I was trying to send a picture but I will try and give a description of them.
They are reddish/orange with black spots. They have long, black antenna and some sort of hair or spikes all over them. They look something between an ant and a spider! I am telling you I have seen more things in this garden.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
Maybe they are leaf-footed nymphs.
If they are - kill them now. Adults are hard to kill.
Don't plant corn, but know the leaf-footed insects attack tomatoes here in the Houston Area, and by your Florida address, you are probably near the Gulf, too.
Oh my goodness....I really thought this was an assassin nymph bug! I had looked them up and they looked like the pictures I saw on line for assassin bugs..but when I put in leaf-footed nymphs the picture was exactly what I have. The others looked so close from what I could see of them on the websites I went to...at first I even thought they were aphids....but now I have found the exact picture of what they are. I will have to kill them NOW.
What would you use? I can not believe all the things I have found in this garden.
This gardening is hard! How could I have thought they were so many different things??? My,my,my......I don't know if gardening is for me. :-(
Thanks
K
I try to be as organic as possible, so usually mix up some Murphy's Oil Soap (1-2 oz in a quart spray bottle), and spray everything I DON'T want.
Also have some Pyrola from Garden's Alive, and follow the package directions.
Only true insecticide used is for the fire ants, and was advised to rotate through several brands. And I don't have them in the garden, but under the boards i have surrounding the garden to keep the grass and weeds at bay.
Please don't give up - the reward of fresh produce is worth the effort.
But also, don't count on 100% success. We have been happy to share with some birds - since they are probably eating as more "critters" than produce. Think the bird-bath was a great investment - see many more now.
I will have to get some Murphy's oil. This is my first year and I can tell you that I have had just about everything you can have. At first I had worms....I have used Neem oil, Sevin, soap, just about everything and can not get rid of them. They first hit my cucumbers and I finally took them out since I could not get rid of them. They were in the plant...then they hit the squash. I had, had wonderful beautiful squash and cucumbers...they looked great and then one day I went out and all the ends were shriveled up! I picked one and opened it and there was a worm...it was protected in the center of the fruit just eating away. Then I got worms in the corn, then I had something picking my tomatoes, eating part of them, etc. It has really been something! I have not gotten that much produce with all the other things taking and eating what they want! I would have had a lot of nice cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash if these things had not gotten them. I am just heart sick. I spray for one thing and get another. I bought all my soil, they are all in raised beds, I mulched around them, I bought lady bugs, I had wasps, and bees, I stopped watering from the top, I got rain barrells, I went out everyday and tried to take care of things but I have not had a good time with this at all! I guess I have to get some netting andf a fence for all the animals. I just feel really lost.
Thank you for all your help. I may try this again since it has taken a lot of money to get this far. Like I said I would have had a lot of produce but as soon as there was any fruit on the plants everything in the world came!
Oh, the biggest secret - plant a fall / winter garden!!
Sorry, I forgot that. I figure the spring / summer garden is mostly a waste due to the heat and humidity. We do get some herbs, and mustard greens, a few radishes (if planted before March). But keep trying different things, too. The grub worms got most of my bean sprouts, but two plants are working their way up the "teepee", the horseradish is doing fine in spite of the snails (yes, using egg shells, but crushing is more effective), dill working, parsley is re-seeding,and the store-bought garlic that started sprouting is loving it.
We can hardly wait till September to start the "real" garden.
Oh.....you have a garden in Sept.!!!
I will have to try that. I would have had a really nice garden, like I said, but I have had just about every bug and critter out there!
Can U give me any suggestions on what else to do? Do you start things from seeds? I was thinking about doing that.
I am going to get straw and horse poo if I go ahead and try another one. I thought I would get a lot of tomatoes and even have some to can! LOL :-) I would go out and some critter had eaten half of a tomato or carried the whole thing off.
I will give it one more try I guess since I have so much invested in this. When do you start the planting and what do you plant?
