Bugs

Hi,
I have been looking very hard for any type of bugs in my plants. I read your posts about bugs eating all your stuff and shudder. I go through and inspect each plant and even under the leaves while I trim yellow or dead leaves.

I have yet to see one of those japanese beetles but I have seen five big black ones with claws on the front that I stepped on. I have another type of beetle. I don't know if it is eating or not. I watched them today for quite a while and they were not munching. I think it is some type of longhorn but have not been able to find it anywhere on here or the web. I know that sevin does not touch them though.

I have aphids like crazy on the roses only up by the tiny buds that are about to pop. They are only on the roses. I think that sevin might be a gimmick. I sprayed every other day for 14 days and I still have them. All though they are slowing down rapidly now. I don't know if it is the sevin or the ant granuales (terro) that I surrounded each rose with. I read your posts about getting rid of the ants and you get rid of the aphids. That sevin is potent though. I see dead tent catipillars, worms, bees and others. I have to quit spraying sevin. All my plants look like they have that powdery mildew disease. The leaves are all white coated.

I cannot control the slugs. These things are all over anything that has leaves. They are brutal. I'm sick of picking them. I go to the dollar store and buy final net hair spray and light a bic lighter. It's like a flamethrower. I fry their asses til they disentagrate. I can't stop these things. I'm frying some of my plants though so I have to find an alternative. When I finish this case of final net I will try something else.
What are you guys using for slugs?

Thats the only bugs I can find in the garden. I have been turning on the outdoor garage lights and going out there at midnight or so. It looks like the whole side of the garage is moving. It is so thick with all kinds of bugs, moths, junebugs, bats zooming in and praying mantis. This is where I get my supply of mantis. I pick them and plant them in the garden.

Here is what I don't have a shortage of.
I have tons of little frogs, some bigger ones too. Lots of little peepers, tree frogs & toads. Millions of them. That and dragonflys. The worms also. I can scrape away wood chips for a foot and see probably seven worms. They are all over. The humming birds are so thick I don't jump anymore when they buzz my head.

Now the bad part. The field up by the pole barn has tiny grasshoppers so thick like they just hatched. When you walk by they all jump. you can literally watch the field move for ten feet in front of you. How do you control these things?
I thought about calling my friend the chief on the fire department and telling him to do a controlled burn for training the newbies. I had them do that on an old house that was on some property that I bought.

Just looked up at this post. I'm rambling. Goodnight folks.

Joel.

Joel,

One thing I do that eliminates a lot of bugs is keep all the property around me mowed short. Most bugs and rodents of all sorts like tall grass to hang out in. I also like the look of the short grass and I love to mow. I mow about 7 acres every week. :) I find we don't have as many mosquitos or grasshoppers or a lot of other bugs. We still have the beneficial honey bees though because of the flowers I plant. I do have some slug damage on the cabbages in the veggie garden but I plant so many I just let them share and don't try to eliminate them. I don't use any pesticides near where I grow my food. I will use some sprays on the ornamentals though and I do spray my fruit trees. I also have sandy soil that ants love. My snakes around here keep down a lot of the bugs and mice. We have plenty of snakes.

You'll never eliminate all bugs but if you can spray for the ants you'll get rid of the aphids and a lot of other undesirables. I don't like spiders in the house so we do a broad bug spray twice a year especially around the foundation of the house and it helps.

I use orchard spray on my roses. It kills the sphids and not the bees. Annother trick is to spray after it cools down in the evenings. The bees are all gone home by then except for the occasional bumble bee sleeping in the hollyhocks.

Thanks Loon & JY,
This weekend I'll try to get some time to mow that area. I don't have a food garden yet as I have to clear more trees to get light but I am sick of spraying everything else I plant. I think it shrivels the leaves and I know it leaves a white powder on everything. I think all these chemicals are making my plants look different. I will start searching the forums to see what you folks have been using as an alternative.

Joel.

Joel, when you spray everything with poisons you kill the beneficial insects as well as the ones that bother your plants. It makes sense to spray fruit trees to save a crop, but pretty much anything else can be managed by less toxic means. At all levels of the animal kingdom there are far fewer predators than prey (think fox and rabbits). Kill the single fox and you will have endless rabbits. The same is true with insects. Spray widely and you will have many more of the kind you don't want. You can knock the aphids off with a strong spray of water from your hose. Toads, frogs, snakes, birds, spiders and predator insects will all help with the insects, but your poison will kill them, too. There are iron-based non-toxic slug baits that you can try, or simply saucers of beer, a yeasty flour mixture, or a number of other benign remedies. You can find a ton of information on the Internet. Occasionally, I go out at night and pick slugs off the plants. I snip them with scissors, usually--don't like things to suffer long if I am going to kill them. Slugs and snails are mollusks, not insects, so insect poisons don't touch them, and the slug poisons are extremely toxic to other animals too. Generally, though, I find that the many toads in my garden keep the slugs in check. Insects also go in cycles. This year there were a ton of four-lined plant bugs, but there will probably be fewer next year. Most insects are beneficial or neutral; only a few are problematic. I use no poisons, and my garden has far fewer troublesome critters (with the exception of the deer, who have a taste for tulips, lilies, and anything in bud) than it did back in the days when I used insecticides. I feed the birds to encourage their presence, spray water on the occasional aphids and spider mites, drown Japanese beetles in soapy water, and pretty much leave the rest alone. The reward is bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, etc. There are a few plants I don't grow because it would take poison to manage them. Hybrid tea roses (fungal diseases) and hollyhocks (rust, weevils) are two in this category. But there are plenty of great substitutes for these, and I don't miss them enough to justify the harm I would do to keep them beautiful. Hope some of this helps you in your search for alternatives.

Joel

You must be diligent in fighting aphids.......I spray with the strongest water setting on my hose, and I do it twice a day. Typically aphids are lazy, and won't jump back on to your roses, but alot of them hide on the underside of plants, so you have to keep spraying them hard at least twice a day until you know they are gone. Sometimes it takes a week or more.

Deann

Thanks guys,
Ahh, the rest of the story. The side the chemical Co. don't tell you.
Yes, I do want to get off the chemicals. I know it is not good for pretty much anything.
Thank you for all your replies and advise. I will start reading prior posts about the topic and heed your advise. I have a friend that brings a dog with her sometimes. That mutt is always eating grass blades. Probably should quit the chemicals before she loses a Old English sheep dog & I lose a friend.

Yes all this helps a great deal and is appreciated very much. Thank you.