Interesting experiment. A guy I know, a hippie dippie tree hugger, began a similar experiment more'n 50 years ago in a garden built on red shale and clay with maybe 6" of depleted top soil. He told me the first two years insect damage was minimal. The following 7 years were horrible but he refused to use put anything on the garden other than compost and a winter cover of lawn clippings and shredded oak leaves. By the 10th year predatory insects had arrived in numbers great enough to balance the plant eaters. I saw the garden when it was 50 years old. Stunningly healthy looking vegetables, black soil at least 12" deep teaming with earthworms.
that's interesting, for 4 years now I have added several inches of shredded leaves on my 22 raised beds every fall and mulch with the leaves that I have left after planting and I definitely see a difference in worms for sure but not pest damage. The white moths and aphids are my biggest problem... for now.
Choosing not to spray plants for pest is a great step toward creating a healthier, more balanced ecosystem. Nature often finds a way to restore harmony. Thanks for this video ❤🌱
Travis, so glad you covered this! I also viewed that presentation, it was very interesting. As I recall Dr. Dykstra is taking the Brix reading of the plant's leaves. Also saw that a garlic press is recommended to extract the leaf fluids. Looking forward to seeing what results you get in the field sort of speak (pun intended). It would be nice if this "hypothesis" rose to the level of scientific theory, but it's just sage wisdom that insect pest pressure is far less in the cooler months. If his "hypothesis" holds up in the middle of a South Georgia June, July or August, I would then be convinced.
In recent years I always tried to get my brasicas planted as earley as possible in the fall and I have had to spray on a regular schedule and still had insect damage.This year I was late getting them in the ground.I sprayed once and have had no insect damage the whole season.The best garden ever.Just planted a little later with cooler weather.I guest it is easy to make things worse than they have to be.
Just want to add, I live in Gulf Shores Al. I started my garden 4 years ago on a yard that was sod. After a lot of work I have a small plot. I have worked very hard on making almost pure sand into very good and healthy soil. But getting to the pest pressure, my pest problems seem to be seasonal. I can grow almost pest free but come mid April or May here comes every pest known to mankind! I can say I have vastly improved my soil health yearly as time passes. But I don’t know if it’s seasonal or healthier plants? I guess I will get a better answer to this question this summer! Love your content sir. Always makes me think.
I think it’s simply less bugs and more sugar is just due to cold temps. Some of the best bug free tasty apples are the last ones on the tree. I grew Brussel sprouts 1st time this year. Cabbage moths/worms devastated all the side leaves. But after it cooled off the top leaves were perfect, and I got sprouts as well. I think the cooler weather severely curtails bugs. Even just cold nights. Therefore: Grow brassicas in the fall, or early enough in the Spring. HUGE Vikings @ Lions game Sunday, night!
This is my first year having a garden, and I did a fall one as well. I never had any insect damage on any of my fall vegetables, but I did on my summer ones. So, never had to spray my fall ones. I’m in north Mississippi.
Low temperatures slow down or kill soft body insects, and as they are the vectors for disease, cold temperatures would then reduce bacterial and viral transmission. Previous plantings also leave behind chemicals in the soil affecting the next crops. So, how cold has it been, and what was last planted there? Have lost very healthy cold frame cabbage in zone 6 after a warm spell woke up the pests.
Even with some of my battered veg plants in the greenhouse, what helped them from being destroyed as they usually are out in the raised beds, was letting some paper wasps set up shop in the greenhouse as an experiment & they annhilated everything that came in! 😂 They were tolerant of me spraying around in the greenhouse with the water hose & I even hit the nest on accident a couple of times. I immediately apologized to them & carried on.😅 They have been my best buddies & they've never stung us - either the paper wasps or the dirt daubers, which are quite peaceful anyway. We did have some yellow jackets set up a nest nearby, but since they were coming to the compost bin which was too close to the house & greenhouse to not be an eventual problem with those wasps, we quietly set up a sugar & borax meal every couple days & within 2 weeks, they were gone - which was better than hunting down & potentially stumbling into their nest & making them angry & sting-y whenever they saw us for those 2 weeks until the nest died off.
Sugar and borax, right? I have a hose hanger in front of the barn that a bunch of yellow jackets LOVE. Every time I think I've gotten rid of them, they are back, and that's not a healthy place for yellow jackets to set up a home. I'll have to try it. Will it kill them or just move them off? Sorry, but I have no love loss for a dead yellow jacket. Sorry, but they love my grape vives more than I do, and it is NOT any fun looking for grapes and run in to a nest. They rank right up there with mosquitoes, unnecessary.
I spray very little now too. still a little BT to save my brassicas . I am not sure I 100% buy healthy plants repelling pests, I think not spraying helps restore the beneficials to keep pests in check better. Not against any practices they have as healthier plants is always my goal just not sure I'm buying all their claims. Have a happy new year.
