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Comment by idontwantthis | Hacker News Reader

You don’t have bugs eating your plants?

While a little bug damage is expected here and there, you can still harvest a lot of high quality produce with minimal or zero pest management. Bugs generally go for weak and unhealthy plants, so if you can keep most of your plants healthy, you can just pull the weak ones if they get too many bugs.

Of course there are plenty of other things you can do, but if you have strong, healthy plants, you often don't have to do much. Birds and other larger animals however, can be a much bigger problem depending on your crop.

We get serious grasshopper damage around here, esp the last two years. It's cyclical, but not all crops are seriously affected. Root crops are usually very robust.

I tried neem and diatomaceous earth against the hoppers. Different mechanisms of action, not total control but good enough for root crops like potatoes. The pumpkins and other squashes also hold up well.

My reply was perhaps a bit too simple and optimistic, so thanks for your comment. Bugs can indeed do more than a little damage, and the bad years can be horrible! I guess the spirit of my previous comment was that it can be possible to find some success, without pesticides or an aggressive IPM program.

> not all crops are seriously affected

Crop diversity is the key, and a life saver when the pressure is on, or when things just don't go as planned for whatever reason!

I don't get terrible grasshopper pressure in my location, but a friend does and uses Nolo Bait as part of her management.

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