This week farmers in Israel were hit by a locust attack.
Let me tell you, it's very bad to be a farmer when this happens.
We knew that the locust had a very good breading season in Ethiopia this year, we knew that they had reached Egypt, that
they had gotten as far as Cyprus, we were intensely following them as they entered Sinai.....and then they came
We were informed through our sms cellphones that the locust had entered Israel through the western boarder with Egypt
and had landed in the outskirts of a few moshavim along that boarder. It was evening and the information started pouring in
-they land at night and can do no damage
-they need 17 degrees c. to fly
-they need strong sunlight to guide them
-they are not hungry and do no damage
-they will lay their eggs and it's in the spring that we will be in trouble
-they are the red variety and less dangerous
well if your livelihood is at stake you don't take any chances.
At 0400 I assembled my workers and we began vigorously covering all my plants with nets. the gypso, trachelium, sunflowers,
and desert pea were all covered with nets. I appreciated the fact that only 10% of my crops are grown outside (all the
rest are in greenhouses)
At 0900 we were drinking our coffee complimenting ourselves on a Job well done.
and then they came
May god be with anyone who is in the way of these creatures.
They came in the Hundreds of thousands
1630 the were still coming with no end in sight.
As the day ended they went to spend the night in the dry valleys. No one knows why they didn"t eat any of the greens
that were in the gardens and that were readily available to them.. but they went to sleep
and we.....
began our attack.
the Israeli government met on Saturday!!!!!!
and authorized a massive air attack on these
bast...ds
Plane after plane after plane took off from different airfields and began systematically spraying the creatures as they
began waking up
We awaited nervously to see if the results.
Sure enough they were dying.
1300-two Isreali fighter jets reported a new wave 10 kilometers long entering Israel..........
they landed in the dead sea. thousands of them landed in the water.. others along the shores...
and then someone more powerful than our crop-dusters intervened
the weather. It rained miserably all day today with temperatures dropping to an all low for this time of season.
The locust cant handle this cold weather. those that manage to fly are looking for warm weather... good riddance lets hope
its the end of them....I am not at all sure
Eyal
FINERICH SUNFLOWER
vase life of 2 weeks and more if kept in normal condition
growing instructions for the Farmers
amongst
us
Preferred Date for plantimg
Finerich can be planted throughout the year however it should be noted that when temperatures drop
below 14 Celsius or when day-length is under 11 hours there is a need for artificial
lighting.
Planting
Width of planting bed 1 meter. 3 rows to a bed EACH row should have its own drip pipe.(optimum pipe
dripper every 10 c"m).
16-20 seeds per meter bed or 45-60 per square meter
1 c"m depth
Field ias to be covered with a netbe covered with a net.
Net is to be removed after appearance of 2 real leaves
Irrigation
EACH row should have its own drip pipe.(optimum pipe dripper every 10 c"m).
Germination should be done with sprinklers. 15 m/q for every 1000/ square meter for the first 2 days.
From day 3 80% drip 20% sprinkler- top soil must be moist at this time.
After appearance of 2 leaves irrigate with drip only.(On hot days a small portion can be given with
sprinklers).
Fertigation
Starting with 30grams solution of npk type fertilizer and going up to 120 gram solution when the flowers
are at maximum growth.
Spraying
Pesticide- after germination spray against caterpillars and/or use bait pesticide.
*****do not irrigate with sprinklers after spraying for 24 hrs
Thrips must be held to minimum.
Disease-white mildew,
Trellis
A
20x20 net type trellis every 4 meters.
Yield
16000-24000
stems per 1000 square meters
*****from
30 centimeters irrigation should be spaced to strengthen
stems and prevent head from falling.
From sowing to picking between 90-120 days depending on
temperature
1 day of rain in the desert is enough to cause havoc here.
It happened last night and all through the day
The main road to eilat has been closed for 2 days
Here is a photo-essay of the flash flood.Pictures by Gilad Livni
Her it starts
Nature what a powerfull force
Its 3 hours to go another way-if there is another way
water in the desert
No way out
Gone is the highway to Eilat
Thank god there was no damage to the crops
Eyal
