Weekly Gardening Thread
Posted on 10/18/2011 4:52:38 PM PDT by posterchild
BLACKVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Kudzu — the "plant that ate the South" — has finally met a pest that's just as voracious. Trouble is, the so-called "kudzu bug" is also fond of another East Asian transplant that we happen to like, and that is big money for American farmers.
Soybeans.
"When this insect is feeding on kudzu, it's beneficial," Clemson University entomologist Jeremy Greene says as he stands in a field swarming with the brown, pea-sized critters. "When it's feeding on soybeans, it's a pest."
Like kudzu, which was introduced to the South from Japan in the late 19th century as a fodder and a way to stem erosion on the region's worn-out farmlands, this insect is native to the Far East. And like the invasive vine, which "Deliverance" author James Dickey famously deemed "a vegetable form of cancer," the kudzu bug is running rampant.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
insect warfare.
Weekly Gardening Thread
These idiots just won’t leave nature alone.
We get kudzu because some “learned” government official though it was a good idea;
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Soil Conservation Service promoted kudzu for erosion control. Hundreds of young men were given work planting kudzu through the Civilian Conservation Corps. Farmers were paid as much as eight dollars an acre as incentive to plant fields of the vines in the 1940s.
So now some other “learned” government official figures they can fix the problem by bringing in some other foreign thing.
And the EPA will ban any effective pesticide.
So we’ll eat bugs and Kudzu instead of soybeans!
You don’t want to eat soy beans! They are 95% Genetically Modified Organisms.
Thank you Monsanto! This is like the Salmon Virus story from earlier today!
Every time man convinces himself that he is smarter than God this unintended disaster S*%t happens!
So much for IPM geniuses...lol (Integrated Pest Management). ROFL....
Will the bug eat Himalaya berry vines?
Just got to thinking about it and I haven’t seen any Kudzu for a while.
Has anyone noticed that it smells a lot like grape soda?
There is nothing inherently wrong with GM crops. Fear of GM crops ranks up there with 9/11 truthers and the black helicopter crowd. You should thank Monsanto for feeding the world.
You eat ‘em, my family and I will take a big healthy pass, thanks.
“During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Soil Conservation Service promoted kudzu for erosion control”
And the sad part is, the damned plant doesn’t do diddly to help prevent erosion
These nasties if they are impervious to cold could be worse. Beans so far can take the damage from the beetles (usually just the perimeter of fields) but we don't know when if they will max out. Plus they're done in 6-7 weeks usually
They spray in central IL with planes for the beetles but I don't know what with. The most effective chemical is long acting and very bad for bees (contains imidacloprid). Sevin kills all bugs on contact, beneficial or not and washes off in rain.
I'm going to have to do more homework on this new menace.
It won't help with the bugs, but I've been reading about biomass plants for fuels grown on marginal land. Grasses seem to hold some promise. I wonder if kudzu would be useful for that, never saw the stuff but envision whacking through it with a machete and would clog machinery. I didn't know it was nitrogen fixing like beans. Breeding in the kudzo then jumping to beans is bad enough, but will have to see how if they breed in the north.
They'd like home garden beans, too, if they like soybeans. And possibly other garden plants.
A soybean pest? Cr@p!
Major cash crop for us. I hope the little beggars can’t stand northern winters.
ChaChing! One man’s pest is another man’s paycheck...
It just seemed to have some relevance in my brain to this particular topic.
You need to come visit me. But, no, I’ve never smelled it. Goats and cows will also eat the stuff. Snakes love to live under it.
One guy who worked there told me (back in the late 80's early 90's about the "war room" -- the place where they monitor all major agricultural operations to predict supply and then buy and sell futures to affect planting incentives.
NO NO, I cannot live without my 60 cal, plain Silk soy beverage. It’s the only drink that soothes my aggravating tummy.
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