You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'pests' category.
While we were eating dinner on our porch one evening, an envoy of slugs were dispatched in an attempt to open peace negotiations. I guess they didn’t take too kindly to the tactics I used to protect my garden from them (the soapy bucket method).
I think these slugs are pretty darn smart. After taking pictures of them, I couldn’t bring myself to do away with them. I did stop short of naming them, though. I can show some self-restraint.
So, I guess you could say there currently is a suspension of hostilities. They did make one tactical error, though. They sent very plump slugs, which sort of rubs in the fact that they are getting fat off my crops.
Technorati Tags: slugs
It has been a while since I’ve written a post about a bug and my sometimes-gruesome attempts to protect my crops from them. Well, if you have been lamenting the absence of such a post, today is your lucky day! If not, you might want to check back on another day when I talk about a recipe or post a photograph of a flower.
Actually, there is nothing too gross here. Just a few pictures of my latest foe, the harlequin bug.
I noticed them a while ago, but couldn’t actually figure out what they were up to. I suspected they might be doing something inappropriate to my broccoli florets, but I couldn’t figure out what. And when questioned about it, they strenuously denied any wrongdoing. So, I took this picture and did a background check. Good thing I did. Read the rest of this entry »
As you know, I have four blueberry bushes. I also purchased one red and one black raspberry bush this spring. The red raspberry is doing okay, the black one has been growing like crazy but has not set any fruit or flowers. I am suspicious that it is growing from below a root graft, and therefore will never fruit.
In the woods bordering our property, Chris noticed these berries growing. They are scattered on the edge of our yard and loaded up with berries. Four new baby berry plants have sprouted out of my old wood chip pile. I plan to dig them and plant near the garden. But I can’t figure out why the deer haven’t eaten all these berries. Any place my garden raspberries poke through the fence, the deer devour them, stems and leaves included. If I plant the forest berries, will they leave them alone?
I knew it was just a matter of time.
Each year I am inundated by thousands, perhaps even gazillions, of squash bugs. And each year, sometime in late summer, Chris finds me in the garden crazily stamping on squash bugs and yelling at them to go away. Sometimes he has to forcibly remove me from the garden. Sure, I know what you are thinking. I’ve gone on and on about the slugs, the flea beetles, the deer, the cabbage worms, the japanese beetles, etc., but this is different. It was the dreaded squash bug that killed my beloved zephyr squash last summer.
Parents who go out of town and leave their teens behind should expect that unsavory things (from the parents’ perspective) are likely to transpire in their absence. We have no children, never mind teens, and therefore were shocked to come home to an orgy. A japanese beetle orgy. Sure, there were a few meandering about when we left, but they seemed innocent enough. How stupidly naive!
There is not much that can be done to combat this pest, given that there are no natural predators in the US. Except to grab them with your fingers and crush the life out of them.
I know what you are thinking. The poor beetles! What a severe sentence! She’s an overzealous prosecutor! This isn’t fair! But I will not bow to the political pressure from the right. I will not pardon them. Nor will I commute the sentence (and then sneak in an inevitable pardon later). No, guilt is guilt. The sentence stands.
Some might say this was entrapment. It is true, borage can be used as a “trap plant” to attract japanese beetles so that you can collectively do away with them. Too bad, I say. They still chose to eat in my garden, and now they have to pay for it. Even if they are rich (which of course they aren’t), and even if they have a friend who lives in a white house (which they might). Justice may be obstructed in Washington, but not in my back yard.
Technorati Tags: eggplant, garden, gardening, insects, kitchen garden
The cabbage war is continuing. I was ready to declare victory, as I seemed to have the cabbage whites under control (or maybe they have been lulling me into a false sense of security before they completely obliterate my cabbage, it is hard to know). The new enemy is the striped flea beetle (a different variety of flea beetle than I have on my eggplant). Above is a photo of my cabbage when it was happy and healthy.
