Last year, I thought enemy #1 was that white butterfly. This year, I have only seen a few - so far. Maybe, they are just waiting for me to get Over my euphoria - so early. However, so far, the only critter in any large number, has been aphis on my cabbage. Granted with all of the rain and cool weather, the cabbage crop has been phenomenal. The aphis were late in coming, so the cabbages had a chance to head up before their arrival in great numbers. I stripped a lot of the lower leaves from the cabbages, mostly with aphis infestation, and fed them to the chickens. They loved the extra protein, and perhaps my actions helped control the problem as well. I used to have a lot of problem with pill/sow bugs, but once I started leaving my sifted compost to air after screening and adding to my planting boxes, it seemed to control that problem. The birds feasted on the pill bugs while it was "resting" after being screened out of the compost pile. I may regret my comment about the cabbage worm in a few months, but I really think that one bird in my backyard has made a big difference. It is a phoebe. A few years back, I kept bees - actually they "kept" me, because our back yard was adopted by bees that were orphaned when the back country was devastated by wild fires. Anyway, phoebe appeared at about that time and liked catching bees on the fly. Now the bee population had dwindled, and phoebe is catching other "flyers" I see. So - yes, this organic philosphy seems to be working - sometimes takes awhile, but I see daylight. Bejay

Thanks for your reply. Let's assume that after a few days none recover.... would it be advisable to re-dig & re-sow in the same rows? Is carrot fly maggot infestation caused by the recent crop failure an issue? I prefer to replant & have full rows of carrots rather than leave one surviving carrot every 10 inches.

I did have some insect damage last year (first year completely organic which means no MG). I've never sprayed poisons. I had bean plants, corn, tomatoes, herbs, cukes, watermelons. The damage was very minimal...the worst was the worms that ate through my tomatoes, and even that wasn't bad, just frustrating. However, since last fall I do have a garden enemy that is making me rethink my all natural approach: VOLES. They've eaten several plant roots and some plants. I think I'll have to set out mousetraps....which goes against my whole philosphy. However, after the damage they have inflicted in my beds around the house, I can't have them eating the food for my family. A flea beetle? Nothing. These guys are relentless and breeding like crazy.

"For instance, growing kale seedlings at 80F sounds like a recipe for failure - this is a cool-weather crop which would not appreciate anything over temps in the upper 60s. The same advice applies for growing most vegetable seedlings, including tomatoes." Did you read my previous comment about the effect of light and dark temperature differences on stem length? Did you ever try growing a plant with a higher dark period temperature than light period temperature? I did by growing tomato seedlings with lights on during the night and lights off during the day in a greenhouse. See http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2005610/how-to-easily-supplement-fluorescent-with-incandescent-light. I was struwwelpeter then. I call your attention to the following: "In hopes of keeping plants stocky, I will try to keep the average dark temperature higher than the average light temperature. To do this, the lights are on only from 6 PM to 10 AM. The greenhouse heater is set to go on below 55 deg. F. and the greenhouse ventilator fans and shutter are set to go on at more than 95 deg. F.. I am aiming for 80 deg. F. light temperature and 95 deg. F dark temperature." "To my amazement, these tomato plants are shorter but heavier looking than their greenhouse grown counterparts. The weather was mostly sunny, and, my Gro-Lux bulbs are decades old and used. Who would have guessed?" "Left to right, daylight, Gro-Lux, Gro-Lux Plus Incandescent. You can read the variety on some of the tags. The pots are 4.06 inches diameter at the top outside. http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/BigZac3.6.jpg http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/BestBoy3.6.jpg http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/VelvetRed3.6.jpg The biggest difference is with Velvet Red (which some people claim is the best tasting cherry tomato that isn't sweeter than a normal tomato). This is the first time I have grown it. It is supposed to have bluish foliage and fuzzy fruit."