A free tour today at OARDC in Wooster features new, non-chemical, sustainable ways to fight a melon grower’s biggest nightmare. “Both organic and conventional muskmelon growers rank the cucumber beetle/bacterial wilt complex as their No. 1 problem,” says Celeste Welty, an OARDC and OSU Extension entomologist and one of the speakers. New research on trap crops and row covers is the focus. “On many sustainable farms, and particularly on organic farms, there’s interest in using any possible tactics other than pesticides,” Welty says, partly because of the chemicals’ threat to honey bees. It’s part of the 2011 Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series (pdf).