Re: slugs and worms, earwigs, black vine beetles.....
>
>Regarding the suggestion that Leaf cutter bees were the culprits with the
>euonymus and certain other plants: They sure went for the canna: nice neat
>rows of holes straight across the leaf-almost humorous; and the euonymus
>leaves are definitely scalloped.
Leaf cutter bees cut leaves only at the margins. They would not eat holes
straight across a leaf. Slugs do that, and perhaps something else. Leaf
cutter bees are very sweet little guys who only sting when they're brutally
handled, and that sting isn't a fraction as painful as regular bee stings
are. They have short life spans, maybe 6 months. They hatch, do their
pollinating thing (incidentally, they have the "equipment" to pollinate
alfalfa blossoms, but not all bees can do that), lay eggs and provision
their egg cells with food, seal it off with a leaf cutting, and die. I live
in Idaho, where growing seeds is a big business, part of which is growing
alfalfa seeds. No pollination, no seeds. They use "bee boards" of leaf
cutter bees in the fields, and they're regarded as being so valuable that
thieves occasionally "rustle" bee boards.
Now if you're talking about notching of leaves, sharp edges, about 1/8 to
1/4 inch into the leaf, those are made by adult black vine
weevils. They're not very harmful per se, but their babies are bad. They
lay eggs in the soil, and the hatched larvae feed on roots. They have
preferred crops, too, and can kill large plants like rhododendrons in less
than a season. The best way to fight these, IMHO, is with beneficial
nematodes.
The first thing you should always do is find out exactly what is causing
your problem. Are they doing more damage than you can tolerate? If so, are
there things you can do that don't involve throwing poisons at Mother
Earth? Whenever you use poisons you are also poisoning yourself, your pets
and your family.
> Here I thought they were nice simple bees
>doing their pollinating thing in my garden! <diabolical laugh> I've let
>the earwigs off some of the hook. However, I'm positive it is they who eat
>the flowers. It's very likely other damage I see is from the black leaf
>weevil. Thanks for these tips. Possibly diatomaceous earth, "for crawling
>insects," will handle the black leaf weevil as well as the earwigs (earwigs
>are specifically mentioned on the package). The guy at the nursery swore
>this wouldn't hurt my toad babies, since the toads aren't insects. Anyone
>used diatomaceous earth for anything (it's been listed as a deterrent for
>slugs)?
>
>And also, while on the subject, has anyone purposefully inserted parasitic
>wasps into their gardens? It sounds like a reasonable thing to do.
>
>Diann
Take care using diatomaceous earth. It can damage your lung tissue if you
don't wear a mask and if you have a gust of wind when you're not wearing a
mask. I've bought Chinese preying mantis egg cases for setting out early in
the spring, and they've naturalized here now, so they take care of a lot of
earwigs. I plant umbelliferous plants such as dill, fennel, parsley,
chervil and achillea to attract beneficial wasps. They also love flowers of
Origanum vulgaris and anise hyssop. My herb garden is abuzz all summer with
them. Margaret L
