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Making Bloom Happen: A Farmscaping for Beneficials Farm Walk

Gathering Together Farm, Philomath OR June 3rd, 2004

Organized by the OSU State IPM Program and Oregon Tilth

Summary About thirty people including farmers, farm interns, gardeners and compost makers converged at Gathering Together Farm on a warm June afternoon for this project’s 5th farm walk on conservation biological control. Participants drove from as far away as Portland, Canby, Rickreal, Horton, and Lebanon to attend. The farm walk hosts, co-owner John Eveland, GTF farm manager, Jolene Jebbia, and Frank Morton of Shoulder to Shoulder Farm and Wild Garden Seed joined the CBC team and accompanied participants throughout different phases of the walk, sharing relevant and interesting information about the seed crops, produce crops and the farm in general. Oregon Tilth’s executive director, Pete Gozalves, and Quality Control Director, Chris Schreiner, and Oregon State’s Extension Vegetable Crop Specialist, Alex Stone also attended. We had guest appearances by David “Munk” Bergin of Hood River’s Pest Management Systems and area farmer, Peter Kenegy. Gathering Together Farm is located in Philomath, Oregon just west of Corvallis. Owners John Eveland and Sally Brewer manage over 60 acres of certified organic vegetables and have for almost twenty years. They are a community supported farm, market at local farmers markets, sell to Nearly Normals, a restaurant they are partial owners of and at their stunning new farm store and café located on the farm. Over the years, John and Sally have employed biological pest management techniques (see packet handout, Biological Pest Management at Gathering Together Farm at the end of this summary) and with the help of Frank Morton, who has his organic seed nursery on the farm, there is a hearty supply of blossom and lush riparian and field margin habitat for beneficials throughout the growing season. This farm walk concentrated on one general area of the farm along the Marys River. Here participants discussed the basic layout and landscape of the field. The field was surrounded by trees and was adjacent to an old slough of the Marys River. Sunflowers, which were about knee high, had been planted as an insectary crop at the far edge of the field. Various crops and weeds were in bloom including peas, shepherd’s purse, smart weed, brassicas and several trees. Merits of these as insectary plants and insects we might find among them were discussed. Mario

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captured a ground beetle as he (his gender being verified by Paul as he spoke, the beetle’s not Mario’s) was making his foray across the path just next to the group. This was a natural lead in to Paul’s discourse on the many merits of ground beetles as general predators while participants viewed the fine specimen first hand. This led to an introduction of beetle banks as permanent habitat and the first enstars of the beetle bank club (see packet contents in Sauvie Island Organics farm walk summary ).

Frank pointed out an experiment he had prepared that morning before the walk in the flowering brassicas that will be harvested for seed. Because the seed heads were covered with building populations of cabbage aphids Frank sprayed one area of blossoms with Safers Soap. An adjacent area of equal size and infestation was not sprayed. Participants were encouraged to observe and compare the differences in the numbers of beneficials and pests on the tested area during the field exercise portion of the walk. Those who observed the experimental area noticed that there were significantly less beneficials and aphid pests in the area that was

sprayed that morning with Safers Soap. The unsprayed portion of the brassicas had numerous

insects, both beneficials (hover flies, lady bird beetles, and some parasitation from wasps) and pests (aphids). At this point we discussed information in the packet on lists of potential insectary plants, when they bloom in the Willamette Basin, and a rough sketch of ways to incorporate insectary plantings on the farm (see packet contents at the end of the summary). We asked interested growers to participate in an “insectary planting club” this year by planting some array of insectary plants on their farm/garden, observing what effects this planting has on their farming/gardening system and sharing their experiences at the Bugscaping Faire this December 2nd, at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis. In order to hone the skills of observing beneficial insects, participants were given a field exercise consisting of collecting insects from two different insectary plant areas. An assessment sheet with glossy, colored pictures was provided for the data (see packet contents in the Sauvie Island Organics farm walk summary). They were instructed on how to use a sweep net and beating tray to collect insects, how to place the insects in a vial, and how to collect the insects without damaging the field crops. Participants took to the field with hand lenses, nets and assessment sheets in hand. After everyone had ample time to cruse the field and field margins and identify their finds we came back as a group to discuss the sampling and assessment methods. It was established that even in the heat of the day there were plenty of beneficial insects on the wing. Catches and observations included green lacewings, predatory flies in the family Dolichopodidae, fondly

