Today's Lesson: Know They Enemy, The Figeater Beetle

My mom came for a short visit today, minutes after she arrived I found her in my yard chasing Figeater Beetles from the fig tree with a toilet bowl cleaner, who would think a toilet bowl cleaner would actually work {though I probably wouldn't recommend anyone else trying this method}, all I had to say was "Thanks Mom, I didn't have the guts to do it but apparently the crunching of these huge insects don't bother you- you've got balls."  What I thought was just one Figeater Beetle getting comfortable in my fig tree actually turned out to be many- ick, I'll definitely have to invite Mom over more often.

The nuisance as of late that I've been having with the Figeater Beetles has led me to believe that yes, Today's Lesson should cover the Figeater Beetle which apparently is mistaken quite easily for the Green June Bug and the Japanese Beetles.  A lot of the information I read about this green jewel of an insect seems to say that the Figeater Beetle is not as destructive as the Japanese Beetle which tend to eat all the foliage and soft fleshy fruit, instead the figeater beetle tend to stick with eating soft fleshy fruit< in my opinion this is a matter of perspective, if you've got many soft-flesh fruiting trees than the Figeater Beetle will be quite a nuisance to you opposed to those who have only a couple soft-flesh fruiting trees or none at all.  In my yard the figeater will most definitely be a problem as I have no less than five soft-flesh fruiting trees.

'Adult figeater beetles grow to approximately 1.25 inches. They are dull green on the top and a brilliant iridescent green on the underside and legs. They are active during daylight hours, often congregating in the shade of trees near choice breeding grounds to find mates. They makes a loud buzzing sound similar to that of carpenter bees.' -Wiki

Whilst digging around in the soil of my tomato bed, where tomato seedlings used to stand before they were violently taken to their deaths by some mysterious rodent or some other, I found in the soil a larvae that looked very much like the ones above. I didn't know what it was and tossed it aside onto the ground but it looked very much like a figeater beetle (as shown above) and now feel pretty confident that that is what it was.

'Pupation occurs in the spring and adult figeater beetles emerge from July-September. After mating, eggs are laid in decaying matter or compost piles, which provide sustenance for the larvae when they emerge.' -Wiki

The figeater Beetle are large round and quite heavy for their wings it seems they bumble around quite clumsily, I'd often find them falling from the fig tree but they seem to be pretty hardy physically and none of the falls I've witnessed seem to do them any harm.  As it so seems {and also from what I've read around} the Figeater Beetles are quite harmless and can even be picked by hand, so... if you've got the nuts that I haven't, go for it.

SUGGESTED METHOD FOR TERMINATION:

Pick the beetles by hand and squash them underfoot

*Read the full article on Wikipedia, Figeater Beetle

The Figeater Beetle That Calls The Fig Tree Home

As of late my heart starts pounding when it comes time to pick figs off the fig tree, a large Figeater Beetle has been living in the fig tree and is quite the bully when it comes to me picking the fruit.  He often flies over my head faux-diving at me to scare me away - it works, I go running with arms flailing the wimp that I am towards insects and things. Apparently they make terrible pests in the garden eating through soft fruit like no other {so now I wonder no longer why many of my ripe figs are left hanging with only skin sagging and juicy insides all a missing}, what's worse is that all the half devoured fruit has attracted numerous amounts of flies to the fig tree. Suggestions say to kill them straight away no matter how pretty they are to look at, as for me, they may not look all that attractive they just look like big fat flying insects, but even so killing it is a hard thought.  What one must do?  Squash them under foot?  Ew, I shudder just thinking the crunch it would make.  So for now, I'm allowing it to stay in the fig tree.

Anti-Hopper Flour Dusting, Does It Or Doesn't It Work?

Recently I went over a couple of methods of keeping away hoppers from my bush plant.  My first method was the dishsoap and water liquid solution which I came to the conclusion barely worked at all.  Then I had read somewhere about dusting the plants with baking flour, the flour acts as a glue and seals the hoppers' mouths shut after taking a bite out of a dusted leaf, cruel I know.  Well I dusted the bush bean leaf and it's been a couple of weeks since, so here is the result...

