Comments on: Caught in the Act

By: Cheri

Cheri — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:49:44 +0000

Thanks Michelle! I never squish an unidentified bug, but thanks for letting me know. I guess I shouldn’t have called him a “ne’er-do-well,” hey? This novice gardener is learning verrrrrrrry slowly, but I figure as long as I keep remembering how little I know things should (mostly) work out okay.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:58:57 +0000

The nameless ne’er-do-well is most likely a parasitic wasp - a beneficial insect. I hope you didn’t squash that one, it was probably laying its eggs in some nasty bug or caterpillar. With enough bugs like that around you won’t need pesticides.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:04:51 +0000

Thanks, Aunty Mary! I just wonder whether I should try to get rid of earwigs in the garden if they’re going to eat aphids… They’re icky, but sort of beneficial…

By: Aunty Mary

Aunty Mary — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:02:18 +0000

Soapy water works well on earwigs. They killed a few clematis I had tried to grow over the years, but the one I planted here last year has made it and is in bloom! Yay! Love your stories, Cheri! Keep ‘em comin’!

By: Joan

Joan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:58:23 +0000

Owen can smell earwigs…. I know… weird…

So, not believing that one would be able to smell them, I did a little research. I found out that they do, in fact, stink. There is research with tiny tubes made of canvas that hang in trees and the earwigs live in the tubes to deter aphids.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:30:32 +0000

Sara - if I had some beer on hand, I’d send the kids out right now! What a marvelous use of child labour. I approve.
Jools, I only FOUND one slug…probably there are many, many, many more.

By: Julie Redl

Julie Redl — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:21:19 +0000

You have ONE slug?? That’s hysterical to me. Slugs outnumber people in the Northwest US. I didn’t know earwigs (shudder) ate aphids! I’ve only seen them eating plants - my zinnias most recently. They ick me out, too - I don’t let the kids touch them.

By: Sara

Sara — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:17:25 +0000

A pie tin of beer works wonders on slugs. Used that trick as a child with my tomatoes. My mom would make me fill them after dark so the neighbors wouldn’t see me toting around a Bud can. True story.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:00:29 +0000

Ah-ha, that makes sense. Great article, Joan! Apparently zucchini are often used to lure them away from other plants. Hmmm. I will begin to harvest bugs soon, too. Unfortunately, these dudes like to fly off and were not quite as willing to sit still and let me photograph them (therefore I suspect it’ll be a difficult harvest). Oh well. Thanks!

By: Joan

Joan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:52:14 +0000

I share my strawberries with slugs… I have no choice but to do that. Your Black and Yellow Fellow is a cucumber beetle (check a previous comment I made… I am over run with them… except I called them squash beetles…. but they are really cucumber beetles.) Mmmmmm… spinach. I had spinach and strawberry salad for lunch…. I rinsed the slugs off first.

http://www.organicagcentre.ca/NewspaperArticles/na_cucumber_beetle.asp