Had a nightmare about hornworms....

[Francis Barnswallow]

......and there were millions of them in my young garden, and they were the size of small dogs.

It got me thinking when I woke up. With all these record warm/heat temps most of us have been experiencing so far this year, will that lead to an increase in the number of garden pests? I can't have another summer like I had last year regarding garden pests....especially hornworms. It was depressing and disgusting.

[soil]

if there are booms in pests. if your garden is healthy. there will also be a boom in pest predators. for hornworms it would be the parasitic wasp. wow imagine a parasitic wasp the size of a cat, that would be freaky.

[applestar]

Make your garden more attractive to the Garden Patrol -- sow cilantro if it's cool enough for them to sprout and let them bolt, sow dill, plant sweet alyssum, sow buckwheat and clover, let patches of grass go to seed (actually flower). All of these flowers attract parasitic wasps and flies.

p.s. LOL at your dream....

[PunkRotten]

Yep that is my plan. To plant more plants that attract predators.

[Francis Barnswallow]

Just put down 10 baby cucs (about 6 inches tall) today, and I noticed two squirrels in the garden (never seen squirrels in the garden before). They just seemed curious at the time but I did scare them away via yellow lab/golden retriever mix. I can put a screen top on top of the garden if need be.

But will they chow down on the baby cuc plants?

[stryper]

I think if you mix in some borage with your tomatoes that will help with the hornworms...if the internets is to be believed.

I have a friend who works for Orkin. He stated he's put in about 90hrs last week from all the calls from people panicked about bugs. He said swarm season usually starts about the 3 week of April here in St. Louis. So yeah.....

I'd say do what you can to get the predators in the garden and if all else fails spray if you have to.

[rainbowgardener]

No, I wouldn't think the squirrels would bother your baby cuke plants. If you have a groundhog in the neighborhood, that might be a different question.