Random Pictures.

[Worth1]

Cat looks like it just received this years property taxes.

[Cole_Robbie]

Bernie says hi

[imp]

You are both so lucky you found him and rescued him. Good job, Cole!

[Johnniemar]

A gorgeous kitty

[SueCT]

He looks like so much fun to play with! I miss the play days. My kitty is 20 yrs old now and would much rather nap than play now, lol.

[Worth1]

Wrong paw must be a lefty.
Worth

[clkeiper]

he's a southpaw Worth!

[JRinPA]

Last week I saw this guy on the parsnips, so that was nice. (1st pic
Black Swallowtail catepillar). I looked for some more the other day when watering the brussels sprouts, did not see any, and couldn't find this guy anymore. He probably cocooned up but I couldn't find him.


Looked out the kitchen window today and the brussels sprouts looked like heavily bolted romaine lettuce. Did not notice it while watering the last few days but there is so much frass they must have been there a while. Nothing to speak of has touched them all year until now. Two days ago these were some nice brussels sprouts. Between the worms and the harlequin nymphs, what a mess. We spent a solid 45 minutes squishing everything we could find, but I don't know how much it helped.

[GrowingCoastal]

Quite the crop of wildlife!

[AlittleSalt]

JR, in my experience, Harlequin bugs will infest spinach, turnip, and beet plants too. I'm sure there are plenty of other plants they like just as much. I eventually got tired of fighting them and pulled the plants and burned them in a 55 gallon barrel. I don't know if you have that option, but it seems to have worked because I have never seen another Harlequin bug.

I tried soapy water without any effects. Then I tried Triazicide and still no results. The things that stood out about Harlequin bugs were:

How devastating to the crops they were.
The plants got a soured smell to them.
The bugs were actually a nice looking bug, but I'm not into collecting bugs.

[peebee]

Can you believe one of my kid's teachers in 2nd grade actually ordered Harlequin bugs as a class project and my daughter brought some home. I had no idea at the time what chaos these cute little non-native bugs would cause in my garden. It took years to get rid of them. Lesson learned, teacher: research first before you embark on a project involving bugs.

[JRinPA]

Those harlequin nymphs ARE handsome, but clearly chompers like bean beetles. Every couple years we get something new to me, it seems. Couple years ago it was tortoise shell beetles. They are these little transparent shelled things, came in some year old horse manure I filled these raised beds with. There were a bunch the first year, and there are still some around 3 years later but not many, and smaller ones than the originals. But they aren't really a problem and I don't kill them.

I did not like the smell down there while picking and cleaning up the bush beans rows next to the brussels sprouts. I didn't take it as being produced by any particular bugs, but rather the damaged brassica leaves and abundant frass. Crushing the harlequin bugs did not produce a notable smell like stink bugs (nasty cilantro) or squash bugs (bananas). It has been non-stop rain since then, but I should go back and check for more. I want to pull the plants yet since they are haven't really produced yet, other than the southern end one that gets the most sun. Brassicas do seem really iffy for no spray gardens around here. Take a long time to produce with lots of pest to eat the leaves.

[JRinPA]

Looking through some pics from this summer, I had another eggplant with a nose on it, but it got picked when small. I had known about it, but didn't mark it, and when I let someone go through the row and take some baby eggplant this one got picked. That guy would have had some character!

[JRinPA]

Nature at work in another way here....wasp eggs on a hornworm.

End of July, I had killed one that cleaned off the top of a few plants in my big beef row. Couldn't find anymore for a few weeks, and I couldn't tell if there was new damage or I was noticing the same damaged areas over and over. Eventually I found one up near the end of the row where I hadn't noticed damage at all. He was covered in eggs and not really moving much, so I let him have his last supper. A couple days later, someone else was eating breakfast.


I still have a nice bit of tomatoes on that florida weave row. That worked out well despite, despite the greater number of pests there at the comm garden. I have very few hornworms here at home, just a half mile away, but the soil there when I first forked it was loaded with cigar casings pupae that are either hornworms, squash vine borers, or some other destructive moth. That place is covered up with mexican bean beetles as well, while I have none to speak of, here.

[Worth1]

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