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gixxerific
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 5889
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B

Birds are organic right? LOL they are doing their job!!!!!

I put up bird houses and bird feeders last fall. As some of you remember I had thousands upon thousands of cucumber beetles last year among every other pest out there in abundance.

I haven't seen hardly any this year. I have probably seen less than 10 cucumber beetles so far. Everything else is down as well. Could be weather could be lot's of things.

But I have been noticing large groups 20 - 30 maybe at a time in my garden. Sorry don't know the species, but when I first saw them a while back I was freaking out thinking they were pecking at my tomatoes. But I scared them away that first time and found a half eaten jap beetle on a tomato leaf. So I really think they are taking care of the bug problem for me. They are out there almost every day. As long as they leave my fruit alone they are more than welcome.

Thanks birdies, which reminds me I have to refill your feeder. :clap: :flower:

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gixxerific
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 5889
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B

To add to this.

Last year was so bad with pest and cracking tomatoes and disease I thought about not doing a garden this year several times. Like that would ever happen, but still.

Just goes to show you what can happen if you have the proper patrols out there for the garden.

So go at least get a bird feeder if you don't have one. It can't hurt. :wink:

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shadylane
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Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2011 11:42 am
Location: North Central Illinois

Hey I'm happy for you gixxerific :D
I too have noticed the birds eating the beetles here. I know that they can't handle them all, but it is a great start.

When dashing the beetles into soapy water off the blackberries I noticed something else, a beetle on a leaf upward on it's back with a hole in it's chest cavity. I don't know for sure but guessing praying mantis, those beetles have a hard shell.

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!potatoes!
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Posts: 1938
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:13 pm
Location: wnc - zones 6/7 line

perches help, too. any stick that you can stick in the ground and gives a decent vantage point to look for insects from the top of can go in the garden.

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gixxerific
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 5889
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B

!potatoes! wrote:perches help, too. any stick that you can stick in the ground and gives a decent vantage point to look for insects from the top of can go in the garden.
Good idea, I have CRW so there are A lot of pearches. The hummingbirds love them too.



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