or this.....
but not like this. Don't eat these.
I have searched online for beet diseases but yet found nothing to explain this affliction. They are all from the southeast quarter of the beet bed, the same area where all the sunchokes were covered in fungus when unearthed in the spring, and, interestingly enough, close to one of our many ant hills. I can't help wondering about that. Another group of ants appears to have done in this cabbage in an otherwise healthy population.
This colony held its mating event yesterday. Ants flying through the air are even more off-putting than ants crawling on the ground. It was of some comfort that the sex-crazed drones were contained within the row cover. I wonder if mating can happen when the queen's flight is limited to less than two feet. Later in the afternoon, all was quiet, which is nice in a way but also probably means the queen is back in her chamber manufacturing a fresh batch of workers.
