Lazy pest control

[JC's Garden]

I've been doing less and less pest control each year since I went organic only. I haven't done any pest control this year. Just picked the ripe Thai peppers off this plant before taking this picture.

There were a lot more out of the frame. Just showing the results of no pesticides.

[rainbowgardener]

Some variety of leaf footed bug, adults and juveniles. Plant juice suckers.

Lazy pest control works best when you have set your garden up to have lots of Garden Patrol working for you. Native egg parasites, such as the tiny wasp, Gryon pennsylvanicum, if not disrupted, may reduce leaffooted bug populations by killing the eggs before they hatch. Adult leaffooted bugs may be parasitized by certain tachinid flies. Leaffooted bug predators include birds, spiders, and assassin bugs.

Tachnid flies are very helpful Garden Patrol members. Different species of tachnids help control cabbage worms, Japanese beetles , true bugs, grasshoppers, etc. Like many beneficial insects, the adults need nectar from flowers that have nectar in tiny florets. That includes all the carrot family stuff - Queen Anne's lace, carrots, parsley, fennel, dill, etc (when allowed to flower) and others like tansy, sweet alyssum, also, aster, chamomile, feverfew, ox-eye daisy, and Shasta daisy.. Anise hyssop is also a favorite of tachnids, as well as lemon balm and pennyroyal. The adults eat nectar, pollen, and honeydew (another reason you don't want to eliminate all the aphids).

Similar flowers are good for attracting the parasitic mini wasps as well as yarrow, sedum, edging lobelia, marigold, thyme.

Feeding birds through the winter will help make sure they are there to eat bugs in the summer. Also be sure there is cover and a water source for them.

If pesticides have been used, and if too much of your yard is grass mono-culture, it can take a couple years to get a living system going again. Once it is, then you can sit back and let Nature do her thing and really have lazy pest control (as opposed to just having a lot of pests).

[JC's Garden]

RG, I can't have predators without prey. Guess what I'm doing.

[rainbowgardener]

You are right, you can't have predators without prey. Lots of people don't get that.

But in the insect world often the "predators" are the larval form and the adult form eats something different like nectar, pollen, etc. So you can't have the predators without providing food for the adults, so they will stick around and lay the eggs for the next generation of actual predators.

[JC's Garden]

I don't even consider planting without having a variety of flowers in my garden. My losses to pest just don't get to the level where pesticides are needed.
This year I lost 3 tomatoes to worms and about 6 to birds. I had over 50 plants, still have 25. When a bird starts on a tomato I leave it alone. The birds will go back to the same tomato they started on if they want more (out of habit I guess). I did notice a little hornworm damage but I think the birds got them before I could find them. I have lots of wasp and flies so who knows.
I'm just enjoying the results of letting nature balance itself.

[imafan26]

Only six tomatoes lost to birds wow. I lose about 50% of my tomatoes to birds. I have to pick them at first blush and the birds can get under bird netting. The only tomatoes they leaves alone are the ones that don't taste very good. Those tomatoes I usually pull out since I don't think they taste good either.

I used to have a lot of problems when I lived next to a ravine with leaf footed bugs, stink bugs, beetles and locusts. I ended up having to net my garden to get anything but once the bugs got inside the net it was game over. There were even small bugs that would get inside my sprinkler heads and clog them. Everytime I turned on the sprinklers, I had to clear the bugs out of some of the emitters first. I did have a toad there so there weren't many slugs or snails even though it was a very wet area. The toad just scared me to death whenever it starting spitting water or jumped out of a pot.

Where I am now, I don't have a toad so I have a alot of snails and slugs. I did accidentally bring in green house frogs on a plant unawares, they chirp and they eat a lot of ants. I don't have too many beetles or bugs though, I have about 20 gecko in the back yard and an equal number of geckos and skinks in the front yard. They seem to be keeping the bugs in check and a few mosquitoes too. After I weed whack a cattle egret sometimes swoops down looking for whatever the weedwhacker uncovers. Bulbuls, mejiro, doves, finches, and mynahs are more interested in eating my fruits and seeds especially tomatoes, papaya and peppers.

if you want to build up the garden patrol you need to plant a variety of plants and have different spots in your yard to provide habitat. An overturned cracked pot makes a good toad house and a good place to look for snails and slugs on a hunt. Trees, shrubs, and a variety of flowering plants throughout the year provide habitat and nectar and pollen for beneficial insects and bigger predators. Alyssum, composits, fennel, dill, candytuft, artemesia (not for me too invasive), four o'clock (toxic but good for getting rid of Chinese rose beetles), flowering herbs: lavender, coriander, basil, mints, and chives in flower.