Dusting plants under hopper attack.... Works!  I was actually pretty amazed, I thought if the dishsoap and water liquid solution didn't work then everything else was helpless as well (I really don't know what gave me that idea in the first place).  After dusting, the bush bean was visited by two different hoppers in that same week of dusting but I haven't seen any since, what a relief!  Although, I am quite concerned that I am killing the cute little things, I'm hoping in their little insect world they're singing to each other passing the word around, "don't go near that bush bean, it'll kill you".

Read previous post Oh For Goodness Sake! Grasshoppers!

Anti-Grasshopper (Dishsoap & Water) Solution, Does It Work?

Over the past weekend I decided to regain control of the bush bean from the rampant baby hoppers that have been demolishing the leaves, quite literally too!  Boy do these little things have an appetite, half to a whole leaf can be gone over night!  As a way of defending the bush bean I mixed a solution of water and dish soap (2tbsp/1gal water) where I read somewhere was supposed to work.  I sprayed the leaves of the bush bean and gave it a couple of days to see what would happen, everyday that past I looked in on the bush bean carefully taking note if there were any new missing leaves or baby hoppers still hanging about.

As you can see from the picture below the hoppers didn't miraculously disappear but my leaves continuously did.  Okay, okay so I may be exaggerating a bit... in all honesty, the solution may have worked a little bit but not entirely and not nearly enough in my opinion, every day I find a new hoppers on my bush bean and I've noticed that they found the second bush bean as well, so here's to finding a new way!  I really didn't want to go to the extent of killing these little dudes (because they are kinda cute) but I'm afraid my choices are very limited and I'd rather have my bush beans than a yard full of hoppers.

So... Second line of attack, dusting the bush beans with baking flour.  Apparently a good dusting of baking flour will kill the hoppers, when they try to eat the leaves covered with baking flour the flour acts as a glue in their mouth sealing their mouths shut, eventually they die of starvation (which is kind of sad I know) but here goes for the sake of saving the bush bean and finding out what works!

WHAT I NEEDED (and what you'll need too if you decide to give this a go):

1. 1/2-1 cup of baking flour (I used all purpose flour since that's all I had in the pantry, I figure flour is flour? - I hope)

2. Sifter (easier to dust with, I would have much rather preferred a smaller sifter but this is all I had, on the brighter side it'll cover more space in a short period of time).

Armed with my baking flour and my sifter of steel I traversed down and pass the creaky back patio and dusted with my all!... The bush bean.

At first there was a gust of wind and that didn't work out too well for me but gusts of wind in SoCal is pretty far and few inbetween, I only had to wait for a few seconds to go on with my dusting, and it only took me less than a minute.  I hope this works, we soon shall see so check-in for updates!  Until then, happy gardening!

Read the previous post, Oh For Goodness Sake! Grasshoppers!

Read the later post for results on baking flour dusting, Anti-Hopper Flour Dusting, Does It Or Doesn't It work?

Today's Lesson: Know Thy Enemy, Grasshoppers

As with anything I run into that is of interest I look for as much information on it as I can.  Today's interest?  Grasshoppers.  I figure the more I know about these guys the better, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer", right?  Well they pose as enemies to my garden which makes them an enemy to me as well, after all, I do want to taste the lettuce, basil and bush beans at some point.

The physical structure of the grasshopper consists of antennae which are generally shorter in length than their bodies (opposed to roaches, which is the first insect I think about when thinking about insects with long antennae- ick!)  The female grasshopper is larger than the male grasshopper and can be distinguished from the males in many ways, one way is that the female grasshopper have two pairs of triangles at the end of their abdomen opposed to one single plate that the male has, the two pairs of triangles appropriately known as valves are used for laying eggs in the sand.  The valves are used to dig into the sand where the female grasshopper will lay her eggs.

The grasshopper also have tiny hairs all over the exterior of the body with the main purpose of acting as sensors. These little hairs are specially calibrated to respond to certain stimulus.  However the portion of the grasshopper that is the most sensitive to sensing are the antennae, part of the mouth and near the posterior.  Grasshoppers also have tympanal organs for sound reception.

