A vegetable meadow?

[Adrien (ex-nico239)]

Isn't that an ordinary spider or bombyx-like caterpillars?

[to be chafoin]

Yes maybe you are right ... we panic for nothing!

[to be chafoin]

By scratching near tomatoes to sow I found the phenomenon that I had already indicated:

A beautiful root from the tomato stalk whose stake can be seen at the top right

Roots will run at the interface between the earth and the hay, sometimes as here up to 1m from the foot. So I removed the hay everywhere and it happens several times, I even have the impression that sometimes the root comes out of the ground to feed under the hay. Have you observed the same thing or is it a case specific to my field? The earth would be so compact that the root would follow the path of the least effort. Next year I think I will bury the plants better.

[Did67]

In order not to panic for nothing, you should start by assessing the damage! If they are less than 15/20%, we consider that it is the share of the angels!

One of the bad reflexes of bad gardeners is to look at "pests". Instead of assessing the damage. It is therefore more a question of "annoyance", possibly of fear, than of "nusiibilité". "What does this one need?", "Here it is I who order and decide what should be there or not!", "I don't know, but you never know , let's start by eradicating we will discuss then! "...

It is of course a very common attitude that I describe ... I do not make fun of you in particular!

[to be chafoin]

Still on the voles: this is certainly one of their galleries.

In fact there are lots of galleries of this style all over the meadow around. On the other hand it is only under the hay of my vegetable garden that I see these molehills which are not as big as those that I see elsewhere for example on this photo of internet:

taupinieres.jpg (24.21 KB) Viewed 1652 times

In my place there are small heaps of good, blown, moist soil that contrasts with the dry, hard soil next to it. At the level of the old peas, the heaps almost follow the crop line side by side.

I would not say long live the voles (or the moles?) Because I can not yet distinguish the damage from these critters, but in these places you can scratch the earth while next to it I can hardly put a a claw strike ! Suddenly the seedlings remain tedious outside these areas.

[Did67]

"Nothing is ever quite perfect - therefore nothing is ever totally bad!" And so the mole rat, annoying as it may be when it ravages 24 out of 24 celeriacs (it's a real experience!), Nevertheless has the merit of producing loose soil in large quantities. And to dig galleries which participate in the aeration of the soil. Unlike the tiller, it maintains what it has done. CQFD!

It is, for me, one of the main actors of "tillage"! A producer of "couscous" too little known ...

[Did67]

By scratching near tomatoes to sow I found the phenomenon that I had already indicated: 2018-10-09 18.53.09.jpg Roots will run at the interface between the earth and the hay, sometimes like here until 1m from the foot. So I removed the hay everywhere and it happens several times, I even have the impression that sometimes the root comes out of the ground to feed under the hay. Have you observed the same thing or is it a case specific to my field? The earth would be so compact that the root would follow the path of the least effort. Next year I think I will bury the plants better.

Yes yes, I have this all the time. Do not get tired of burying more, they will come out anyway it is quite simply there that there is the food resulting from the mineralization of hay (the mineral elements, nutritive, resulting from the decomposition of hay by micro-organisms) .

And we can assume (without proof) that this is also where the roots most easily "find" the mycorrhizal fungi and the bacteria with which they cooperate!

[to be chafoin]

In order not to panic for nothing, you should start by assessing the damage! If they are less than 15/20%, we consider that it is the share of the angels!

Yes, but it is still necessary to be capable of this evaluation: what is the normal production of a tomato crop, in my soil, with the climatic conditions of this year? .... When we judge that there are " "significant damage, as is the case here, it is not easy to understand the cause, especially since it is rarely unique: a disturbance leads to fragility which leads to the occurrence of other disruptors ...

[to be chafoin]

Yes yes, I have this all the time. Do not get tired of burying more, they will come out anyway it is quite simply there that there is the food resulting from the mineralization of hay (the mineral elements, nutritive, resulting from the decomposition of hay by micro-organisms) .
And we can assume (without proof) that this is also where the roots most easily "find" the mycorrhizal fungi and the bacteria with which they cooperate!

Mh mh, but does not this lead to an earlier and stronger fragility in the face of drought, when the lack of water (probably unavoidable) arrives?

[Did67]

Yes, but it is still necessary to be capable of this evaluation: what is the normal production of a tomato crop, in my soil, with the climatic conditions of this year? .... When we judge that there are " "significant damage, as is the case here, it is not easy to understand the cause, especially since it is rarely unique: a disturbance leads to fragility which leads to the occurrence of other disruptors ...

On a tomato plant, the "damage", in this case of red spiders, it would be that a "good number" of leaves begin to present "iridescent" spots. There, you deduce that photosynthesis is starting to be affected and that there will be damage.

In your photo, no leaf is affected. We can deduce that the damage is insignificant ... If they exist!