Freeze effects on insects

[duajones]

While we dont get freezing temps down here often, this year we have had 3 or 4 nights where the temps were below freezing with one night as low as 24. You always here how a freeze will kill insects and I am hoping that is the case with pest like fleas, whiteflies etc. Just wondering how much of an effect one might notice in the absence of pests after a freeze. Also wondering whether whiteflies winter over or just move in later on

[mjc]

Freezing out most pest insects doesn't really offer long term relief...but you will see some reduction in certain ones, for a while at least (until the next breeding cycle...). I think whiteflies are always around, just spending a large portion of the year as larva, so whether or not the larva got frozen out will prety much determine how much relief you get. If they did, there will be fewer of them at first, but as the breeding cycles progress, they'll build back up.

[mensplace]

I grew up in the south hearing the same thing...then discovered the mosquitoes in Wisconsin and Michigan! Ever seen the tour films of the bugs in the air in Alaska? I did read something yeterday about being sure to till the southern garden this month to kill nematodes and other pests, but the author was quick to point out that it also kills the good life forms.

[mjc]

The mosquitoes spend the winter under the ice...

Yes, a quick freeze will kill off lots of bugs that are 'out'...but since many spend enough time in a larval state that has them either buried in the ground, under rocks, mulch of some kind or just not exposed to the quick changes, the larva will survive. It would take an extended (weeks) period of very intense cold in order to significantly impact most species in warmer parts of the country, because it would take that long to counter the effects of the 'shelter' they are in over the winter already. Freezing the ground to a foot more deep doesn't happen quickly...and that's what it would take to really make an impact. That's also why there are certain bugs that are much more of a problem in the south than in the north. Of course a different set of rules exist for bugs that spend a large part of their lives in water.

[brokenbar]

Which is EXACTLY why I have almost no bugs in my garden in Wyoming...No tomato worms or other nasties. Only grasshoppers which I have controlled very well using parasites and by spraying pyrethrin out 30 feet around my garden areas (I don't spray my garden because I don't want to kill ladybugs, bees, etc.) Our ground freezes nearly 5' deep which really takes care of lots of bugs, bacteriums, etc. HOWEVER...as I am in rich farm/ranch land and all-iriigated, MOSQUITOS out the wazoo... My theory is that the cold just makes them meaner and bigger!

[mjc]

Originally Posted by brokenbar

My theory is that the cold just makes them meaner and bigger!

Probably not too far from the truth...look at all the animals that came in 'extra large' and 'jumbo' sizes during the Ice Age.

[sfmathews]

I was hoping the same thing for those dang spider mites!

[Dewayne mater]

I don't think a night of a freeze will have much impact, but I wouldn't be surprised if our N Tx temps of low teens 3 nights in a row and sub freezing temps have some reducting in the numbers when it first warms up, but they'll quickly reproduce, no doubt. I did read that in Fl they were expecting the halt of several invasive species of animal like pythons due to the freeze.

[Worth1]

I just don't like the idea of grass hoppers hanging around all winter long with the skeeters like they did 2 winters in a row down here.

It seems as though they sit around bored and form something I call the UI (United Insects) to devour my garden in the spring.

Worth