Grasshoppers are easily confused with crickets, but are different in many aspects.

This is a cricket

The grasshopper diet consists mainly of grasses, leaves and cereal crops (as in grains).  Many grasshoppers eat a variety of plants making them polyphagous, and many tend to eat from multiple sources in one day (in my experience they jump from basil to bush bean).  Some grasshoppers however do feast on the same, one plant (monophagous), the monophagous grasshoppers are far fewer (about one out of 8,000).

The digestive system of a grasshopper consists of a foregut, midgut and a hindgut...

The function of the foregut (the mouth region):  the mouth is distinct due to the presence of a mandible and salivary glands.  It is the mandibles job to begin the mechanical portion of the digestion by chewing, but only very slightly.

The function of the midgut:  is where most of the food is handled in the crop which has the ability to hold food. The crop leads the food into the gizzard consisting of teeth like features.  From the gizzard the food enters the stomach where digestive enzymes help to break down particles.

The function of the hindgut (the anal region):  the hindgut, similar to human anatomy, is the portion of the digestive system that is focused on excreting the waste, which consists of uric acid, urea and amino acids, and are normally converted into dry pellets before being disposed.

SUGGESTED METHOD FOR TERMINATION:
Dusting host plants lightly with baking flour


*Read the full article on Wikipedia, Grasshopper

Oh For Goodness Sake! Grasshoppers!

Little tiny baby grasshoppers can be cute as hell (as all most tiny things are) but they sure become a nuisance faster than you can go "aww, how cute".

What the heck is eating the bush beans?!  This was the question for the past two weeks or so, huge gaping holes and large missing parts of the leaves of the bush bean had me pondering up a storm, some leaves were completely demolished.  Then I saw these little green hopper dudes, like I said, cute as hell right?  I mean, just look how tiny he is in the picture below, but boy does he have an appetite. And in the back of mind, although I didn't want to outright admit it or perhaps it was more that I didn't want to come to terms with it, I knew this little hopper wasn't alone.  And I was right, I saw more little hopper dudes on my basil plant, that's when I realized I had to regain control.

I read somewhere on a gardening forum about a home remedy made of water and a little bit of dishsoap that can be sprayed on leaves being attacked by hoppers, apparently they don't like the taste of dishsoap very much, this is supposed to help thwart the hoppers from making a dinner out of your grows.

I bought a small spray bottle for $1.99 at a random store, filled it with a couple drops of soap (apparently the solution calls for 2tbsp of dishsoap per every 1 gal of water) so I figured a couple of drops would suffice for a spray bottle this small.  I filled the spray bottle with the solution and went right to spray mode.  I'm not quite sure if this will work, it seems to make logical sense that yes, the hoppers wouldn't like the taste of dishsoap, so I have my fingers crossed with the little hope that I can see it working.  In any case we soon shall see, so make sure to check in to read results!

Read the results, Anti-Grasshopper (Dishsoap & Water) Solution, Does It Work?

A Beer Bottle Trap For AA Slugs Don't Work

If you've been reading along with my endeavors to grow an organic vegetable & fruit garden you'll know that I planted bush beans and that along with growing bush beans I've found countless amounts of slugs that was helping themselves to the leaves of my bush bean seedlings.  I tried the bottle trap (laying a bottle down on the ground near the bush bean filled with just a bit of water), the idea is that the slugs which are attracted to moisture will get trapped in the bottle- this didn't work.  Upon finding the bottle trap not very helpful at all I instead sprinkled a little bit of coffee ground around the seedlings which worked like a charm.

Upon reading up on a small section regarding slugs in my book, Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail, I realized that the bottle trap was actually supposed to be a beer bottle trap, not water but beer.  So then I edited my slug bottle trap by adding a little bit of beer into the bottle instead of water.  Two, three, and four days went by and still no slugs in the bottle.  Apparently the beer bottle trap doesn't work either!  Or maybe the slugs in my garden collectively go to AA, who knows.