You still need to go out and inspect your plants and it is ok to hand pick and use the jet setting on the water nozzle to blast off the pests, use barriers, and pull the sick plants. You just need to give the garden patrol a chance to take care of the pests and leave the pesticides in the closet unless you really have no choice.

Disease is a different story. When it is humid and wet and conditons are ripe for fungal and bacterial diseases, prevention is more effective than cure and you do have to spray fungicides before the problems get out of hand.

[rainbowgardener]

Good job, JC!!! Sorry, I don't mean to keep telling you stuff you already know, but lots of people don't and hopefully it will be helpful to someone.

Gardening in Hawaii is very different from gardening almost anywhere else. You certainly have birds in your garden that the rest of us maybe have only seen maybe in a zoo or maybe never. Lots of different problems.

[imafan26]

True and almost all of the problems were imported and that is what makes them worse especially when their predators are not here. But at least I don't have to deal with overnight freezes and snow. Just sweltering heat.

[JC's Garden]

As far as birds go, my yard is very bird friendly. For the most part I use compost for nutrients. Very little organic fertilizer, it's expensive. The compost has quite a few melon and squash seed in it since my wife is a chef that believes in composting. Most of those seed are inert due to composting heat but still good for birds to eat. And most birds stay at ground level because of the seed. But like I said earlier, if a bird starts eating something I'm growing, I leave it alone and the birds seem to be happy going back to the same place to eat and they don't bother looking for a new food source. They must be as lazy as me.
I encourage good bugs by not using pesticides. Every year I see more of them.
Besides good bugs, I also have an over abundance of humming birds. I've done a lot to attract them. Those little guys do eat bugs ya know.
It's all about balance. No two gardens will have the same good guys. Figure out what works in your area and go with it.
Good luck folks.

[imafan26]

That's right. No hummingbirds here, only hummingbird moths. Most of the birds in my yard are fruit and seed eaters except for the cattle egret which was actually imported on purpose to eat insects and rats.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, hummingbirds love the nectar at feeders, but really I think it is better to just have hummingbird flowers which will give them nectar, but not in such abundance. They also need protein in their diets. Hummingbirds are very good mosquito eaters as well as gnats and other small insects and spiders-- as many as a couple thousand of them a day!

[applestar]

I'm in full support of your philosophy, JC

If you go back to my last year,s posts, I had lots and lots of Japanese beetles that were thoroughly munching up my cherry tree leaves and pole beans, even though the pole beans were staying ahead of them. I did absolutely nothing, hoping to attract suitable predators.

Whether that was the reason or this year's odd weather patterns, I am seeing very little Japanese beetles this year. Yes there were some, but not enough to bother with.

Slugs and mosquitoes, too, were not overwhelmingly present this year.

[JC's Garden]

It's been a month since that picture was taken. Damage never got to the threshold where an action on my part was required. Still lazy and smiling.

[JC's Garden]

I just recovered from a bad infestation of green pea aphids on my snow peas. Two days ago there were about six on every pea I picked. I did nothing but wait. Yesterday there were three or four on each pea BUT I stuck my hand deep into the foliage to pick a pea and came out with a ladybug on my finger. Today I saw very few pea aphids but lots of ladybugs. Things are looking good.

[Mr green]

Some wonderful examples of lazy pest control in this garden! (EDIT: I meant to say thread there )

Last year I had a quite serious green Aphid infestation in one of my gooseberry plants. I was actually thinking about spraying them of with some soap solution, but when I came back the next day or so my beloved ants had started working way ahead of me. I'm happy I don't use poison to kill the ants as most neighbours do.
The gooseberry plant fruited heavilly and didnt seem to bother that much of what happened.

[JC's Garden]

The hunt.

There is an aphid 2/3 the way down on that snow pea.

[imafan26]

For the most part, I only treat when necessary and let the garden patrol do most of the work. The only exceptions are the snails and slugs which I am constantly at war with. I caught one yesterday that was over 4 inches long and I couldn't crush it stepping on it , so I had to hit it with my hoe matic.

[rainbowgardener]

OMG... there is a price for living in paradise! If I ever saw a snail four inches long, I would RUN!

