as imperative to growth as the soil microbes. However they are important to disease prevention/suppression. The leaf surface itself is important for nutrient assimilation and processing so keeping it non-gunked up is preferable. Perhaps we will learn more shortly about the value of phyllosphere residents. I think the spraying and cleaning of leaf surfaces is a balance which each grower must figure out for themselves.
When we took a harvest we sometimes stripped off a bunch of fan leaves and laid them on the soil for a while to help give bugs a chance to disembark. I would think that a living and non-living mulch will keep most of the good bug colonies happy; certainly roves.
Is it Sea4 who described them as the tigers of the insect world? This is very apt.
The best way is to bring local rove beetles from outdoors but this is not practical for everyone. Thanks for the description Vortex of the ongoing fluxuations as small patches of pests appear briefly and then disappear.
I really do not think that the microbial populations on the leaf surfaces are as imperative to growth as the soil microbes. However they are important to disease prevention/suppression. The leaf surface itself is important for nutrient assimilation and processing so keeping it non-gunked up is preferable. Perhaps we will learn more shortly about the value of phyllosphere residents. I think the spraying and cleaning of leaf surfaces is a balance which each grower must figure out for themselves.
When we took a harvest we sometimes stripped off a bunch of fan leaves and laid them on the soil for a while to help give bugs a chance to disembark. I would think that a living and non-living mulch will keep most of the good bug colonies happy; certainly roves.
Is it Sea4 who described them as the tigers of the insect world? This is very apt.