Chewing Critters
My GH has been invaded by something that's very fond of chewing on buds and
rarely on leaves. Careful search has turned up no snails, slugs, diabrotica or mole crickets, which do a similar number on my roses. Cyhalothrin appears not to discourage the critter. Any thoughts or suggestions? Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 |
Chewing Critters
Tom, any particular genera that this beast likes best?
Diana "tbell" wrote in message .com... My GH has been invaded by something that's very fond of chewing on buds and rarely on leaves. Careful search has turned up no snails, slugs, diabrotica or mole crickets, which do a similar number on my roses. Cyhalothrin appears not to discourage the critter. Any thoughts or suggestions? Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 |
Chewing Critters
Field mice?
K Barrett "tbell" wrote in message .com... My GH has been invaded by something that's very fond of chewing on buds and rarely on leaves. Careful search has turned up no snails, slugs, diabrotica or mole crickets, which do a similar number on my roses. Cyhalothrin appears not to discourage the critter. Any thoughts or suggestions? Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 |
Chewing Critters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabrotica
K "K Barrett" wrote in message . .. Field mice? K Barrett "tbell" wrote in message .com... My GH has been invaded by something that's very fond of chewing on buds and rarely on leaves. Careful search has turned up no snails, slugs, diabrotica or mole crickets, which do a similar number on my roses. Cyhalothrin appears not to discourage the critter. Any thoughts or suggestions? Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 |
Chewing Critters
"tbell" wrote in message .com... My GH has been invaded by something that's very fond of chewing on buds and rarely on leaves. Careful search has turned up no snails, slugs, diabrotica or mole crickets, which do a similar number on my roses. Cyhalothrin appears not to discourage the critter. Any thoughts or suggestions? I found a 2" grasshopper devouring the buds on my white den 2 days ago. It did a lot of damage. Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 |
Chewing Critters
Tom, Just a thought, have you checked the plants at night? Some of these
guys come out & do the damage after dark. Cheers Wendy "tbell" wrote in message .com... My GH has been invaded by something that's very fond of chewing on buds and rarely on leaves. Careful search has turned up no snails, slugs, diabrotica or mole crickets, which do a similar number on my roses. Cyhalothrin appears not to discourage the critter. Any thoughts or suggestions? Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 |
Chewing Critters
Those grasshoppers - luber grasshoppers love Dends! I forget where you are.
We do see them in FL. Big suckers. Diana "Manelli Family" wrote in message ... "tbell" wrote in message .com... My GH has been invaded by something that's very fond of chewing on buds and rarely on leaves. Careful search has turned up no snails, slugs, diabrotica or mole crickets, which do a similar number on my roses. Cyhalothrin appears not to discourage the critter. Any thoughts or suggestions? I found a 2" grasshopper devouring the buds on my white den 2 days ago. It did a lot of damage. Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 |
Chewing Critters
On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:33:10 -0700, Diana Kulaga wrote
(in article ): Those grasshoppers - luber grasshoppers love Dends! I forget where you are. We do see them in FL. Big suckers. Diana "Manelli Family" wrote in message ... "tbell" wrote in message .com... My GH has been invaded by something that's very fond of chewing on buds and rarely on leaves. Careful search has turned up no snails, slugs, diabrotica or mole crickets, which do a similar number on my roses. Cyhalothrin appears not to discourage the critter. Any thoughts or suggestions? I found a 2" grasshopper devouring the buds on my white den 2 days ago. It did a lot of damage. Thanks, all. Whatever it is seems to prefer large, Catt type buds, and has eaten holes in the leaves of a frangipani I keep in the GH. Mole crickets do very much the same as grasshoppers, but they're both large enough I should be able to see them. Around here (inland No. CA), we have rats from the canal, but no field mice, Kath! Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 |
Chewing Critters
tbell wrote:
