I don't know if anybody else is having this problem but my garden soil is loaded with bugs and grubs.
I don't remember it ever being this bad before. I use old hay/newspaper for mulch and I turned over a handful and underneath were millions of Colorado Cucumber Beetles (young ones) and other bugs. They are so bad that they are chewing through the main stem of some large plants, sometimes below the soil level. I thought the bugs may not be as bad because we had such a cold winter.
The only thing I can think of is that I planted out later, do to the cold, and normally the plants would be much bigger and less suseptable to the pest damage. Some of the plants have been completely stripped of all but the main veins. Also, some worm is eating the main stem at the top of the plant. Why they climb all the way to the top without eating anything is beyond me, then they munch off the main stem. I guess I'll have bushy plants!
Where are all the Bugs coming from?
I was really hoping the cold weather would've frozen all the bugs, but it didn't. Applying beneficial nematodes will help cut down on the soil-borne pests like grubs, fleas, etc.
Thank you Stephanie
I just went out and lifted up a handful of hay and jillions of bugs ran like crazy.
On the upside my oldest son needed bugs for biology class,I told him THIS I can help you with. I put some in a jar (which of course he forgot so they are still sitting on the kitchen table) he got a lot more then he needed.
The amount and variety of insects is astounding me considering how long and cold the winter was.
Some insects winter over in a form that isn't that susceptible to cold, others were more susceptible. So with the increased rain we had over the fall and winter, even spring in some areas, the vegetation is really recovering to greater than normal levels (except for what died out completely during the winter or the drought) and that makes for a greater population of insects...except for some kinds that are slow coming back after the winter. The mosquitos are making a good comeback after our drought, that's for sure!
Interesting that we have an almost total lack of mosquitoes. I'm not complaining that I miss them, but that is a huge worrisome change in the environment. What will the bats and purple martins eat?
White fly rises in clouds from my plants and spider mites, which I've not had in my four years in Texas, have decimated my brugmansia.
It's very discouraging.
Oh yes and cucumber beetles and some sort of black and white caterpillar is eating all the blossoms on the brugmansia.
Its so strange I have never seen so many bugs at one time. I was thinking though that maybe because of the cold weather, it was 43* here on morning last week, all the bugs are coming out at the same time. They are more disrtuctive then I remember too. It strange to move old mulch out of the way and have a mass exidous of creepy crawly things. The grubs make me think if going fishing! The grubs aren't near the beetle stage either when they are coming up out of those huge holes.
Lisa