I usually put my brassicas in the ground in mid-September, so they'll be large enough by our frosts at the beginning of November. If I can milk them until cooler weather they're fine without being sprayed. However, I've planted brassicas at 11 AM, go inside to eat lunch, and come back out an hour later to find my plants eaten to the ground. We had a horrible drought this year and the grasshoppers were just as bad. I assume that was the culprit
Hi Travis. Hold the refractometer up to your phone and take a picture of the reading. There is a sweet spot but it works best if you can support your hands so you are very still. That way you could share how the specific gravity is measured. In the clinical laboratory, patients with untreated diabetes will also a high urine specific gravity due to all the glucose that pours over from the blood into the urine.
I dont know for sure if Ive stumbled across something. I mix neem oil with spinosad the last couple seasons and my greens are greener, brighter... shiny, and no bugs. 🤷♂️
We do not use pesticides but we do use diatomaceous earth and neem oil. We do not use city water on our vegetable plants and we do not spray water on the leaves. We only water under the plant. It seems to us that pest like wet leaves. We watch the leaves on most plants to determine watering needs. Thanks for the information! My wife was born with a green thumb but then she is part Cherokee so maybe it genetics. In the spring we start our spring plantings and when we need to thin them out we give alway the extra to neighbors! So far our neighbors have proven themselves to not be willing to do the necessary work to keep their garden alive and producing. For us it’s a 2 to 3 times a day routine! Something needs to be done every day and the plants love the constant attention! Cheers!
A very interesting topic, but plants growing in colder weather, will not have as much pest pressure. Try no pesticides in warm weather like central Florida, and you’d likely not have the same results.
Funny. Last night I was pricing dried molasses as an additive to my soil mix in order to raise the brix, feed the soil microbes and broaden the micro nutrients. When I gardened in Maine brassica transplants could be eaten and killed in a day from flea beetles. That's why Johnny's developed insect netting that fits over hoops. The only thing that bothers Winter brassicas down here is bunnies. It's mostly disease that wears my plants out and in Fall/Winter/ Spring there is little to no disease. Great topic. Please revisit in the future.
I've used a refractometer for alcohol but not for sugars. A lot of brewer supplies do sell saccharometers though. Squeezing enough juice out of a leaf to measure might be tricky.
I am leaning to start using insect netting. I had some beautiful mustard greens and overnight was destroyed by insects. They looked like someone shot them with small shot. Tons of small holes in the leaves.
@@KrazyKajun602 sounds like flea beetle Those emerge from the soil, and Often the damage is done days or even a week before you see it. The eggs hatch and then you see the damage.
I've struggled with the "Healthy Plant" theory for years for the same reasons you do. I'd have beautiful stands of Turnips right up until the flea beetles emerge, then they'd mow through all my brassicas. I could go on and on with different insect pressures at different times of the year all having the same results on seemingly healthy plants. This year we will be working with the state for tissue samples on several types of plants and in two locations to help dial in our fertility program. I'm almost convinced to get the refractometer to see what it the Brix level is. I've seen this dicsussion in a number of places so far - one even proclaiming weeds are a result of brix being under 10. I tend think more overall, bugs move in cycles and you have up years and down years. The only way to truly test the process is to not spray anything for 5-10 years and track annual pressure.
I have a healthy dose of skepticism with some of these claims. One thing I know for absolute certain, scientifically proven, is that vegetables with higher brix content taste much better than their lower brix counterparts!!! As a winemaker I have refractometers so I’m keen to see your methodology for collecting samples so I can start measuring the brix level of my own vegetables!
The White flies, tomato fruit and horn worms loved my tomato plants. The brix of my tomato plants was 10. It doesn’t make sense to me because we lose trees and forest to pest like he pine beetle ash borer. Tom claims pretty much everything we know about Insect olfaction is wrong. Wood lice, slugs and have even caught American cockroaches eating on my plants. Charles D has some pretty healthy plants and he still gets pest and uses mesh to cover his plants.
Healthy plants = low pest pressure!! YES!! Way back, in the 1970's I read about that in Organic Gardening and am a firm believer. Here in western Oregon aphids can be a big problem on cabbage, broccoli, etc. as well as green beans. However, I have observed that when plants are healthy and vigorous, there generally are minimal bug problems. So much of what you say about building soil health means healthier plants, bigger yields and fewer pest problems. I practice cover crops, leaf mulch and returning everything from the garden back into the garden. At the season's end, mow it down, till it in and grow a cover crop.
I'm skeptical. I grow in the high desert of CA so so I'm thinking we don't have a big pest pressure and I have never sprayed. I mostly have cabbage butterfly that gives me trouble. Trying to reduce water I don't row crop (corn being the exception that I plant a 6x10 block) and somehow having a mix of all different plants seems to work better for pest than if I were to row crop. I also plant the walking onions as a border fence to keep the rabbits out (likely smells to bad for them and burns their noses). Little bit of bird pressure on fruit trees (pick a little early if needed). Have no deer. Aphids I ignore to let predators grow. When I see squash bugs I squeeze and leave. I don't know if the almond smell attracts predators but I'm sure I don't get them all but the problem disappears. Tomatoe horn worm was trouble in the past but not any trouble since I stopped row cropping.
