Fungus Gnats in Your House Plants?

It is winter and cold outside and those pesky little bugs that you thought would be dead by now are now enjoying the warmth inside your home. What appears to be small Gnats are Fungus Gnats. Fungus Gnats are found in the soil of the house plants that you moved back inside your home for the winter or the soil that you purchased to repot plants. Fungus Gnats are about 1/16 to 1/8 inch long. They have light gray to clear wings and are poor fliers. They have slender legs and resemble small mosquitoes. Their antennae are longer than their head. They have a four part life cycle of egg, larva, pupa and adult. The adult is fairly easy to kill but the egg, larva and pupa stage are harder to control since they are hidden in the soil that your plant is growing in. Fungus Gnats can produce many generations in one year. The adult lives for 7 days and the eggs hatch in 4 days. Fungus Gnats feed on roots and organic matter in your house plant containers and you will always find them sitting in the soil, on the containers, foliage or flying around your house plant containers.

Fungus Gnats caught on a sticky trap

One of the biggest problems with Fungus Gnats is that they can feed on the tender roots of young seedlings. I am currently growing hostas from seed and have just discovered Fungus Gnats. The Gnats can feed on the roots, stunt the growth of the seedlings or kill the seedlings. The Fungus Gnats (not adult) were in the potting soil the I recently purchased.

There are several way to control Fungus Gnats in the home. Always allow good drainage and don't over water plants in your house for winter. There are several sprays on the market to control the adults. Make sure you read the warning labels of all insect sprays before using and make sure that Fungus Gnats is listed on the container. I have installed several sticky traps around my hosta seedlings and have caught many of the adult Fungus Gnats in flight (and have caught myself in the traps several times - they are sticky!) I am now using Bacillus thuringiensis (var. Israelensis) or "Bti " to kill the larva in the soil. Bti is a biological pesticide that contains naturally occurring bacteria that target and kill specific insects - in this case Fungus Gnats. The Bti is eaten by the larva and then they die. Bti does not harm animals, fish, birds, beneficial insects or humans. It does not contaminate the environment. Bti is hard to find in stores and nurseries. You may want to seek it out on the internet and have it shipped to you. Several application of Bti in the soil should rid you and your home of Fungus Gnats.

Happy Gardening!

The Creative Gardener

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Invasion

 

For the last week, we have had stink bugs appearing on our patio door, late in the day, and on a daily bases. I really had not paid much attention as to what type of stink bug that they happened to be. Yesterday I received an email from the Marion County Extension Office asking all the Master Gardeners if they had seen this stink bug. I decided to check out our new visitors and I took a picture of one and sent it to the Marion County Extension Office here in Indiana for confirmation. This morning my confirmation was that it was a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug or BMSB.

 

This insect is an invasive from Japan, Korea and China. It was first reported in Pennsylvania in 1998 and since that time they have been found in other eastern states and they are spreading.

 

The Brown Marmorated Stick Bug can be found in the fall looking for a warm place (like your house) to stay for the winter. They will not damage your home, but they are a nuisance in the house because when disturbed they release a pungent chemical odor that smells like "cilantro" and they also fly around inside your home. Where this insect is a problem is what they do to our fruit and vegetable crops. They damage produce by feeding on a variety of plants like fruit crops, corn, soybeans, select vegetables and ornamental plants. Their feeding on fruits and vegetables produces small spots, misshapen fruit and makes the product unmarketable.

 

If you think you have seen this insect, you need to identify it correctly, because there are many other types of stink bugs or insects that look similar to the BMSB. Look for two light colored bands on the antennae (see top photo). It has a marbled gray and brown top and a lighter color on the underside (see bottom photo). The abdomen on the BMSB extends past the wings and you will see what looks like light colored triangles on the sides of the insect. The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug has one small tooth along the thorax that is directly behind the eye area.

 

How do you control them? I would suggest that you contact your County Extension Agent on what would work the best for you if you are a farmer with crops or a  homeowner being invaded with them. I only have a few and a bucket of soapy water will be my choice at this time.

 

Happy Gardening!

 

Debbie

 

 

If you are a garden writer and would like to use my photos of this insect for writing an article, please feel free to use them.

I took both photos and we can all help to inform others about the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug. Please contact me if you would like to use the photos at dcgardensinbloom@aol.com.

 

 

Euonymus Scale in the Garden

When I am gardening this is one plant that I find in many gardens. The plant is euonymus and it is used as a evergreen ground cover. It seems that every time I find this plant I find scales on it. Scales attach themselves to the plant and suck sap from the plant. The white spots on the first picture are the male scales and the brown spots are female. The females spend the winter on the plant and in the spring lays their eggs. From the eggs hatch the young called "crawlers". The crawlers are able to move around on the plant until they attach themselves and start feeding on the plant. The young develop a shell over their bodies and continue to grow as they feed. The female lays her eggs underneath her shell.

