bugs
 

i have noticed a real scarcity of bugs this year. mind you, i am not complaining but. it is a strange feeling that is also wondeful at the same time. i have especially enjoyed not having a plethora of squash bugs and flea hoppers. i always have birds but there seems to be more this year and just maybe that could have something to do do with it.

has anyone else experienced this?

jon:wait:

I'm actually noticing just the opposite. I've seen bugs this year that I've only heard about before! And there are dozens of new anthills. Centipedes that look like something out of a tropical rain forest. Lots of spiders, including some I didn't recognize but who appeared to be enjoying the ants and aphids. Fewer caterpillars, though. Maybe the ants are eating them.

And this morning I gave my toddler a stack of plastic cups to play with while I puttered with seedlings. Right after I set them down, as he reached for them, I realized there was a wasp in the top one! Texas wasps are nothing to trifle with!

for me its the dang worms.

[IMG]http://i.qkme.me/3v1ljp.jpg[/IMG]

Arent worms beneficial? I've never had aphids before and this year I've had both black winged and red wingless aphids, so that sucks. Also a number of other bugs I dont recognize but dont like the looks of because they arent known beneficials. And dont even get me started on the mammal pests in my yard. I have a chipmunk that seems to dig things up and chew through things just to spite me. I replanted cucumber seedlings for the third time, excessively overplanting them. And that ★★★★★★★ went down the entire row and dug a furrow an inch deep, straight as an arrow, simply tossing the little seedlings aside.

{quietly glares out window in direction of otherwise cute chipmunk destruction machine}

I too have seen a smaller pest population than is usual for this area. I was expecting a huge pest explosion after that mild winter. I have seen some of the usual suspects but not in the numbers I usually have and I'm loving not having to use pesticides much this year. This must be how it is for those people in other parts of the country who talk about not using pesticides and letting nature take its course. It is a welcome change from natures regular course down here. :)):))

I am seeing plenty of bugs, but also a bumper crop of toads and frogs! So the damages to my crops are pretty light. I haven't even had to spray Bt yet and only sprayed Neem once. I even have tree frogs in my tomatoes!:?:

I may need to spray some Bt soon. But considering I easily increased my garden by 10 times, yet have used less insect control than last year, it is refreshing.

I have at least three toads living under my deck this year. They each have their own little spot that they hang out.

Every time I walk around the deck I can hear them, one by one, scamper back under and away from me. They have gotten a little less afraid of me now and usually only back off a couple of steps until I pass.

Toads make good neighbors!:cute:

The geckos and skinks are extremely happy this year. I almost stepped on a baby one the other day. Sooooo cute.

Don't even start on the squirrels. One dug up one of my flower pots the other day for no apparent reason. There weren't any seeds there, no plant in the worst of it. Seedlings tossed everywhere.

And there's a bird nest filled with little cheeping baby birds in my dryer vent outlet. I should have put up mesh last year, no help for it now until they fly away!

[QUOTE=livinonfaith;360472]I have at least three toads living under my deck this year. They each have their own little spot that they hang out.

Every time I walk around the deck I can hear them, one by one, scamper back under and away from me. They have gotten a little less afraid of me now and usually only back off a couple of steps until I pass.

Toads make good neighbors!:cute:[/QUOTE]

Agreed!

The interesting thing is that while I always had a few adult toads and a couple tree frogs in the trees I could hear at night sometimes, this year is a bit different. We had weeks of flooding. Most my plants survived because I use no-til permaculture methods, but apparently all that water made the perfect breeding grounds for tadpoles. I don't live anywhere near a lake or stream yet I have hundreds of baby frogs and toads about the size of a thumbnail.

I have thousand of baby grasshoppers too, but so far the baby frogs and toads seem to be keeping up with the grasshoppers and other bugs!:D

I took a picture of a tree frog I found in my tomatoes. I'll post it later today or tomorrow. There are bunches of them but so hard to get a picture of them as they hop away to cover!:twisted: This one thought he was clever and tried to blend in and look like a leaf. So I was able to finally get a picture!:D

I just killed two Japanese beetles that were on my Straight Eight cucumbers. They would still be alive if they had gotten a motel room.
They are the first pest of any kind that I have found in my garden this year.

I'm seeing an explosion of harlequin bugs at one of my gardens. I saw one instar of a different kind of stink bug there last year, and I haven't seen HBs at any other garden.

I've also seen crickets! I usually hear them and don't see them. One was singing in my car last night.

I'm also seeing more wasps, but I assume they're beneficial. They have a nest in the lid of the tool bin at one garden, and they've been the only visitors I've observed to my saucer of water. They land on the water, float for a while, drink, and then fly off.