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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Annoying pest spotted! — griping corner

This is a thread in which we will gripe about annoying pests. Not necessarily to seek solution, but just to have a place to vent. :twisted:

...so, I’ll go first... and I spotted two pests —

1) saw a cabbage white butterfly — weather hasn’t even settled yet, but 1st hot day (85° F high and another day like it tomorrow, then down to high in the 40’s) — I have lots of kale, cabbage, cauliflower and a few broccoli seedlings hardening off on the pati table. Clearly, I will gave to build insect netting protection when I plant them in the next week or so.
2) my neighbor feeds local cats — some are homeless — and during the winter when I’m not out there, the cats start taking shortcuts through my fenced backyard — they Take the trouble to jump over the fence. One of them was out there again today. I will have to make it clear to them that our yard is off-limits again. :roll:

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

The bulbuls, cardinals and doves are my problem. The birds have knocked out the attic vent and are nesting in the wall. I have to go and buy new vents again.

The bulbuls mejiro eat fruit. Usually they will eat the sweet papaya if it is yellow and they will come for the peppers and leave only the caps. I have to cover the tray on my nursery bench so the cardinals and doves won't eat all the pepper seeds I planted in the trays. When I have tomatoes I put orange temporary construction fencing around the bottom and bird netting over the top of the trellis that supports my three tomato pots. It is a real pain because I have to untie the bird netting to harvest the tomatoes and tie it back up again after. Once the tomatoes get tall enough, they end up going through the netting anyway and it has to be untangled in the end.

My cats are indoors, I have no indoor plants. I don't have as many house geckos either, but the cat is not catching enough of the 747's.

Every morning when I water, I kill about 7-32 snails and slugs without even looking for them. I buy so much slug bait but the birds and rats are loving it and come back for more. The slugs and snails are still every where and I am seriously considering going back to using methaldehyde on the ornamental side of the yard.

I have to keep cutting the butterfly bush or the butterflies come back. I usually don't have cabbage butterflies in my yard and the broccoli only got chewed once. The yard geckos take care of most of the beetle, and caterpillar problems. Unfortunately they really like earthworms too.

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digitS'
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Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 1:10 pm
Location: ID/WA! border

Well, I spotted annoying pests - Spotted Slugs! Limax maximus, also called the Leopard Slugs.

I didn't see them at first but they were in the greenhouse when I moved seedlings in there from the house. The slugs must have been there all winter, perhaps hiding in or under overwintering perennials. Of course, I didn't shake some of that slug bait around before I brought in the seedlings. The slugs killed well more than a dozen plants in a couple of nights of destruction. Then, I sprinkled the feed of doom ........

I really need to be pre-emptive about the bait in the greenhouse. This certainly wasn't the first time for slug damage on spring seedlings!

The pests that were with us all winter in the house -- Fungus Gnats! the superfamily Sciaroidea

They are always a bit of a bother when they come in with the house plants after their time in the summer outdoors. A yellow sticky trap in every other pot doesn't add much to the attractiveness of house plants but DW is somehow able to overlook the traps and enjoy her house plant greenery thru the dreary winter days. A half dozen or more of the tiny gnats may become stuck on the traps but you have to be close to see them. Whoa! Winter 2017-18 there were hundreds of bugs on those traps! Seldom was there an hour of the day when we couldn't find a gnat hovering around some sink or trying to fly into a TV screen or computer monitor. What a 2017 season the momma gnats must have had, laying eggs in those pots and around the neighborhood. Despite the changeable spring weather, the gnats are showing up outdoors, now. Next year when those pots come in, they need a sprinkle of that Bt that kills gnats and mosquitoes! Yep. Pre-emptive.

Steve

pepperhead212
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Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

I've already trapped 5 squirrels, and one rabbit. Not many rabbits yet - they don't like it under my shed, after I throw those handfuls of crushed hot peppers under there! Every season I go through my pantry, and take out the really old ones, and take them outside and grind them up with an old food processor. I got about 3 qts of them this season after grinding! They really don't like getting that in their fur. :twisted:

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webmaster
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Location: Amherst, MA USDA Zone 5a

Moles and voles. I have seen snakes around the periphery of my property but I they're apparently not impacting their population...



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