While the bottle trap may have been fun to do had it resulted in trapped slugs drowning in a stupor of beer bliss I am not all too disheartened or frustrated for I found that the coffee ground works absolutely great.  I had my worries that too much nitrogen from the coffee ground would affect the bush bean but I've only had to sprinkle one round of coffee ground around the bush bean and no more, more than a week later since my first sprinkle and still no sign of slugs around the bush bean.

Read previous posts on saving the bush bean from slugs: 

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part II: Coffee Grounds 

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part III: Slugs! 

Today's Lesson: Know Thy Enemy, The Slug

After having seen numerous amounts of slug in my garden, particularly loitering about my bush bean leaves I've become somewhat temporarily obsessed with them, and I don't mean a good obsession, I mean to kill as many of them as possible.  I know that I cannot get rid of them and they will probably always be a pester to me but I must find a way to thwart them from their evil plans of garden domination.  In order to do this I must know them better, so I wiki'ed it up and found some pretty interesting information definitely worth sharing.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Slug

• Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, that has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell. (This is in contrast to the common name snail, applied to gastropods that have a coiled shell large enough that the soft parts of the animal can retract fully into it.)
• The soft, slimy bodies of slugs are prone to desiccation, so land-living slugs are confined to moist environments and must retreat to damp hiding places when the weather is dry.
• Like other pulmonate land snails, most slugs have two pairs of 'feelers' or tentacles on their head. The upper pair is light sensing and has eyespots at the ends, while the lower pair provides the sense of smell. Both pairs are retractable, and can be regrown if lost.
• Some slug species hibernate underground during the winter in temperate climates, but in other species, the adults die in the autumn.
• Slugs' bodies are made up mostly of water, and without a full-sized shell, their soft tissues are prone to desiccation. They must generate protective mucus to survive. Many species are most active just after rain because of the moist ground. In drier conditions, they hide in damp places such as under tree bark, fallen logs, rocks, and man-made structures, such as planters, to help retain body moisture.
• The mucus secreted by the foot contains fibres which help prevent the slug from slipping down vertical surfaces. 
• Slugs are hermaphrodites, having both female and male reproductive organs.

• Once a slug has located a mate, they encircle each other and sperm is exchanged through their protruded genitalia. A few days later the slugs lay around 30 eggs in a hole in the ground, or beneath the cover of an object such as a fallen log.
• Many slug species play an important ecosystem role by eating dead leaves, fungus, and decaying vegetable material. Other species eat parts of living plants.
• Some slugs are predators and eat other slugs and snails, or earthworms.
• Some slugs can self-amputate (autotomy) a portion of their tail to help the slug escape from a predator.
• The great majority of slug species are harmless to humans and to their interests, but a small number of species are serious pests of agriculture and horticulture. They can destroy foliage faster than plants can grow, thus killing even fairly large plants. They also feed on fruits and vegetables prior to harvest, making holes in the crop, which can make individual items unsuitable to sell for aesthetic reasons, and which can make the crop more vulnerable to rot and disease.
• As control measures, baits are the norm in both agriculture and the garden. In recent years iron phosphate baits have emerged and are preferred over the toxicmetaldehyde, especially because domestic or wild animals may be exposed to the bait. The environmentally safer iron phosphate has been shown to be at least as effective as poisonous baits. Methiocarb baits are no longer widely used.
• Beneficial nematodes (Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita) are a commercially available biological control method that are effective against a wide range of common slug species. The nematodes are applied in water and actively seek out slugs in the soil and infect them, leading to the death of the slug. This control method is suitable for use in organic growing systems.
• Other slug control methods are generally ineffective, but can be somewhat useful in small gardens. These include beer traps, diatomaceous earth, crushed eggshells, coffee grounds, and copper.
• It is of scientific interest that salt kills slugs by causing water to leave its body owing to osmosis 
• but this is not used for agricultural control as soil salinity is detrimental to crops.

SUGGESTED METHOD FOR TERMINATION:
Sprinkling coffee ground around the soil of leafy green plants, especially around seedlings


*Read the complete article on Wikipedia, Slugs

In An Effort To Save The Bush Bean, Part III: Slugs

Can you spot the slugs?