Frank Morton shows brassica insectary plantings

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called “dollies” by one observer, several species of hover flies, lady bird beetles at various stages of development, ground beetles, predacious staphylinid beetles and parasitoid wasps. Even while we were having the group discussion a snake fly dropped down from the neighboring oak tree on to a farmer’s shirt! In evaluating the assessment sheet and field exercise one participant felt it was too much to learn all at once, another felt the sheet was a good guide at helping her distinguish between predators and pests and keep on task. A farming couple said the exercise

was just what they needed to get a little practice and guidance on beneficials insect identification. The question of how often to monitor and how farmers assess insect populations was discussed. While several farmers said they don’t formally monitor, they revealed that indeed they are always giving insect populations a “cursory look” taking just

enough time to note problems or the potential for problems. The answer for how often to monitor seemed to be as often as you will. Although most won’t go out with pen and clipboard in hand, catching snap shots of the insect populations, both beneficial and pest, is good to do regularly and consistently. A field consultant, explained his opti-viewer field get up for viewing insects at nearly microscopic levels. Simply put, one can purchase opti-viewers used by jewelers, or some small tool users. They cost about $20-$30. It has an eye piece that moves up and down over the face like a welding mask and is kept in place by a head band. This enables hand-free insect viewing. One can use various strengths of hand lenses to increase the magnification as needed. A conversation on the effects of beneficial insects with the use of certain “friendly or soft” insecticides followed. Munk Bergin made comments on his experience of finding less of the beneficial parasites, Trichnities, in orchards sprayed with Entrust. Entrust is a bacterial pesticide allowed under organic regulations for codling moth, cherry fruit fly and many other pests. Entrust’s active ingredient is Spinosad. Spinosad, also marketed as Confirm and Success, is rapidly becoming a popular and effective insecticide for organic farmers. Several comments were made about field and farmer experience versus printed research re-enforcing the concept that our own experiences and careful observation may indeed be different than what can be found in scientific reprints or journals. The point was made that good data on

Beginning the field exercise

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the regional ecology of beneficial insects in agricultural systems and biology of beneficials in general is not being collected and reported today. Indeed, that is an important goal of this project, to increase current, relevant information on conservation biological control in the Willamette Basin and to enhance the dissemination of farmer innovation in conservation biological control practices currently in use. We ended the farm walk on the veranda of the new farm store/café with an excellent veggie potluck, fruit pies made on-farm, in the café, with farm fresh fruit and some of John’s delicious homemade wine.

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Biological Pest Management at Gathering Together Farm 6/04