On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:33:10 -0700, Diana Kulaga wrote (in article ): Those grasshoppers - luber grasshoppers love Dends! I forget where you are. We do see them in FL. Big suckers. Diana "Manelli Family" wrote in message ... "tbell" wrote in message ews.com... My GH has been invaded by something that's very fond of chewing on buds and rarely on leaves. Careful search has turned up no snails, slugs, diabrotica or mole crickets, which do a similar number on my roses. Cyhalothrin appears not to discourage the critter. Any thoughts or suggestions? I found a 2" grasshopper devouring the buds on my white den 2 days ago. It did a lot of damage. Thanks, all. Whatever it is seems to prefer large, Catt type buds, and has eaten holes in the leaves of a frangipani I keep in the GH. Mole crickets do very much the same as grasshoppers, but they're both large enough I should be able to see them. Around here (inland No. CA), we have rats from the canal, but no field mice, Kath! Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 My friends have mice/rats eating their buds, spikes and inflorescnces... so it was a thought. There's a great story of Fordyce stabbing the rat that ate his only remaining piece of Argh 'Neon Light' FCC/AOS was the clonal name..... anyway he hunted teh rat down stabbed it with a knife on a spike then searched the entrails for a viable eye.... to no avail. The gereral opinion is that judges are reincarnated as rats or slugs when they die since these vermin eat only the desireable plants. K |
Chewing Critters
I second Wendy's suggestion. Last fall, my Phal leaves and flowers had
large chunks eaten out of the edges - nothing in the centers. I knew it wasn't slugs (reincarnated judges) because they didn't always pick on the best plants. After dark I went hunting and found little (3/8" or so) weevils. The only method of control seemed to be - catch them in the act after dark, be sure to put something under them as they like to drop off and play dead, catch and put them on a hard surface and mash them! No pesticide I tried had any effect on them. David "Wendy7" wrote in message ... Tom, Just a thought, have you checked the plants at night? Some of these guys come out & do the damage after dark. Cheers Wendy |
Chewing Critters
"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message ... Those grasshoppers - luber grasshoppers love Dends! I forget where you are. We do see them in FL. Big suckers. I am in middle TN where the drought is severe. We just had 3 weeks of 99 to 106 F temps. If I see another one on my plants I will bring them back indoors. One of the Phal's nice new leaves has a quarter size hole chewed in it. This insect chewed right through the Den' flower stalk, leaving the flowers and buds laying there on the floor. I could have cried. |
Chewing Critters
"K Barrett" wrote in message . .. My friends have mice/rats eating their buds, spikes and inflorescnces... so it was a thought. There's a great story of Fordyce stabbing the rat that ate his only remaining piece of Argh 'Neon Light' FCC/AOS was the clonal name..... anyway he hunted teh rat down stabbed it with a knife on a spike then searched the entrails for a viable eye.... to no avail. The gereral opinion is that judges are reincarnated as rats or slugs when they die since these vermin eat only the desireable plants. The snakes here keep the field mice under control but I plan to use mouse-rat baits in the GH this winter. We don't have rats this far from town. |
Chewing Critters
I am in middle TN where the drought is severe. We just had 3 weeks of 99
to 106 F temps. If I see another one on my plants I will bring them back indoors. One of the Phal's nice new leaves has a quarter size hole chewed in it. This insect chewed right through the Den' flower stalk, leaving the flowers and buds laying there on the floor. I could have cried. I spelled the name of the critter incorrectly: it's *Lubber*. I have heard people here in FL talk about hitting them with boards to kill the beasts. When I have seen them it's generally one, not many. Here's a link: http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/orn/lubber.htm Diana |
Chewing Critters
"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message ... Here's a link: http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/orn/lubber.htm Nope. The one I caught eating the orchid was about 2' long and all bright spring green. The lubber isn't shown to be in TN. |
Chewing Critters
On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 19:29:57 -0500, "Manelli Family"
wrote: This insect chewed right through the Den' flower stalk, leaving the flowers and buds laying there on the floor. I could have cried. Are you sure you do not have a rabbit with a fondness for flower stalks? Rabbits are noted for cutting off the stem and letting it fall. On the other hand - when we got grasshoppers they came in as tiny fry and would eat the leather leaf of a full sized catt with out blinking. By that time they were big enough for Diana's descriptions. But I never saw them until they were as big as my thumb, only the damage. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php |