Most people do not realize they have scale until the plant is badly infected. The scales are normally under the leaves and hard to spot. The best thing to do is inspect your euonymus during the growing season for signs of scales and if you find them, treat it early. There are volick oil sprays and systemic insect controls available to kill scale. You may have to treat the plant several times. Scale is not easy to get rid of in the garden. Discard any cutting that have scales on them to the trash can for disposal and not in the compost to prevent spreading. Euonymus scale is found all over the United States.

Look for yellow spotting on the leaves

Branches often die and the plant can be killed

Happy Gardening!

The Creative Gardener

That's a BIG Caterpillar

Today I was doing some garden work when I spotted this caterpillar. He was nearly 5 inches long and one of the biggest I have ever seen. The caterpillar is a cecropia moth in it's larval stage. A cecropia moth is the largest moth in North America and rarely seen during the day since it is active at night. A cecropia has a 5 to 6 inch wing span. As a moth, their life span is about two weeks. The reason for the short life span is because they do not eat. Their purpose is to mate and lay eggs. Females emit a pheromone scent that can attract a male cecropia from a mile away. The male can sense the pheromone with it's antennae. A female cecropia moth can lay around 100 eggs on the undersides of leaves. It takes 1-2 weeks for the eggs to hatch. During the larval stage the caterpillars eat and molt many times till they reach the size of the one in the picture above. In late summer, the caterpillar will spin a cocoon and wait for the next spring to emerge. Cecropias are not pest in the garden and are more often the meal to other animals or insects. They can have a large appetite as they develop and grow in size during the larval stage. Their favorite food are the leaves of alder, beech, plum, maple, white oak, popular, willow, lilac, gooseberry, ash, birch, cherry, box elder, dogwood and elm trees.

Happy Gardening!

The Creative Gardener

Up Close with the Garden Spider

 


Black and Yellow Argiope aurantia

Spiders! For many people the very word sends them running for a can of bug spray.  I admit, I do not like spiders in my house.  I really don't want the extra housekeeping chore of wiping down cob webs, but I do recognize that spiders play a very important part in our environment.  If I have a spider in the house, he gets sent out the door and not sprayed.

This past fall, I was working in my garden when I spotted the spider in the photo.  It is a common Black and Yellow Garden Spider or orb weaver. "Orb" means that it spins it's web in a circle.  The web can be about two feet in diameter.  If you see a zig-zag of white silk in the web, that was made by a male spider.  The male spider is smaller and he will make a much smaller web than the female. The web and can be found on shrubs, tall plants or flowers.  Males and females will build webs near each other or together. The web is normally two to eight feet up from the ground.

This spider is beneficial to the garden because it feeds on other insects that can damage our flowers, leaves and buds.  Even though spiders are beneficial, they do eat the good bugs along with the bad bugs. When an insect gets stuck in the web, the spider will feel the vibration and come running for the kill. This garden spider prefers a sunny location with no winds to build their web. It is also a busy spider, because each night it eats most of it's web and builds a new one for the next day. It is active during the day hours and is harmless to humans.

Garden spiders breed once a year and after mating, the male dies and sometimes is eaten by the female. The female lays her eggs in a sac that is attached to the web. The female guards the egg sac from predators for as long as she can. This sac can contain over a thousand eggs in it, and like in the story of "Charlotte's Web", the female weakens and dies.  The baby spiders hatch from their eggs in the fall but continue to live inside the sac during the winter. When the weather warms, the babies leave the sac to start their life in the garden.

The next time you are working in the garden and see a spider, "think" before you "spray".  Mother Nature has already provided a safer way to deal with insects in the garden than insecticides and one that is safe for humans and other creatures that make the garden their home.

Happy Gardening!

Debbie

It's Not a Hummingbird!

 

Sometimes when I am out working in the garden, I have spotted what I thought was a baby hummingbird darting around in the plants. What it really happens to be, is a Hummingbird Hawk Moth. Unlike most moths, it will be found active on a nice sunny day. Hummingbird Hawk Moths are about 2 inch long with similar coloration of a real hummingbird. They even fly and dart around like the bird with a humming sound. Their wingspan is between 2 to 6 inches. Hummingbird Hawk Moths live in fields and gardens and spend their days feeding at flowers much like a hummingbird. Always look for the antennae on their heads to tell the difference between the moth and bird.

 

Female moths, lay eggs on host plants. These are plants that the young caterpillars, once hatched, will feed on. Viburnum, black cherry, hawthorns, honeysuckle, madder and bedstraw are some of their favorites. When the female lays her eggs, the eggs will be deposited on top of the leaves. In about 6 to 8 days the larvae hatch and start to feed on the leaves of the host plant. The larvae are called hornworms. After a month of feeding, the larvae pupate which can last until the following spring.