[JC's Garden]

My sugar snap peas shut down last week due to age and powdery mildew. They had quit blooming so I cleared them out before rain set in Thursday night. There was some powdery mildew on the snow peas but I still had blooms. It rained until Saturday morning. We've had over 11 inches in the last two weeks. No hope of controlling the powdery mildew. Picked snow peas this morning, first pick since rain started on Thursday. Got about a dozen. I was getting over 1/4 pound a day. The green pea aphids are still there so, the snow peas will stay in place for the ladybugs to forage. My wife was looking at them with me and made a comment about how fat some of the ladybugs were. I had to explain she was not looking at one, but two ladies and that one was a guy. Garden patrol is off to a good start.

[applestar]

Fantastic! I love hearing about these success stories.

(...and that's cute that you and your wife were talking about the birds and the bees -- er... the Ladies and Gents beetles )

[j3707]

(Ha, applestar!)

This is a great discussion everyone, thanks. I am of the "lazy" gardening mindset myself and it's great to hear your experiences.

[JC's Garden]

Sitting on the back porch watching sparrows in my snow peas, eating ladybugs. The ladybugs have done well in there and have now spread throughout the garden. Almost got up to run the sparrows off but I need them too. A hummingbird came to a feeder near my head as I was typing. I love spring.

[JC's Garden]

I made a post on April 4th about "Cutworms killing my Mache/Corn Salad". Got some good suggestions but I was busy and didn't follow through. Good thing. It turns out that the sparrows that were attracted to my ladybugs also like cutworms. Problem solved, the lazy way. Now, for the first time, I have a young Bluebird going after the Pea Aphids also. This little Bluebird is not afraid of me at all. I was standing in the middle of the snow peas while on the phone and it came right in there with me. The fellow I was talking to had a question about Meyer lemon trees and I moved over to mine. That dang Bluebird came with me. I was just out in the snow peas again and back it comes. I watched for a while. That little guy can eat some bugs. I love it.

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah we have a pair of eastern bluebirds. They are actually nesting in a house our next door neighbor put up, but spend a lot of time in our yard. I love watching them. I have been putting Japanese beetle grubs I dig up on top of our woodpile (which is at the fence line near their bird house) and the bluebirds snatch them up.

[applestar]

Haha that's great!

I'm watching the returning "regulars". Have been checking the birdhouses and evicting wasps and spiders.

I also have to finish spring pruning and clearing before they start to nest.

[JC's Garden]

Well, here I sit, lazily waiting for the native bees and wasp to call it a day.
A lot has changed since April. The ladybugs I had been counting on, disappeared over a month ago. Flea beetles, fruit worms, leaf footed bugs and such are abundant. I've had to use bT twice and diatomaceous earth once. I'm about to dust with diatomaceous earth again.
Like it or not, sometimes you've just got to step in.
Not liking it.

[JC's Garden]

Way too many to be lazy. Had to break out the DE.

Sometimes "lazy" doesn't work.

[applestar]

Leaffoot juvies -- blecch! I found an adult one on a blackberry I was picking. I didn't recognize it at first... I didn't recognize it after I stomped on it either.

[JC's Garden]

Leaffoot juvies -- blecch!

LOL, that's how I felt. Most of the time the adults are too scattered to dust without hurting my pollinators. I generally go after them with an old pair of barber's scissors. They're dumb and slow.

[JC's Garden]

Still have leaf foot juvies. I'm just playing patty cake with them. They squish so easy it doesn't take enough force to hurt the plants.

Saw a couple of my buddies in the garden while picking butter beans.

Leaf cutters are fine predators to have. The damage they do isn't enough to harm the plant.

Can you see my other buddy in the middle of this one.

[applestar]

Subject: 2016 Backyard bird and butterfly (and dragonfly too) watchin

I saw this post and was thinking hm... I really haven't seen any praying mantises around, but they HAVE to be here somewhere....

Haha almost right away, came across one hiding in the trellis for the Cherry tomatoes


...the rest of the collage are some of the caterpillars...

I was wondering if I was being over-confident to leave those two healthy-looking hornworms on the tomato plant yesterday.

Well, this morning, the big one was nowhere to be found, and the smaller one was left behind bleeding after having been bitten in half (maybe the bird will come back for it later)

[JC's Garden]

Nice hornworm pic applestar.

Today I've had to start lazy gardening because of my lazy pest control. I was going to put some spent plants in the compost pile.

Can't pull my butter peas up until I know what to do about the wingless wasp on them. Already posted about that.

Can't pull my soybeans up because of all the little globs of yellow eggs. I started on it, started seeing the eggs and then I found a little hellion looking thing crawling up my arm. Had orange markings on its back. Put it on a mint plant. Then I found a purple ladybug on my hand.

I think I'll sit back and wait for while.