Here is why CSA shares are getting Swiss Chard instead of Tatsoi this week. While i was selling vegetables over the hot weekend, these buggers were busy reproducing. Last week i noticed 4 or 5 on a few tatsoi plants that i tried to transplant to fill out the end of a row. Well this week they are working their way down the row of tatsoi and the adjacent mustard greens, en masse. Jerry, my mentor and much more experienced farmer friend say's these might just be this farm's nemesis. All i know about them so far is that they are a type of shield bug (aka stink bug). I remember seeing some parasitized eggs the other day, so i'm going to try and do a survey of the level of parasitism tomorrow and then decide what control measures to take. The tatsoi and mustard went from awesome to toast in about 4 days. I've got to get a handle on this problem before it spreads to the lettuce mix accross the path or worse, all the crucifer's I transplanted in the last 2 weeks. Both crops are kind of crucial to the winter harvest schedule. I'll update this post after i do some reconnaissance work tomorrow.
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