Chewing Critters
Nope. The one I caught eating the orchid was about 2' long and all bright
spring green. The lubber isn't shown to be in TN. Huh. When I was googling it, I found references to TN. Also, the Lubber goes through color stages and it does reach 2". Oh, well. Maybe a rabbit like Sue mentions below. Diana |
Thanks Chewing Critters
Thanks to all, especially Wendy and the Manellis, for chiming in. I stalked
the critters at 11 last night, and was gratified to find and savagely destroy two slugs! Now I just hope they were the only ones; I spread metaldehyde on the GH floor around the air intake vent. Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 |
Thanks Chewing Critters
Tom, they like to hide in the pots, too, during the day. I think I'd do
some slug bait in the pots. Diana "tbell" wrote in message .com... Thanks to all, especially Wendy and the Manellis, for chiming in. I stalked the critters at 11 last night, and was gratified to find and savagely destroy two slugs! Now I just hope they were the only ones; I spread metaldehyde on the GH floor around the air intake vent. Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 |
Thanks Chewing Critters
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:42:56 -0700, tbell wrote:
Thanks to all, especially Wendy and the Manellis, for chiming in. I stalked the critters at 11 last night, and was gratified to find and savagely destroy two slugs! Now I just hope they were the only ones; I spread metaldehyde on the GH floor around the air intake vent. Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200 Slugs are snails -- if you squished them you just seeded the entire location and everywhere you walk. They are hermaphrodites and self fertilize. So I hope you used another method of dispatch. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php |
Chewing Critters
"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message .. . Nope. The one I caught eating the orchid was about 2' long and all bright spring green. The lubber isn't shown to be in TN. Huh. When I was googling it, I found references to TN. Also, the Lubber goes through color stages and it does reach 2". Oh, well. Maybe a rabbit like Sue mentions below. Diana You will find contradictory information online. I'm not surprised. The drought and 100f temps here have done in so much of the vegetation I think these insects are getting desperate for juicy food. :( |
Chewing Critters
"SuE" wrote in message ... On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 19:29:57 -0500, "Manelli Family" wrote: This insect chewed right through the Den' flower stalk, leaving the flowers and buds laying there on the floor. I could have cried. Are you sure you do not have a rabbit with a fondness for flower stalks? Rabbits are noted for cutting off the stem and letting it fall. Rabbits can't get up on the porch. I SAW the grasshopper. I was on a nearby leaf. Today I spotted a small Praying Mantis on one of the orchids and left it alone. On the other hand - when we got grasshoppers they came in as tiny fry and would eat the leather leaf of a full sized catt with out blinking. By that time they were big enough for Diana's descriptions. But I never saw them until they were as big as my thumb, only the damage. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php Beautiful pics on your website by the way. :-) |
Thanks Chewing Critters
SuE wrote:
Slugs are snails -- if you squished them you just seeded the entire location and everywhere you walk. They are hermaphrodites and self fertilize. So I hope you used another method of dispatch. I used to believe that. I'm not so sure anymore. Sure, if the squashed slug or snail contained eggs that were mature, a very few might survive the squishing and hatch out. Immature eggs aren't going to grow up and hatch just being there on the floor. |
Thanks Chewing Critters
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:24:37 -0400, Steve wrote:
I used to believe that. I'm not so sure anymore. Sure, if the squashed slug or snail contained eggs that were mature, a very few might survive the squishing and hatch out. Immature eggs aren't going to grow up and hatch just being there on the floor. I just know it works with Bush snails. As soon as I quit Squishing -- the population was easier to control. Less new ones were there each time. The only difference on my controls was tossing them in the indoor wastebasket rather than squishing in the gh with my fingers. What works -- Works. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php |
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