Week 39 2008 Uninvited guests It has suddenly gotten cold. We have already experienced the first hoar frost in the middle of September. But we do hope to keep away the frost a little longer. The fall has given us yet another challenge. We have gotten uninvited guests. The caterpillars of the Turnip Moth called Cutworms are having a feast in our fields. It is grumbling large holes in the carrots. The fields' looks really good and you have no clue about what is going on, at first eye sight. When we look closer, it unfortunately seems that about 2/3 of the carrots has been attacked. That means that approximately 200 metric ton is trash. The attack has started sometime in the last three weeks, and the most sad thing is that according to the plan, the whole field was supposed to be harvested a long time ago. Because of the dry period in July, the growth had stopped for a while in this exact field, and therefore the carrots has been growing a lot slower than expected. At the moment we are not sure whether it is possible at all, to get the rest of the 1/3 harvested. The sorting of the carrots takes a long time, and it is possible that it will be a problem to be in time to sort enough carrots to pack. The sight cheats! A really beautiful field ......... ....with really pretty carrots .....Or not. Looking closely, they might not be that pretty anyway. The sinner The Turnip Moth and its caterpillars, which we have the doubtful pleasure to house in one of our fields. Back