Daily Musings - page 16

I let page 15 get a little long, sorry. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/740680/
Can you tell that I don't use pesticides?
Andy P

Neither do I! Have been seeing many JB's lately. When people ask if I use pest control, I answer, 'I keep my kids in line'.

I was just mentioning Milky Spore on the Daily Pic thread to control JBs. I used it many years ago with great success. I get some but not hoards of them like in the past. I get more of the dull brown beetles eating the flowers. I squished a few today.

Thanks Andy - I'll look into it.

Yeah! I was squishing beetles too - mostly brown ones, but we got on JB last night. Two years ago our lawn was DEVASTATED by JB (DH really likes his lawn) So we got the milky spore and the following spring - the big artillery. (Organic gardeners might want to stop reading now). We put down the 24 hour kill the grubs stuff. Then we followed with more chemical in July. Have had no serious problem with the lawn since then. (of course, DH continues to use the heavy artillery).

There was simply no other way to destroy such an overwhelming infestation.

86 degrees in my kitchen. Have the fans running. Hope it cools off before I have to go up into the attic to bed.

Ouch Cat - your bedroom is in the attic?? Must be boiling up there.

Yup but with a fan blowing on me and damp jammies it's almost tolerable. But the cats won't come up to sleep - wimps.

When I was first married, we lived in a townhouse along the railroad tracks. Immediately behind the tracks were barren hills (well, except the odd tumbleweed and sage). For the first three years, DH worked every summer about 300 miles away in the BC wildness as a park ranger. So I slept (?????) in the upstairs bedroom. I once took a thermometer in and it was 125 degrees at 8 pm.

It was a very safe city, so I would take a sleeping bag and a foamy sleep outside on the little patio

We finally got a window air conditioner the first summer DH had to sleep in that room. Go figure.

Can you sleep outside, Cat?

No. I'm fine. This is my 4th summer in the house. Eventually I will get the downstairs bedroom fixed up and move my bed in there.

Andy,
I don't normally use pesticides but this was too much and I resorted to useing some today. This is just 2 different plants and they are on EVERYTHING like this, so I got out the big guns!! The ones that survived moved over to my neighbors.

That's pretty gross! What did you use?

Ortho Rose & Flower insect killer, good for up to 2 weeks. Won't hurt plants or blooms and I shooed the bee's away before I sprayed just in case.

Dave got the video thing going today! http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/746376/

Cool! Thanks Cat.

Pixie, euuuh, euuuh ! Really nightmare photos of the JBs. I try to be organic but that would be MY tipping point!
Haven't had the JBs YET here in Yarmouthport--they're probably coming soon. I was feeling quite smug about my pristine lilies today UNTIL I looked at some plants at the back of the garden. . . ooh, LOTS of those red lily beetles. I took great pleasure in knocking them into a pail of soapy water. When they appeared last year, I in my newbie my innocence thought they were lady beetles. They went to town before I wised up.

I just found out that my thermometer in the kitchen has a dead battery - so it wasn't really 86.5 degrees. But the cats are laying tummy up to catch the breeze from the ceiling fan. Sometimes I wipe them with a damp paper towel so they become their own swamp cooler.

Michaela, DH killed the milky spore, too. It takes a couple of years to become established. I knew I had to do something after skunks rolled up the sod to eat the grubs. Big sections. I had a lot more lawn then, too.
Pixie, that is awful. I'd get the big guns out also.
I did find 4 JBs on the blackberries after my last post. I was looking for something to photograph. I didn't shoot them, I squished them, lol.

I assume you can still get lots of JB's even if you don't have the grubs - they can just fly into your garden, no?? I would be tempted to use a spray if I had them that bad but if there's a two week residual, then bees, butterflies and the other 'good guys' who visit the flower during that time are goners, right?

It does say not to spray directly on the bloom it's self as it can harm the bees. Try to do foliage only, but that was just impossible on one bush. It was loaded and no bee's were coming to it because there was no room! They (JP) devored the blooms and were working on the leaves and the buds of my daylilies too. That was where the line was drawn!!

My thinking is that the neighbors lawns are feeding them. Those are the ones I get.
This brings back another memory. Seeing them 'erupt' from the lawn. One hot Summer day with the sun sparkling off all those glossy shells. Waves of them. Freaky.

There is a good breeze tonight. Cat are you cooling off?

That's not something I want to envision Andy! Sci-fi territory. 82 degrees here right now.

It's in the mid 70s now with a good breeze. The front that helped a bit today was sharp. Boston was 69 while Taunton (25 miles south) was 90. We were in between. We should all be HOT tomorrow then cooler Thursday.
Sarah may not get her walk tomorrow.

well, I have no A/C in my bedroom but it's very comfortable... if I can just use a fan and be ok, some people will tell you it's cold in my bedroom...

oh those horrible jb are around... not as gross as Pirl but I was cleaning up the veggie garden area and getting rid of some grass to put gravel and I probably killed 50 jbs.... then the worse happened ... 3 of then got caught in my hair... oh I scared my family...
and today the same happened.... oh I hate them!!!!

I guess I'm lucky (I know I shouldn't say that) I don't have many flowers but I also don't have many if any bugs. Lots of Bumbie Bees at the flowers. I love when they land on a small flower and it bends way over from the weight.
My first bloom from the lilies that I planted opened today. I almost dragged Marilyn out in her PJ's to see it. Its from a mix so I don't know what kind it is. I'll take a photo of it when I get home from work.
Chuck

I was fine last night. Guess I kept some of the So. California genes that tolerate hot weather well. Another one of those mystery lillies opened up - so I guess I bought them - just don't remember what they are. . .

These are the beetles that are eating my flowers at the moment. Anyone know the name?

Bill?

Actually, I have them too so I'd like to know. I've been calling them JB's also. Or June bugs.

i bought a bale of straw to use as mulch. I put it down and now it is sprouting and I'm just sure it isn't strawflowers! Grrrr. At least they are easy to pull.

Cat, what you got was a bail of hay. Straw should have no seed.
I used it a couple of years, there is always seed that sprout. Keep pulling up the seedlings, they will stop soon. It's a nice mulch.

But I asked for straw. Guess they knew I was a city girl and wouldn't know the difference. I thought $10 was a lot to pay for straw. . .

Eeeew! I just read Andy's post about the waves of JBs 'erupting' from the ground. Somebody, get me a bucket....

Cat!!! I checked out Dave's videos! Thanks for that link. Hey, I learned a couple of things, too!

$10.00?? Geez Louise!! Driving from my house to town (15-17 mlies) I can buy hay in 3 different place's. They charge anywhere's from $1.50 to $3.00 .....a few years ago I paid $1.00 for each bale.

Hey - this is one of the richest counties in the country! We have "gold" straw here. I got free hay seed with it!

We used to get it cheap around here, too. Most of the Feed & Grain outlets have closed up. Now it's a drive to the 'country' to find straw/hay.
I laugh when I see the mini bails at the Arts & Craft stores for $3.99.
So, am I going to have to post that beetle pics on the Bug ID forum? Someone should know what it is. It's from the Orient, I think. Not native.

Andy, I have them all over too. I think I did post a request for an ID on one once. I don't remember anyone replying. Maybe you'll have better luck. Lemme go find that old post.

Harper

Woops. Looks like I never posted a request for that one. My memory tricked me!!

I just bought a YELLOW ladyslipper and I didn't have to pay $119 at WFF! I bought it on eBay and they are not going to ship until October . . . I hope I get it. Now I have to figure out what to buy from WFF with my gift certificates . . . I was saving them up for the ladyslipper.