think first!

[rainbowgardener]

I was out weeding and deadheading (and sweating in our steam bath). I discovered earwigs in two of the jerusalem artichokes, nestled down amongst the leaf cluster at the growing tips. To me, one may be a fluke, but two is an infestation! So I immediately got rid of them (not to worry, no poisons etc, just clipped the growing tip off, earwig and all, and trashed it - the j'a's need to be cut back several times anyway to keep them from growing 10 feet tall).

That was my immediate non-thinking response, because the earwig is such a creepy looking creepy-crawly (magnified would make a great monster for a monster movie).

But then I went and looked them up and found this:

Earwigs are beneficial because they eat aphids, mites and insect eggs. They only do significant damage to plants when present in large numbers. http://grant-adams.wsu.edu/master_garde ... arwigs.pdf

I also saw that in the soil (and compost pile) they are detritovores, helping break down decaying organic matter.

Do you think I can rescue my earwigs from the garbage can and carry them to the compost pile?

You would think by now I've been doing this (and reading and writing and talking about it), for long enough that I would have gotten rid of the inital instinct of oooh, creepy-crawly, get rid of it!

[gixxerific]

When reading I was thinking they were more good than bad and wondering why would RBG be doing this.

Live and learn.

That is why i leave most everything go in the garden, I really don't have too many pest and the ones I have I mostly know nothing about them. So I err on them being good until I know they are not.

The Ones I know are bad that I have are cucumber beetles but not very many that I know of and those blasted flee beetles which I haven't seen very many of lately.

What I have been seeing LOT of lately are lady bugs so everything is left alone so they will feed and stay around.

Did it look like this (sorry I couldn't help it when I saw this)

[LindsayArthurRTR]

::Groan::

You would think by now I've been doing this (and reading and writing and talking about it), for long enough that I would have gotten rid of the inital instinct of oooh, creepy-crawly, get rid of it!

HAAAAAha I screamed my dang head off today after a spider crawled accross my hand while I was putting plates under my melons. I don't think my feelings about bugs will ever change:) It's instinctual, especially when it's your food involved

[Garden Gal]

Plates under melons? Explain please.

[rainbowgardener]

At least for those of us in climates with summer rains and humidity, melons will tend to rot out anywhere they touch the soil. So it helps to put something under them (could be a piece of cardboard, straw, etc) so that they don't touch the soil. I've never seen anyone use plates - should make an interesting looking garden. Post a picture!

[Garden Gal]

should cucumbers also be protected this way?

[VeggieGrower]

Bugs and spiders I can deal with, but snakes are a whole different ballgame

[LindsayArthurRTR]

paper plates to be exact. Just plain paper plates, not the waxed kind...

Here you go! Check out my melons! hahaha

[Garden Gal]

Has anyone ever told you you have a nice set of melons????

[nedwina]

LOL. Nice melons indeed.

I watched a hornet go down the fava bean row, apparently looking for aphids. If it lingered too long on a plant, the ants would race over & attack it! Whoa. A little Nature Soap Opera. (It didn't seem too daunted though, it would just go on to the next plant.)

[LindsayArthurRTR]

BAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha! Why thank you!

I have my cukes on a trellis so they don't sit on the ground. I think that they grow so quickly, (cucumbers) you should be harvesting them before they are on the ground long enough to be bored into. Unless you're wanting to keep them for seed, I don't see any point in putting plates under your cukes