Below you can see the striped flea beetles and the damage that has been done already. I had no idea that so many bugs would be trying to eat my cabbage. I don’t even like cabbage all that much, but now that they are being attacked, I feel deeply, deeply attached to them. Mess with me if you want, but don’t mess with my plants!
This is my first time growing cabbage, and until last weekend they looked perfect. How quickly things change! Every day I look for cabbage worms, but they have already wreaked havoc.
My gardening book says to put pots of mint in between the plants. Does anyone know if this will work? I also see that bt is supposed to help. If you have any advice, I’d love to hear it!
You can see why I built the deer fence around the garden (there is a deer lurking in the shadows on the right side of the first photo). They seem surprisingly desperate this summer, and have eaten lots of my flowers. The second picture is of what is left of my sunflower. I usually plant sunflowers along the north side of the garden, and in past years they weren’t much bothered after they got big. Not so this year.
The pest theme continues today. I had planned on posting pictures of some recent deer damage (they ate all the leaves off my pear tree and even ate my sunflowers)! But, I happened to be outside last night after dark (there were strange noises coming from the forest so I thought I would investigate) and I decided to take a quick look at the garden to see if I could find any slugs. Ha! How naive I was! There were so many slugs that I quickly filled up a container of soapy water with them (which was recommended to me at the best method of disposal). It was amazing how many slugs there were.
When I closed my eyes to go to sleep late last night, all I could see were images of slugs slithering around my garden. In my exhausted state, I set the container of dead slugs on my front step and when I finally quit the slaughter. The poor UPS guy this morning sure got a eyeful.
I had been putting down some slug bait periodically, but apparently I’ve been wasting my time and money with that method! I had noticed some slug damage on my marigolds, and they had eaten my cumin seedlings, but I had no idea that I had so many slugs wandering around each night.
OK, now I am sure you are wondering what is up with the picture. Chris took a time-lapse photo of me slug hunting, and I was wearing a head lamp (which is very handy for hands-free slug hunting, I might add). So, all those bright spots are of me zooming around picking up slugs. We are going to try for a better photo on another night.
Technorati Tags: garden, kitchen garden
I keep finding most of the bugs in my garden on my eggplant. First, the flea beetles arrived. But, I was ready for them, and sprayed a bit of neem oil on the leaves. Then it was the colorado potato beetle that chomped out some big pieces of eggplant leaves (but didn’t live to tell about it). And then I found the aphids quietly hiding on the underside of the leaves. Oh, and there were also some small green worms. But, there were also armies of ants marching around (it looked like they were doing something important), and also a few lady bugs hanging out, taking it all in.
I have become a bit obsessed with my eggplant. I have even developed a new morning ritual. I inspect the leaves of each eggplant, and crush the few stray bad guys (mostly flea beetles) that remain.
But, I still have questions. What are the ants doing? I learned from watching a documentary on insects that ants will herd aphids. They “milk” the aphids by collecting a substance (called “honeydew”) that the aphids excrete. I wonder if the ants on my eggplant were responsible for bringing the aphids? If so, they must be pretty upset with me.
Yes, a beautiful ripe raspberry. Too bad I didn’t get to eat it. I took this picture and then was so distracted taking other photos that I forgot to pick the berry. When I remembered an hour later, it was gone.
I am now fighting back. That very evening I installed netting over my berries. I can report that it works perfectly for all my berry bushes and my strawberry beds.
This year I am resolved to note and identify the insects I find in the garden. My neighbor tells me that this caterpillar, found on my dill, is destined to become a monarch butterfly.
I have an enormous debt of gratitude to my friend the braconid wasp, who last year rendered the evil tomato fruitworm ineffective and allowed my tomato crop to thrive. I hope to post picture of a fruitworm this summer that has wasp cocoons along its back. I also found this colorado potato beetle (bottom, left) on my eggplant. I “eliminated” it, along with some slugs I found. I feel a bit bad about having to do that, but then I don’t like having my crops eaten before I have a chance to eat them myself.
Recent Comments