I used little to no pesticides when I gardened in the cascade mountains in Oregon for over a decade, I now live in Tennessee, the pests here are way more in volume and variety, you have to do something, I use netted garden rows, if you do nothing you have bad results every time. The health of the plant does matter, but cannot stop an entire army of pest insects (Japanese beetles and squash beetles are a good example you don’t ever see just one or two it’s thousands) and many are not native species that are the biggest problem, so they don’t have as many native predators controlling them either. Climate matters more also, with more heat and humidity the pests are much worse.
We've been gardening for over 10-years never having major bug issues until 3-years ago when I tried growing Kajari melons. The Melon plants were beautiful & full of melons! Then the cucumber beetles arrived, all the melons died rapidly from bacterial wilt and the cucumbers died as well, last year I tried cantaloupe and two varieties of cucumbers, I fought the beetles again everyday! some days killing 50 or more. None of the traps or Neem oil stopped them. For the upcoming year I planned on not growing melons of any sort and spraying the cucumber plants, I'm not sure your method would work, but fully agree everyone needs healthy plants & soil! If anyone has a solution for these damn cucumber beetles please let me know!
I think the environment has something to do with it as well. There is LESS PEST PRESSURE in the Fall for certain veggies. Especially, I think, for those planted in the ground as opposed to those planted in Raised Beds.
Interesting concept. I agree healthy plants seem to contribute to less pest damage. This is my second year with minimal spraying on my fall garden. I have found that spraying between the rows at planting (not on the plants) seems to help significantly with pest pressure. I also believe that early cold temps also helps with the pest pressure. Take care and be safe...
I don't have any problems with pests in the Fall and Winter months. I don't use any pesticides. I read that the moths or caterpillars go away because it's too cold for them, but not cold enough to trigger a dormant state in them, so they sort of disappear because they aren't able to handle the cold snaps. I don't really know if it's true, I read it on the internet. My plants do look very healthy though, so maybe it's because they are healthy. I have noticed that my plants that are stressed out get attacked by things right away. oh, I live in Florida too, so it's sort of a special climate compared to a lot of places, which is what I read about the caterpillars. Maybe it's warmer there on average now and it's making them act like they do in Florida.
That's interesting. I'm about an hour east of Travis and I have much higher worm pressure in the fall than in spring and summer. I try to spray as little as possible but had to this year or my collards would be gone.
Hey Travis this is my second winter grow out I havnt had to much pest pressure I havnt had to sprayed just a few catapillars on my swiss chard and a cabbage here an there I usually just go out after dark an see if I can find any..you plants always look great to me you are my graden guide
Sounds good to me, I’ve heard about this, the trick is getting the brics level up, the levels of air in the soil is related to it too, figure out the soil pressure stuff and calcium content etc for us too, that’s what gets confusing for me.
Also some insects populations just seem to vary on their own schedule. I do nothing for any type of beetle and some years have been overwhelmed and other years can't hardly find one. Good to have healthy plants for many reasons.
I've been farming most of my 55 years. Healthy plants will still get attacked from insects. It's a fact. It starts with your soil. You will always have some insect unless you're up north.
Wd love to see the demonstrated results from various Brix readings. WAPF used them as their gold standard back when. Another clue to quality produce was that it dry-wrinkled rather than rotted at room temps. *I say gm-bugs break all rules of normalcy. Flies in Winter in NE OH is a new one.
I would hazard a guess at this: The good Doc's information is moistly accurate. As is some of the issues, such as your info at Environmental Factors, too. Often, it's never a simple one single reason, but, a combo. So...? Do the best we can. Get ourselves healthiest plants we can, respect environmental issues and plant around them (avoiding the nastiest of the hot seasons for certain plants, cuz, those types thrive better in cooler, etc), and simply do your darndest following best practices for your own gardens.
I think there is some truths to your theory. I have always had problems with corn ear worms here in Kansas. I saw a video about planting two different plants in the same area of the garden, so last year I planted kidney beans along with my corn and had a lot less pest pressure and the orb looked great
Hmm, I think I'll go spray some molasses on my plants tomorrow. They're doing great... not looking forward to the deep freeze that's coming. Lady year I planned cabbage and got it to grow through winter and it was ready by spring.
Been growing brassicas for 10 years. Last year aphids took over, severe damage. This year no aphids just the usual cabbage worms but minimal damage. Seems to be cyclical
That sounds like hippie logic to me. Kinda like I used to use large amounts of companion planting, which didn't work. Here in the north where we grow brassicas in spring and summer cabbage worms and earwigs, etc. will destroy a perfectly healthy cabbage in 2 days. Brussels will get flat ate to no leaves Azera was the only thing that kept things at bay. Now I just put low tunnels and insect netting over every single row of brassicas at transplant and don't spray. Usually Agribon 15 or most likely ProtekNet. But I also live among 200 acre ag fields everywhere.
I can only assume healthy soil makes for healthy plants. If you are old enough though you might remember a 3 mile trip into town left your windshield splattered.
