Dan West Garden Center

September 2008 Newsletter©

Good Bugs! And More…

Last month’s newsletter about bugs was to help you identify some of the most common bad bugs in the Mid South.  This month, we’ll talk a little about beneficial insects and then open the floor up for questions.

     Adult                  Adult              Larva               Larva         Pupa & Eggs

Ladybugs (or more correctly, ladybeetles) come in a variety of colors from solid black to white, some with spots and some without.  Most of the 450 North American species are considered beneficial. The adults and the larva feed on aphids and scale insects and have few predators.  Bright colors are usually a “beware” sign to predators and when bothered, adults and larva secrete a nasty tasting toxin.

Ladybugs winter on the south side of trees or structures except for the one below.

This is the Asian Ladybeetle. It winters in homes.  Although it does feed on aphids and scales and was introduced as a beneficial, it is generally considered a nuisance because around Halloween, it starts moving indoors.

Good or bad?  Often mistaken for ladybugs, this one is a bad bug – the spotted cucumber beetle. 

The praying mantis is another excellent beneficial.  We have about 20 species in North America.  They blend in well with their environment and hunt by stealth.  They feed on flies, aphids, grasshoppers, just about any insect including ladybugs and other mantids.  The female lays about 300 eggs in a froth that hardens to protect the eggs.

Just so you know, we sell ladybugs and mantis egg sacks in the spring at Dan West. 

Here are some other beneficial insects…

Minute Pirate Bug - This is a tiny little insect that feeds on aphids, caterpillars, insect eggs, spider mites and other insects.  It only lives 4-5 weeks.  Eggs hatch after 5 days and young are adults in 10 days. It also has a nasty painful bite.

Assassin Bug  -  Easily identified by the long “beak” (proboscis) which they use to inject a lethal saliva into their victim which liquefies their insides.  It too, has a nasty bite.

Green Lacewing  -  Adult lacewings feed on aphids (and the honeydew secreted by them), mites and pollen.  The larvae are even better predators, feeding on caterpillers, aphids and other insects and insect eggs.

Syrphid Fly  -  AKA Hoverfly – They look like a wasp, but are actually a fly.  There are thousands of species, most of which feed on nectar and pollen, but the larval stage of some are predators, feeding on aphids, leafhoppers and thrips.

Big Eyed Bug  -  Feeds on caterpillars, fleahoppers, mites and whiteflies in both the adult and nymph stage. 

Damsel Bug  -  An excellent predator that feeds on aphids, caterpillars, beetle larvae and most soft bodied insects.

Trichogramma Wasp - Only about 1/50^th of an inch long, these tiny little wasps seek out insect eggs and then lay their eggs inside them.  They mostly attack moth and butterfly eggs but they parasitize over 200 different insects. The wasp larvae hatch and feed on the insect host.

The term “beneficial” applies to more than just insects.  Birds, lizards, toads and even snakes are beneficial to gardeners.  All are welcomed in my garden…except the snakes.  Granted, they help control mice and voles and I enjoy looking at them at the zoo…behind glass.  I also know that most won’t bother me, but I have a childhood memory of being chased atop a car by a 7’ blue racer that flashes through my head every time I see “Mr. No Shoulders”.  I usually don’t kill them, just chase them away, unless they chase me and then I’ll introduce them to “Mr. Hoe”.

“How do I get toads to come to my garden?”

A small water feature will quickly draw toads to your garden.  Soon they’ll lay eggs in the water and you’ll have lots and lots of toads (often in Biblical proportions).  Toads are fascinating animals and particularly fascinating to Ferd Heckle, the owner of Dan West Garden Center.  He collected them as a child.  Sometime, ask him to tell you about the time he released his collection of 50 or so into the room his sister was having a slumber party in.

“How do I keep the ladybugs from flying away?”

You can’t.  But they all won’t fly away.  Where they find food, some will stay. You probably don’t have enough aphids and scale to support the 1500 adult ladybugs that come in a bag unless you have heavily infested trees.

“Since you mentioned it, is there any way to keep snakes from coming around?”