Taunted by the fact that my first round of security measures (the bottle trap and plastic cup barrier) did not work, the thought that whatever was eating my bush bean leaves weighed heavily on my mind and even after sprinkling coffee ground around the newly sprouted bush bean leaves I had to go take a look once night fell and the air grew cold outside lest the coffee grounds did not work like the bottle trap and cup barrier, I just had to know what it was my bush beans were up against.

I snuck outside with a light, lo and behold what did I see?  Slugs, SLugs and more SLUGS!  Indeed there were many hungry slugs.  Would the coffee ground method work?  I had yet to know, the bottle trap method which I thought would surely work did not.  There was not much I could do but I went happily to bed simply knowing what it was I was up against, the battle was half won now.

It seems the plastic cup barrier worked in a way, most of the slugs seem to be outsides of the cup. Whether they were smart enough to bypass the barrier by passing under it is another question entirely.

Awoke this morning, and went straight out into the yard to check out if those sluggish slugs had somehow hopped over the coffee ground and ate more bush bean leaves.  I looked at the leaves carefully and what did I find?  The coffee ground had indeed worked!  Like a charm too!  Not a new leaf touched or anymore eaten off the already harmed leaves, this gave great relief but now the question is... how long will the coffee ground last?  I do not plan to sprinkle any more any time soon for the extreme amounts of nitrogen in the coffee ground will do harm to the bush beans eventually.  Another method of trapping these slugs must be found out!  I must say that I am pretty pleased that I've planted most everything else in containers or pots placed half way into the ground, I am sure that it has saved those fortunate sprouts from sluggish tauntings *whew!

Read previous and later posts on saving the bush beans from slugs:

In An Effort To Save The Bush Bean

In An Effort To Save The Bush Bean, Part II: Coffee Grounds

A Beer Bottle Trap For AA Slugs Don't Work

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part II: Coffee Grounds

Am I sad that I found my glass bottle empty of slugs in hopes to catch the culprit who have been munching on my new baby bush bean leaves?  Yes, just a little bit.  Life could have been that much easier simply knowing what it was but fate has planned it otherwise *sigh.

Here you can see where my bush bean leaves have been eaten.  The fact that the leaves have been eaten closer to the ground tells me they are not birds but something from the ground, hence my suspicions of those sluggish slugs!

So now for another round of security measures.  I don't quite know for sure whether or not it is slugs since I failed to catch any in my bottle trap, I suppose the slugs could have crawled from under the earth right near the bush bean and thus missed the bottle entirely, so here is to one last try!  Coffee ground.  

Slugs hate Coffee ground and should keep them at bay if I sprinkle just a bit around the bush bean, this would only be a temporary solution as I can't sprinkle acidic coffee ground everyday on bush bean grounds since too much nitrogen may do these growing babies harm as well, but instead will use  this method to try and figure out what the heck is eating those dainty little leaves.  If the leaves are not further nibbled on after sprinkling coffee ground then I'll be able to say with confidence "those damn slugs!"  And I do look forward to it :)

Read the results In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part III: Slugs

Read previous and later posts on saving the bush beans from slugs:

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans

A Beer Bottle Trap For AA Slugs Don't Work

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans

In an effort to save my newly growing bush beans from whatever may be eating the leaves (my guess are those awful slugs for I do not think the birds can get through the cage I've put around these new plants) I have doubled security.

Slugs can't climb can they?  I'm hoping they cannot for I have built somewhat of a wall between those beautiful leaves and the outside world by cutting a plastic cup in half and enclosing those new stalks and leaves.  I cross my fingers and hope this works!  But this is only the first security I've put up around them.

The second security I've put down is a glass bottle filled with a bit of water, as slugs are attracted to moist and wetness I'm hoping to trap the slugs in this bottle, if indeed it is slugs that are helping themselves to my bush bean leaves.  I've read this trick in a book but have never tried it, I sure do hope I trap some slugs!  At least then I will know what it is that are taunting my poor babies.

So hopefully I'll be posting some bottled slugs next!

Read the results:

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part II: Coffee Grounds

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part III: Slugs!

A Beer Bottle Trap For AA Slugs Don't Work