My experience with brix is, everyone talks about what it is and why it’s important. But nobody talks about how to increase it. I have a brix refractometer just like the one you showed, and every reading with it is 4. 😅 Doesn’t matter what I do, I get 4. (I may be exaggerating, but only a little bit.) I would really like to see someone show some evidence of, hey, I fed my plants this, and the brix went up! The idea behind bugs not eating healthy plants can be very legit. Think about earthworms… consider for a moment that only eat decaying material. What would happen if earthworms ate living roots??? That would be bad.
I understand skepticism, not looking to argue. But consider earthworms. It’s a fact that they only eat decaying material. How bad would things be if earthworms ate living roots? So, there is precedence (very important precedence) for this train of thought. Like you, I’d like to see more proof.
I did some searching last night and I did find someone who implied that brix goes up with potassium getting into the plant. This makes sense to me. Not sure if that is the complete answer.
For me brother,im on the fence about the hypothesis. Simply because of one murderous insect, The Japanese Beatles always attack my grapes apple trees and green beans.
Too much nitrogen can cause issues that may lead to more pest problems. Did you change fertilizers in last couple years? Timing seems to be an important factor when it comes to feeding as well.
you can also find her videos about structured water. lol. most of the pesticides etc are plant derived, even of only initially, and then replaced with similar synthetic chemistry that is more sustainable. Of course unhealthy plants get cleaned up by detrivores. Predictably, the woo organic thought farm made up another lie that healthy plants = no pests. ask organic farmers how much they spray, to make that premium produce. Elaine and co-hort like to sell bs in expensive seminars, where they're preaching that "hidden knowledge". Humans bred most of those bitter compounds out of the vegetables and fruit we grow. i spray little and sometimes no more than micro-nutrients but, lies about plant biology and pushing religious eden ideas is as dishonest as it is emotional manipulation, that doesnt grow better veggies in reality in which we live.
The more sun the higher the brix reading should be so for comparison purposes yoy would need to test differant farms at about the same time and day. I think cover crops and beneficial insects will do more. How come birds will eat your figs but not your cabbage worms?
I heard this theory several years ago. I'm a skeptic. While you're doing your brix tests, though, you might want to check brix on the same plant over the course of the day and see what happens. Would this theory really make sense if the sugar levels in the leaves fluctuated through the day? Sure, maybe pests stop eating at certain times of day, but there would be other times when they would cause damage that you would observe.
There’s plenty of logic there it makes sense I planted some early mustard in September got one good harvest then it got decimated by insects I sprayed twice and have seen no further insect pressure im in 8b I’ve just started a new garden so I know my soil isn’t the best it can be but I’m working on it
Yes it makes things worse because you kill the predator bugs also. Intercrop with different plants, like a forest, and you will have much less pest pressure.
The idea that weakness attracts insect pressure makes sense when you consider how this principle works with animals of all sorts. The weak (young, sick, injured) are the easiest prey and the healthiest animals are able to defend themselves more vigorously. God’s design of the natural world is logical.
Gonna completely disagree that pest only eat dead or u healthy plants....i challenge this Tom Dykstra to vist miles of farm land and tell farmers every plant they grew was "dead". The word "considered healthy" is a words of personal view...considered by who? Are these Tom considerations? Haha hard to believe that every apple on a tree is unhealthy if worms love em
@@kathsflowerpatch5220probably not in good health as hard as that is to accept. But without a sap analysis you can’t know what plants are missing. Most of us don’t want to spend the money on sap analysis.
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Interesting experiment.
A guy I know, a hippie dippie tree hugger, began a similar experiment more'n 50 years ago in a garden built on red shale and clay with maybe 6" of depleted top soil. He told me the first two years insect damage was minimal. The following 7 years were horrible but he refused to use put anything on the garden other than compost and a winter cover of lawn clippings and shredded oak leaves. By the 10th year predatory insects had arrived in numbers great enough to balance the plant eaters.
I saw the garden when it was 50 years old. Stunningly healthy looking vegetables, black soil at least 12" deep teaming with earthworms.
Good to know! Thank you for the information! I'm two years into a basic experiment like this.
that's interesting, for 4 years now I have added several inches of shredded leaves on my 22 raised beds every fall and mulch with the leaves that I have left after planting and I definitely see a difference in worms for sure but not pest damage. The white moths and aphids are my biggest problem... for now.
Choosing not to spray plants for pest is a great step toward creating a healthier, more balanced ecosystem. Nature often finds a way to restore harmony. Thanks for this video ❤🌱
I agree
Travis, so glad you covered this! I also viewed that presentation, it was very interesting. As I recall Dr. Dykstra is taking the Brix reading of the plant's leaves. Also saw that a garlic press is recommended to extract the leaf fluids. Looking forward to seeing what results you get in the field sort of speak (pun intended). It would be nice if this "hypothesis" rose to the level of scientific theory, but it's just sage wisdom that insect pest pressure is far less in the cooler months. If his "hypothesis" holds up in the middle of a South Georgia June, July or August, I would then be convinced.
In recent years I always tried to get my brasicas planted as earley as possible in the fall and I have had to spray on a regular schedule and still had insect damage.This year I was late getting them in the ground.I sprayed once and have had no insect damage the whole season.The best garden ever.Just planted a little later with cooler weather.I guest it is easy to make things worse than they have to be.