Eliminate their food source and their hiding places.  Depending on the type and size, snakes eat mice, toads, fish, birds, bird eggs, insects and other snakes.  They like deep ground cover, heavily wooded areas, wood piles, any structure they can crawl under and they’ll come to water features because their lunch does. 

“I’ve heard that powdered sulfur will repel snakes.”

I wish it were true, but it’s not.  In laboratory tests, sulfur has never been shown to repel snakes.  Insects, toads and mice that are coated with sulfur may indeed be distasteful causing a snake to look elsewhere for food and there is some evidence that if sulfur gets under a snake’s scales it does cause some irritation which makes them a little ornery, but an unhappy snake is still a snake, just more difficult to deal with.

“I’ve got a snake around my house.  I want it dead.  Not gone, dead. How can I kill it?”

I’ve had good success with glue rat traps.  Lay them along walls where you’ve seen the snake and lean a branch or some brush over it so the snake goes under the foliage.  I’ve also placed the glue traps under overturned clay pots.  Put a stick under one side so the snake can crawl under it. 

Glue traps are not the most humane way to terminate a snake, but I suspect you don’t care.

Around water features, I have laid loosely rolled bird netting which entangles the snake. Then you can introduce him to “Mr. Hoe”. One other option is attach a frozen mouse, which you can buy at most pet stores, to the trip lever on a conventional rat trap.  Make sure you place the trap where pets can’t get to it, like under a heavy overturned pot.   Wear gloves (which I expect you’ll do to handle a dead mouse) to keep as much human smell off the trap and bait.

“Changing the subject for a moment, when should I apply a fall pre-emerge?”      

Soon.  We’ve had an unusually wet August and at this writing it appears Gustav is headed our way, so I think we’ll see fall germinating weeds coming up several weeks earlier than normal. Since we’ll be applying a pre-emerge early, I’d follow up with another application in early December.  Then apply again as usual in late February or early March.  

 “Should I fertilize my lawn again?”  

Yes.  A late season application of nitrogen keeps your grass green about two weeks longer in the fall and greens it up about two weeks earlier in the spring. 

“Should I lime my yard in the fall?”

Possibly.  A good rule of thumb is… if you fertilize your lawn a couple times a year, you should lime about every other year.  If you’re not sure, bring us about a coffee can full and we’ll test the pH for you.

“Can I use any kind of lime?”

Powdered agricultural lime is cheap but hard to spread.  A 40 lb. bag covers 1000 sq. ft.

Pelletized lime is easier to use and covers the same area.

Pelletized Fastlime is a little cheaper and easy to use.  A 30 lb. bag covers 5000 sq. ft.

The rates above are based on an existing pH of 5.5 and a target pH 6 to 6.5

“What is dolomite lime?”

Dolomite is a blend of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate.  It’s a little more expensive than the calcium carbonate limes we mentioned above.  Where magnesium deficiency is a concern, you could use dolomite or add a little Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) and use the cheaper limes above.

“Should I fertilize my shrubs?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

A light dose of slow release nitrogen is fine, but no quick release nitrogen or heavy pruning should be done now.  The new growth that pops in about a month will not have time to harden off before our first freeze.  The exception (and there always is one) would be roses.  I’ll feed them now and again the first of October because I often still have flowers at Christmas.

“When should I plant pansies?”

If you haven’t already, you’ll start seeing them available in the next few weeks.  They don’t perform well in warm soil, so you don’t usually gain anything by planting them early.  I’d wait until at least September 15^th and October 1^st is even better.

“When should I plant fescue?”

Normally, after September 15^th.  If it’s unusually hot, wait a couple of weeks. 

Don’t forget, you can ask a question anytime on our website.

Here’s last month’s mystery plant.

It is Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Happy Days’ aka Rotundiloba 

It’s a fruitless sweet gum and we had one correct answer.  Many guessed a fig, which it does have a slight resemblance to.  It has all the great fall colors of a sweet gum. It can grow in moist or dry locations, but it doesn’t have the sweet gum balls. 

Here’s this month’s mystery plant!

The contest ends on Sept. 15^th.  Drop by either store to enter or you can email your entry to questions@danwestonline.com.  One winner, selected from all correct entries, will receive a $25 Dan West Gift Certificate.

Thanks again, for shopping with us at Dan West!  We really appreciate your business!