Final Report for FNE95-084
Project Information
Note to readers, attached is the complete final report for FNE95-084.
Objective one: Nematodes survived in the soil for at least one week. Dry soil conditions made it unreasonable to draw any strong conclusions relative to nematode survival. It is common knowledge that moist soil is a requirement for nematode survival. Mulching plants may be a good cultural practice for use with nematodes to enhance their survival.
Objective two: In this part of the experiment, Chinese cabbage did not attract significantly more adult flea beetles than broccoli except on June 29th and June 30th. Trap counts within each treatment (broccoli, Chinese cabbage) varied so much that only very large differences in their averages are statistically different. Traps amount the bush beans has significantly less adult flea beetles than broccoli and Chinese cabbage on all dates. It is a normal practice to apply insecticide (I used rotenone) to the trap crop (Chinese cabbage), but the white rotenone dust may interfere with the attraction of plant surface to adult flea beetles. I bring attention to this on observations of trappings on June 5th to June 7th. Overall, flea beetle populations were very high. Frequent sampling is needed to manage high pest populations when using trap crops. Also, proper insecticide selection may be important so that the attractiveness of the trap is not reduced.