Just want to add, I live in Gulf Shores Al. I started my garden 4 years ago on a yard that was sod. After a lot of work I have a small plot. I have worked very hard on making almost pure sand into very good and healthy soil. But getting to the pest pressure, my pest problems seem to be seasonal. I can grow almost pest free but come mid April or May here comes every pest known to mankind! I can say I have vastly improved my soil health yearly as time passes. But I don’t know if it’s seasonal or healthier plants? I guess I will get a better answer to this question this summer! Love your content sir. Always makes me think.
I think it’s simply less bugs and more sugar is just due to cold temps. Some of the best bug free tasty apples are the last ones on the tree. I grew Brussel sprouts 1st time this year. Cabbage moths/worms devastated all the side leaves. But after it cooled off the top leaves were perfect, and I got sprouts as well. I think the cooler weather severely curtails bugs. Even just cold nights.
Therefore: Grow brassicas in the fall, or early enough in the Spring.
HUGE Vikings @ Lions game Sunday, night!
This is my first year having a garden, and I did a fall one as well. I never had any insect damage on any of my fall vegetables, but I did on my summer ones. So, never had to spray my fall ones. I’m in north Mississippi.
Low temperatures slow down or kill soft body insects, and as they are the vectors for disease, cold temperatures would then reduce bacterial and viral transmission. Previous plantings also leave behind chemicals in the soil affecting the next crops. So, how cold has it been, and what was last planted there? Have lost very healthy cold frame cabbage in zone 6 after a warm spell woke up the pests.
I love your videos like this one Trav, especially the ones on cover crops. Great information.
Even with some of my battered veg plants in the greenhouse, what helped them from being destroyed as they usually are out in the raised beds, was letting some paper wasps set up shop in the greenhouse as an experiment & they annhilated everything that came in! 😂
They were tolerant of me spraying around in the greenhouse with the water hose & I even hit the nest on accident a couple of times. I immediately apologized to them & carried on.😅 They have been my best buddies & they've never stung us - either the paper wasps or the dirt daubers, which are quite peaceful anyway.
We did have some yellow jackets set up a nest nearby, but since they were coming to the compost bin which was too close to the house & greenhouse to not be an eventual problem with those wasps, we quietly set up a sugar & borax meal every couple days & within 2 weeks, they were gone - which was better than hunting down & potentially stumbling into their nest & making them angry & sting-y whenever they saw us for those 2 weeks until the nest died off.
Paper wasps are fabulous in the garden! I love it when I see them patrolling along my vegetable rows! They have never been aggressive with me!
Sugar and borax, right? I have a hose hanger in front of the barn that a bunch of yellow jackets LOVE. Every time I think I've gotten rid of them, they are back, and that's not a healthy place for yellow jackets to set up a home. I'll have to try it. Will it kill them or just move them off? Sorry, but I have no love loss for a dead yellow jacket. Sorry, but they love my grape vives more than I do, and it is NOT any fun looking for grapes and run in to a nest. They rank right up there with mosquitoes, unnecessary.
I'm mostly here for the figs, but, THE GARDEN LOOKS AMAZING ❤ WOW!!!
I spray very little now too. still a little BT to save my brassicas . I am not sure I 100% buy healthy plants repelling pests, I think not spraying helps restore the beneficials to keep pests in check better. Not against any practices they have as healthier plants is always my goal just not sure I'm buying all their claims. Have a happy new year.
Tom knows his stuff! He is right, we have no way to know if a plant is healthy without testing in the first place.
Your eyes don’t work?
I usually put my brassicas in the ground in mid-September, so they'll be large enough by our frosts at the beginning of November. If I can milk them until cooler weather they're fine without being sprayed. However, I've planted brassicas at 11 AM, go inside to eat lunch, and come back out an hour later to find my plants eaten to the ground. We had a horrible drought this year and the grasshoppers were just as bad. I assume that was the culprit
Good talk I'm sure the healthy plants sure help. Like the shirt
Hi Travis. Hold the refractometer up to your phone and take a picture of the reading. There is a sweet spot but it works best if you can support your hands so you are very still. That way you could share how the specific gravity is measured. In the clinical laboratory, patients with untreated diabetes will also a high urine specific gravity due to all the glucose that pours over from the blood into the urine.
I dont know for sure if Ive stumbled across something. I mix neem oil with spinosad the last couple seasons and my greens are greener, brighter... shiny, and no bugs. 🤷♂️
We do not use pesticides but we do use diatomaceous earth and neem oil. We do not use city water on our vegetable plants and we do not spray water on the leaves. We only water under the plant. It seems to us that pest like wet leaves. We watch the leaves on most plants to determine watering needs. Thanks for the information! My wife was born with a green thumb but then she is part Cherokee so maybe it genetics. In the spring we start our spring plantings and when we need to thin them out we give alway the extra to neighbors! So far our neighbors have proven themselves to not be willing to do the necessary work to keep their garden alive and producing. For us it’s a 2 to 3 times a day routine! Something needs to be done every day and the plants love the constant attention! Cheers!