Thanks
K
Sorry to hear that, keggie. What a disappointment after so much hard work. I don't have any advice for you - it's my first year, too - just encouragement. There's a lot of good information on this site so maybe someone can help you. Good luck.
If you have access to fresh manure - you need to compost it, so it won't be usable this year - but that is not a bad thing - just think of what it will do next year.
You can start seeds in August for a fall garden. For tomatoes, just cut off some of the stems (suckers) from plants you want to replicate, and re-pot them like you would any seedling or young plant. I've had some that did not produce in the garden due to the heat, but when cuttings were potted in large pots on the patio gave us some nice fall tomatoes.
If you like cabbages and lettuce or other salad veggies, fall works great - most bugs are gone, and the cooler weather actually makes them taste better. I have some brussles sprout plants that I hope survive the summer heat - they are shaded by the bolting parsley now. If not, I will plant more in a couple of months - then harvest clear into February.
Hi, am not accustomed to posting, but this is new...
I have two questions.
The past 2 summers I have tried to grow ferns in well shaded areas -- I can't remember what they are called but look like a photo of Dryopteris × complexa ‘Robust’ - when I bought them as singles they were about two feet high and died immediately leaving nothing but empty stalks.. what am I doing wrong?
Also, I planted a beautiful blooming fushia that was left unwatered for a week (irresponsible step-daughter!) while I was on holidays, and looks dead. I removed all the dead stuff. Will it come back?
Thank you, I am a novice and appreciate help
Oh keggie, what a bad first experience for you! I'm so sorry. I know how discouraging it can be but if you try again in September it could be a totally different experience. I did not get a veggie garden in this year, but I too am battling garden pests as well. And this has been one heck of a year for me as well. Grasshoppers, slugs, shrews (mice-like creatures), grubs, Japanese beetles (that make grubs), another unidentified leaf sucker that is sucking the life out of a bunch of my flowers/shrubs and worst of all the Gypsy moth caterpillars are defoliating our trees at alarming rates. The Bhk our county sprays (a fungus to kill them) is ineffective this year due to last years' dry weather. I have caterpillar poop covering my sidewalks! I too garden organically by using soapy water to keep bugs at bay, crushed egg shells for slugs, applying nematodes, NoLo Bait for the grasshoppers etc. keggie, just remember if you use the chemicals to destroy the bad bugs, you also kill the beneficials that eat the bad ones. Plus your veggies get those chemicals on them too and you'll be eating that.
You may want to check into applying nematodes to the soil. There are different kinds for different pests. I got mine at Buglogical.com Certain types kill a whole host of garden pests. You must water them in well for 10 days though. I applied them this year so I pray they work, we've had alot of rain to get them going. A gardeners life is battling those nasty little pests, but the rewards are definitely worth it. You've just had more than your share first time around. Most of the time, they aren't that bad. Keep your chin up and as they say, try, try again! Best of luck!
janet59, you may want to go back to the main page of the forum (http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/b_gardentalk/all/) and start your own topic so more people will see it. Just scroll down to where it says "Starting a New Topic." I'm sorry I don't have an answer for you, but I'm sure someone will! ^_^
Thanks Marylyn I figured it out ... sorry to pop up on this thread like a bad weed
Thanks medinac
I will try some of those things. I think I will give it one more try and then I am done! This really has been terrible. :-(
It looked so wonderful when I first put it in! It was doing really great until it started to get the veggies! Then every thing known to man got them! Just amazing
I feel your pain! I was complaining to my neighbor of my bug wars. She told me she hasn't seen any grasshoppers or leaf suckers and I was sooo jealous. Then, we went to a garden center today, I dropped her off and we were admiring her plantings by her driveway and lo and behold what did I see? First a grasshopper which I promptly smashed and then those little striped leaf suckers! She didn't see either of them until I showed her! She said she'd better get a magnifying glass to inspect her plants! So see, we gardeners are all in the same boat.