 

The adult moth enjoys the nectar of flowers like red clover, thistles, wild roses, blackberry, honeysuckle, petunias, lilacs, phlox, verbena and butterfly bushes. They feed on the flowers by using a long mouth part called a proboscis. The proboscis is coiled up until the moth is ready to feed.

 

 

There are 125 species of hummingbird moths in North America. They are great pollinators and always welcomed into my garden.

Happy Gardening!

Debbie

Pesticides in the Garden

Many gardeners discuss the use of pesticides in the garden. Some people believe in sprays and other do not. In my garden, I prefer to use what I call two, four, six and eight legged critter control as my pest control. I do not use pesticides in my garden or my greenhouse. I prefer natural methods and I let mother nature control many of my pest problems. I have had good results of not having many bug problems. Here are some steps that will make gardening easier without the use of pesticides.

• Keep a clean garden. Rake up old leaves and remove foliage that has dropped from the plant on the ground. Pest and eggs can remain in the plant waste.
• Observe your plants and watch for pest problems. Many pest can be removed from plants by a spray of water from the hose (like aphids) or can be hand picked off and destroyed like bag worms or japanese beetles.
• Try companion planting in your garden. This is where you plant a plant next to another plant that can provide certain benefits like being a insect repellent.
• Use beneficial insects in your garden like ladybugs, praying mantis or lacewings.
• Keep your plants and soil healthy.
• Select plants that are known not to have or have little pest problems.

I found that when I added ponds, bird houses and bat houses that many animals that feed on bugs came to my garden. I now have frogs, toads, birds and bats that feed on a large amount of insects, slugs, and snails reducing my pest problems. I also add praying mantis to my garden. Praying mantis are considered a beneficial insect. They like to lay their eggs on burning bushes. The egg case can contain hundreds of eggs and it is about the size of a walnut. The color is light brown. I remove them when I find them and store them in a jar in a cool place during the winter then move them into the garden in the spring. When they hatch they spread in the garden and start eating the pest. When you spray for insects, it normally kills everything including the beneficial insects.

I would like to hear your comments on controlling insect pest in the garden. Please send me your comments and share your ideas. I will post your comments pro or con on using pesticides.

The Creative Gardener

Attracting Bees to the Garden

My last post was about attracting butterflies to the garden. In the process of writing it, I thought it would be a good time to write on bees. Over several years of working in my garden, I noticed that I just didn't see many bees. As a kid, I remember having honey bees buzzing around in the white clover that grew in the lawn. I also remember stepping on a few in my bare feet. While working in other people's gardens, I noticed the same thing. The absense of bees. If you have not heard, there is a problem with honey bees called Colony Collapse Disorder. It is not known as to why honey bees are disappearing. It could be environmental, mites, disease, pesticidies or many other things. Why have bees in your garden? Because bees are not aggressive and attracting them to your garden is beneficial.

One year I ventured into a garden nursery and I noticed one plant that was covered in bees. I purchased two and added them to the garden. Over the years I have continued to add more plants that bees are attracted to. If you want to attract bees to your garden, you need to rethink some of the plant colors that you put into your garden. Bees cannot see red. To a bee, red is black or basically not a color. If you have red flowers, they are pollinated by the wind, butterflies, birds or other insects. Bees are skewed to the blue end of the human spectrum. They see in ultraviolet. The flowers in your garden will appear to be a different color to the bees than they appear to you. Plant flowers, shrubs and trees that have blue, purple, yellow, white or violet blooms. Bee have good vision considering that they have five eyes on their heads. Their eyes are made up of three simple eyes and two compound eyes.

Bees are good pollinators and without them we would not have the fruits, flowers, vegetables or honey that we all enjoy. If you collect seed for next years garden, you need the pollinators. Never use pesticides on plants that attract bees or you will kill off your bee population. Diversity of plants is important. When purchasing plants, look for plants with bee on them.

Here are suggested plants that attract bees:

Annuals: Asters, clover, sunflowers, poppies, zinnias, marigolds

Perennials: Buttercups, Clematis, Cosmos, Dahlias, Echinacea, Foxglove, Geraniums, Hollyhocks, Roses, Tansy, Hyssop, Globe thistle

Herbs: Bee Balm, Borage, Catnip, Fennel, Lavender, Mints, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme

Shrubs: Blueberry, Butterfly Bush, Button Bush, Indigo, Privet, Honeysuckle and Blue Beard

Trees: American Holly, Fruit Tree, Eastern Redbud, Golden Rain Tree, Hazels, Catalpa, Black Locust, Lindens

This year plant some new plants for the bees. It will be worth it!

The Creative Gardener