A very interesting topic, but plants growing in colder weather, will not have as much pest pressure. Try no pesticides in warm weather like central Florida, and you’d likely not have the same results.
Funny. Last night I was pricing dried molasses as an additive to my soil mix in order to raise the brix, feed the soil microbes and broaden the micro nutrients. When I gardened in Maine brassica transplants could be eaten and killed in a day from flea beetles. That's why Johnny's developed insect netting that fits over hoops. The only thing that bothers Winter brassicas down here is bunnies. It's mostly disease that wears my plants out and in Fall/Winter/ Spring there is little to no disease. Great topic. Please revisit in the future.
Hoping this massive winter weather we are about to get doesn’t kill everything you’ve been growing.
I've used a refractometer for alcohol but not for sugars. A lot of brewer supplies do sell saccharometers though. Squeezing enough juice out of a leaf to measure might be tricky.
I am leaning to start using insect netting. I had some beautiful mustard greens and overnight was destroyed by insects. They looked like someone shot them with small shot. Tons of small holes in the leaves.
@@KrazyKajun602 sounds like flea beetle
Those emerge from the soil, and
Often the damage is done days or even a week before you see it. The eggs hatch and then you see the damage.
I've struggled with the "Healthy Plant" theory for years for the same reasons you do. I'd have beautiful stands of Turnips right up until the flea beetles emerge, then they'd mow through all my brassicas. I could go on and on with different insect pressures at different times of the year all having the same results on seemingly healthy plants. This year we will be working with the state for tissue samples on several types of plants and in two locations to help dial in our fertility program. I'm almost convinced to get the refractometer to see what it the Brix level is. I've seen this dicsussion in a number of places so far - one even proclaiming weeds are a result of brix being under 10.
I tend think more overall, bugs move in cycles and you have up years and down years. The only way to truly test the process is to not spray anything for 5-10 years and track annual pressure.
I have a healthy dose of skepticism with some of these claims. One thing I know for absolute certain, scientifically proven, is that vegetables with higher brix content taste much better than their lower brix counterparts!!! As a winemaker I have refractometers so I’m keen to see your methodology for collecting samples so I can start measuring the brix level of my own vegetables!
The White flies, tomato fruit and horn worms loved my tomato plants. The brix of my tomato plants was 10. It doesn’t make sense to me because we lose trees and forest to pest like he pine beetle ash borer.
Tom claims pretty much everything we know about Insect olfaction is wrong.
Wood lice, slugs and have even caught American cockroaches eating on my plants. Charles D has some pretty healthy plants and he still gets pest and uses mesh to cover his plants.
Healthy plants = low pest pressure!! YES!! Way back, in the 1970's I read about that in Organic Gardening and am a firm believer. Here in western Oregon aphids can be a big problem on cabbage, broccoli, etc. as well as green beans. However, I have observed that when plants are healthy and vigorous, there generally are minimal bug problems. So much of what you say about building soil health means healthier plants, bigger yields and fewer pest problems. I practice cover crops, leaf mulch and returning everything from the garden back into the garden. At the season's end, mow it down, till it in and grow a cover crop.
I'm skeptical. I grow in the high desert of CA so so I'm thinking we don't have a big pest pressure and I have never sprayed. I mostly have cabbage butterfly that gives me trouble. Trying to reduce water I don't row crop (corn being the exception that I plant a 6x10 block) and somehow having a mix of all different plants seems to work better for pest than if I were to row crop. I also plant the walking onions as a border fence to keep the rabbits out (likely smells to bad for them and burns their noses). Little bit of bird pressure on fruit trees (pick a little early if needed). Have no deer. Aphids I ignore to let predators grow. When I see squash bugs I squeeze and leave. I don't know if the almond smell attracts predators but I'm sure I don't get them all but the problem disappears. Tomatoe horn worm was trouble in the past but not any trouble since I stopped row cropping.
I used little to no pesticides when I gardened in the cascade mountains in Oregon for over a decade, I now live in Tennessee, the pests here are way more in volume and variety, you have to do something, I use netted garden rows, if you do nothing you have bad results every time. The health of the plant does matter, but cannot stop an entire army of pest insects (Japanese beetles and squash beetles are a good example you don’t ever see just one or two it’s thousands) and many are not native species that are the biggest problem, so they don’t have as many native predators controlling them either. Climate matters more also, with more heat and humidity the pests are much worse.
Great video and makes sense
Wow! Great work Travis 😊
We've been gardening for over 10-years never having major bug issues until 3-years ago when I tried growing Kajari melons.
The Melon plants were beautiful & full of melons! Then the cucumber beetles arrived, all the melons died rapidly from bacterial wilt and the cucumbers died as well, last year I tried cantaloupe and two varieties of cucumbers, I fought the beetles again everyday! some days killing 50 or more. None of the traps or Neem oil stopped them.
For the upcoming year I planned on not growing melons of any sort and spraying the cucumber plants, I'm not sure your method would work, but fully agree everyone needs healthy plants & soil!
