Field Pests

There are many times in the winter that you walk fields and you ask yourself…”Why is this field so dead looking? What in the world is going on out here?!”

When growing grass seed there can be a million things that go wrong out in a field. From the age of the field to the many pests that we fight, many times it feels like a loosing battle.

So we set out last week to find out what was going on. And we found a few answers. Some in the form of a few Canadians overstaying their welcome…

And in other fields we have thought to hire Little Bunny Foo Foo to start “Scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head!”

And then the most common of predators…the elusive or not so elusive gray slug.

You wouldn’t think that a small slimy thing only an inch long could cause so much damage, but I’ve seen them take out entire fields in only a 2 week time period. Last year we lost a huge chunk out of a baby field and we have a few that look similar this year.

All in all, it’s pretty frustrating. It’s not a fun job walking fields while they waste away know how much money goes down the drain with every slug infestation or mouse colony. But for now we will protect our fields where we can, with the few tools that we have to help with the problems. Knowing that in some cases we will make the call that it just might not make it another year, bite the bullet and plan to plant another crop this spring. But that’s all part of the risk of farming.