This is a comprehensive list of biological pest management tools used in the past and currently at Gathering Together Farm. This list was compiled by Gwendolyn Ellen after interviews with owners, John Eveland and Sally Brewer, and Jolene Jebbia, the farm manager. Jolene says she has gotten most of her information on biological pest management off the internet. A good site has been the potato extension web site of Oregon State University (www.oregonstate.edu/potatoes). Floating row covers are used regularly on the brassicas to minimize damage from flea and cucumber beetles. They sometimes use floating row covers on other transplants. They keep their fields small, use crop rotations and good soil management techniques and try to have diverse vegetation in the field margins. They let crops flower in the field at differing times. They plant flowering cover crops such as buckwheat. They have released lady bird beetles in the greenhouse for aphids early in the season. Their best batches have come from A1 Unique Insects in California. They try to have “hedgerows” of sunflowers dispersed throughout the fields and some plantings of calendula. There is a sunflower planting in the middle of the onion field across the road this year. The big hedgerow plantings of sunflowers look nicer and seem to concentrate the beneficials better. Trips seem to disappear in the onions with sunflower hedgerows. They also do applications of compost tea. They are generally made on the onions, tomatoes and peppers, pre-plant and a couple of applications a season in the field. They also apply compost tea in the green house to keep the algae down. Jolene notes that the algae get “eaten up” by the compost tea and it helps control damping off. They buy their compost tea from their neighbor Shep at “Soil Smith”. It is $1.35 a gallon for 1000 gallons or more. It’s $3.35/gallon for less than 1000 gallons. They can run it through the irrigation lines or do foliar sprays. They have released predator mites for fungus gnat larvae in the greenhouse. They spray “Surround” which is a clay that dusts the plants and is accepted by Oregon Tilth for protection against cucumber beetle damage on their winter squash and sometimes other plantings. They spray nematodes or release them through the overhead irrigation for management of flea beetle and cucumber beetle larvae. In the field they are using Heterorhabditis bacteriophora. If you buy a lot you get a better deal. They are expensive and it is sometimes difficult to tell if they have done any good or not. Seems you need to apply about 100 million per acre and four acres cost them about $350. They have sprayed Steinernema carpocapsae on the greenhouse flats for fungus gnats but this did not seem to work. They are told nematode populations will establish themselves after two weeks but this is also difficult to determine. It is also very easy to let the area where you apply nematodes dry out. It is important to apply the nematodes at the right time, with the proper temperatures and be able to keep the area moist.

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Farmscaping for Beneficials Farm Walk Integrated Plant Protection Center, OSU, with Oregon Tilth

Agenda Gathering Together Farm June 3rd, 2004 2pm-5pm Gathering Together Farm 2:00pm Participant, program and farmer introductions…………………………….20 min Walk to station one to discuss landscape and insectary plant factors with Paul And Frank…………………………………………………………………. 20 min Station one and two to discuss insect pest problems with John, Frank ……20 min Walk back to station one to introduce Field Exercise……………………...20min (3:00) Field sweeping, tray beating, id, collecting data…………………………....40min Station three for discussion of field adventures and insectary plantings……30min (4:00) Insect Displays, evaluation, food and fun…………………………………..30 min Wrap Up…………………………………………………………………….5:00 pm

Gathering Together Farm Walk Participant List

Hosts: John Eveland and Sally Brewer 541-929-4289 Gathering Together Farm 25159 Grange Hall Rd. Philomath, OR 97370 johneveland@comcast.net Frank Morten 541-929-4068 Wild Garden Seed PO Box 1509 Philomath, OR 97370

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Participants: Keith Nelson and Sloan Aagaard 503-623-6605 18360 Bridgeport Road, Dallas, OR 97338-9421 Angaline and Kevin Cromack 3350 NW Tanager Dr., Corvallis, OR Alice Tranel 503-835-0894 Twin Creeks 7525 Zena Rd., Rickreal, OR 97371 Merrilee Buchanan 541-753-8754 Buchanan Family Farm 26335 Greenberry Rd., Corvallis, OR 97330 Janet Throop 2340 NW Arthur Ave., Corvallis, OR 97330 Gisela Hosoi 2311 NW Arthur Ave., Corvallis, OR 97330 Chris and Stacy Couch 342 NE Conifer, Corvallis, OR Liz and Richard Marantz 503-246-7185 11941 SW 25th, Portland, OR 97219 Kathryn Leech 3605 SW Canby St., Portland, OR 97219 Bridget Beattie 7277 SW Barnes Rd., Portland, OR 97225 Shep Smith 7256 NW Grand Drive, Corvallis, OR 97330

Margy Riggs 541-466-3205

25681 Gapp Rd., Brownsville, OR 97327 Elanor O’Brien 541-451-5640 Persephone Farm, 30291 Bates Lane, Lebanon, OR 97355 Interns: Jessica Levine, and two others Dak’a Anholuk, Carolina Lyddy, Andrew Still, Jenna Botte 541-925-3019 Horton Road Organics, 93851 Horton Rd., Blachy, OR 97412