If anyone has a solution for these damn cucumber beetles please let me know!
I think the environment has something to do with it as well. There is LESS PEST PRESSURE in the Fall for certain veggies. Especially, I think, for those planted in the ground as opposed to those planted in Raised Beds.
Interesting concept. I agree healthy plants seem to contribute to less pest damage. This is my second year with minimal spraying on my fall garden. I have found that spraying between the rows at planting (not on the plants) seems to help significantly with pest pressure. I also believe that early cold temps also helps with the pest pressure. Take care and be safe...
I don't have any problems with pests in the Fall and Winter months. I don't use any pesticides. I read that the moths or caterpillars go away because it's too cold for them, but not cold enough to trigger a dormant state in them, so they sort of disappear because they aren't able to handle the cold snaps. I don't really know if it's true, I read it on the internet. My plants do look very healthy though, so maybe it's because they are healthy. I have noticed that my plants that are stressed out get attacked by things right away. oh, I live in Florida too, so it's sort of a special climate compared to a lot of places, which is what I read about the caterpillars. Maybe it's warmer there on average now and it's making them act like they do in Florida.
I’m in Florida too. I agree with you
That's interesting. I'm about an hour east of Travis and I have much higher worm pressure in the fall than in spring and summer. I try to spray as little as possible but had to this year or my collards would be gone.
Hey Travis this is my second winter grow out I havnt had to much pest pressure I havnt had to sprayed just a few catapillars on my swiss chard and a cabbage here an there I usually just go out after dark an see if I can find any..you plants always look great to me you are my graden guide
Do you have a video about your planting schedule? Im in the same zone and trying to figure out when i need to get everything started
Makes sense. But there is always an exception to the rule.
Sounds good to me, I’ve heard about this, the trick is getting the brics level up, the levels of air in the soil is related to it too, figure out the soil pressure stuff and calcium content etc for us too, that’s what gets confusing for me.
I didn’t learn anything that will help me kill them collard worms but I do like your jacket.
Do any wasps or ants kill those things?
Also some insects populations just seem to vary on their own schedule. I do nothing for any type of beetle and some years have been overwhelmed and other years can't hardly find one. Good to have healthy plants for many reasons.
I've been farming most of my 55 years. Healthy plants will still get attacked from insects. It's a fact. It starts with your soil. You will always have some insect unless you're up north.
And then you get slugs. Lol. That's been my problem with fall/winter gardening.
Oh we still get insects up here.
Wd love to see the demonstrated results from various Brix readings. WAPF used them as their gold standard back when. Another clue to quality produce was that it dry-wrinkled rather than rotted at room temps. *I say gm-bugs break all rules of normalcy. Flies in Winter in NE OH is a new one.
I don’t spray my brassicas but I also cover them. The white flies alone would takeover.
I covered mine but the white flies still have one bed ...
You eradicated the cabbage moth population by spraying, and in year 2 it still hasn't bounced back. Wow. Mind blown.
I would hazard a guess at this:
The good Doc's information is moistly accurate. As is some of the issues, such as your info at Environmental Factors, too. Often, it's never a simple one single reason, but, a combo. So...?
Do the best we can. Get ourselves healthiest plants we can, respect environmental issues and plant around them (avoiding the nastiest of the hot seasons for certain plants, cuz, those types thrive better in cooler, etc), and simply do your darndest following best practices for your own gardens.
I think there is some truths to your theory. I have always had problems with corn ear worms here in Kansas. I saw a video about planting two different plants in the same area of the garden, so last year I planted kidney beans along with my corn and had a lot less pest pressure and the orb looked great
Hmm, I think I'll go spray some molasses on my plants tomorrow. They're doing great... not looking forward to the deep freeze that's coming.
Lady year I planned cabbage and got it to grow through winter and it was ready by spring.
This will only work out in the cold seasons after the pests are gone.
Been growing brassicas for 10 years. Last year aphids took over, severe damage. This year no aphids just the usual cabbage worms but minimal damage. Seems to be cyclical
If I have some raised bed questions, where can I send email to?
support@lazydogfarm.com
That sounds like hippie logic to me. Kinda like I used to use large amounts of companion planting, which didn't work. Here in the north where we grow brassicas in spring and summer cabbage worms and earwigs, etc. will destroy a perfectly healthy cabbage in 2 days. Brussels will get flat ate to no leaves
Azera was the only thing that kept things at bay.
Now I just put low tunnels and insect netting over every single row of brassicas at transplant and don't spray. Usually Agribon 15 or most likely ProtekNet.
But I also live among 200 acre ag fields everywhere.
I can only assume healthy soil makes for healthy plants. If you are old enough though you might remember a 3 mile trip into town left your windshield splattered.
My experience with brix is, everyone talks about what it is and why it’s important. But nobody talks about how to increase it. I have a brix refractometer just like the one you showed, and every reading with it is 4. 😅 Doesn’t matter what I do, I get 4. (I may be exaggerating, but only a little bit.) I would really like to see someone show some evidence of, hey, I fed my plants this, and the brix went up! The idea behind bugs not eating healthy plants can be very legit. Think about earthworms… consider for a moment that only eat decaying material. What would happen if earthworms ate living roots??? That would be bad.
I understand skepticism, not looking to argue. But consider earthworms. It’s a fact that they only eat decaying material. How bad would things be if earthworms ate living roots? So, there is precedence (very important precedence) for this train of thought. Like you, I’d like to see more proof.
I did some searching last night and I did find someone who implied that brix goes up with potassium getting into the plant. This makes sense to me. Not sure if that is the complete answer.
For me brother,im on the fence about the hypothesis. Simply because of one murderous insect, The Japanese Beatles always attack my grapes apple trees and green beans.
Too much nitrogen can cause issues that may lead to more pest problems. Did you change fertilizers in last couple years? Timing seems to be an important factor when it comes to feeding as well.
cabbage moths are not deterred by a healthy plant... that's silly.
you can also find her videos about structured water. lol.
most of the pesticides etc are plant derived, even of only initially, and then replaced with similar synthetic chemistry that is more sustainable.
Of course unhealthy plants get cleaned up by detrivores. Predictably, the woo organic thought farm made up another lie that healthy plants = no pests.
ask organic farmers how much they spray, to make that premium produce.
Elaine and co-hort like to sell bs in expensive seminars, where they're preaching that "hidden knowledge".
Humans bred most of those bitter compounds out of the vegetables and fruit we grow.
i spray little and sometimes no more than micro-nutrients but, lies about plant biology and pushing religious eden ideas is as dishonest as it is emotional manipulation, that doesnt grow better veggies in reality in which we live.
The more sun the higher the brix reading should be so for comparison purposes yoy would need to test differant farms at about the same time and day. I think cover crops and beneficial insects will do more.
How come birds will eat your figs but not your cabbage worms?
I heard this theory several years ago. I'm a skeptic. While you're doing your brix tests, though, you might want to check brix on the same plant over the course of the day and see what happens. Would this theory really make sense if the sugar levels in the leaves fluctuated through the day? Sure, maybe pests stop eating at certain times of day, but there would be other times when they would cause damage that you would observe.
The only things I use on my garden are dipel dust and diatomaceous earth, and only when I see a problem.
There’s plenty of logic there it makes sense I planted some early mustard in September got one good harvest then it got decimated by insects I sprayed twice and have seen no further insect pressure im in 8b I’ve just started a new garden so I know my soil isn’t the best it can be but I’m working on it
Soil solutions llc has been feeding me this same ideology. I got myself a refractometer but thats as far as i got.
From my experience if the plants aren't stress no need to spray .
Yes it makes things worse because you kill the predator bugs also. Intercrop with different plants, like a forest, and you will have much less pest pressure.
I don't buy that either. Forests get decimated all the time. Nature isn't perfect and diversity doesn't guarantee resilience.
😎
If you believe the sugar content affects the plant health, how does one increase that sugar content in plants?
Good question! That wasn't necessarily clearly explained in the presentation.
The idea that weakness attracts insect pressure makes sense when you consider how this principle works with animals of all sorts. The weak (young, sick, injured) are the easiest prey and the healthiest animals are able to defend themselves more vigorously. God’s design of the natural world is logical.
go to soil works LLC, watch videos through their RUclips also. get soil correct greatly reduce weeds and bugs
I'm just as dumb at the end of this video as I was at the start😅 ....maybe it's just a seasonal thing related to soil temperature and evaporation.
Spraying can only make things worse. Spraying is not needed, and is injurious.
I agree. You kill the good with the bad.
And yet almost all "parmasan cheese" in America has cellulose in it.
We eat lots of corn yet still cannot digest the kernel. Doesn't mean we don't try. lol
@LazyDogFarm hey, that's true. Lol. The 4c brand (I find it at Walmart) has no cellulose.
Let me guess, That guy's studies are paid for by fertilizer companies and his solution is add more fertilizer? 😯
His presentation actually talks about the negative affects of salt-based fertilizers, so he doesn't seem to be a huge fertilizer advocate.
Gonna completely disagree that pest only eat dead or u healthy plants....i challenge this Tom Dykstra to vist miles of farm land and tell farmers every plant they grew was "dead". The word "considered healthy" is a words of personal view...considered by who? Are these Tom considerations? Haha hard to believe that every apple on a tree is unhealthy if worms love em
College people going to ask to see Jesus's degree when he comes back
First
Stick with evidence based science and not theories. Healthy plants don't get attacked by pests sounds like bull to me.
Almost 80% of my plants most be dying then, if is not the slugs then snails but something is always chewing on them specially in winter.
@@kathsflowerpatch5220probably not in good health as hard as that is to accept. But without a sap analysis you can’t know what plants are missing. Most of us don’t want to spend the money on sap analysis.
Evidence based science says that high brix plants are not desirable to most pests
grass hoppers do not have a pancreas, they can not process high sugar it will literally kill them
Theories are the basis of science based trials and ‘sounds like’ is not scientific.
I think that's just a bunch of hippie dippie nonsense and you've just been lucky with a couple of years of low pest pressure.