The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

A couple of days ago an unexpexted guest showed up in front of our garage door. It was a big, two-eyed, scary-looking beetle that was just sitting there, motionless — looking like it was dead.

It was easy to scoop up into a jar so I could have someone take a look at it for identification. Adrienne O’Brian at U of M’s Mathhaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor, identified it as an Eyed Elater — a member of the click beetle family.

As it turns out, playing dead is one of the survival behaviors of the Eyed Elater. And those “eyes”; they’re just markings, not real eyes.

You don’t get to see these very often because they spend most of their lifetime as larvae — sometimes up to six years. During that stage, they live in decaying wood looking for wood-boring beetles to eat. So, they really are beneficial insects. The adult beetles don’t eat much — they’ll sip on a little plant juice once in a while.

Over the years, during my time spent out in the woods harvesting firewood, I’ve seen the larvae but never stopped to make the connection between them and the adult beetle.

When any member of the  click beetle family is placed on its back, it will try to get on its feet by quickly arching its back and snapping back into position. This causes it to flip into the air with a “click!” sound. The smaller click beetles are fun to watch, but this Elater is really something to see.

Since my Eyed Elater is one of the good guys, I’ll take him back out to the woodpile so he can live out the rest of his life without anyone bothering him anymore.

Bob

here’s a link to a good article about Eyed Elater and click beetles

The first Japanese beetle of the season showed up in the garden several days ago.  The beetle actually landed on my arm. That was a big mistake on his part because I immediately tossed him to the chickens.

Those first beetles are forward scouts. Once they arrive, they release a pheromone that attracts other beetles. Before you know it, you have a real problem on your hands.

Sayaka Terada, a garden volunteer at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, told me that in Japan they are called koganemushi, or, in English, “gold bug.” Japanese farmers consider them somewhat of a nuisance because they do some damage on crops such as grapes and soybeans.

They are very beautiful insects if you look at them closely and ignore their destructive habits.

The beetles are emerging from the soil where they spend much of their lives as grubs.

Picking off the beetles and killing them whenever you find them is an adequate way of keeping their numbers down – if you are persistent.

Japanese beetles, like many other insects, have certain types of plants they prefer over others.  One of their favorites is evening primrose, a type of weed commonly found in and around gardens.  A good strategy is to let the beetles start feeding on the evening primrose; a large number of them will often congregate onto one plant.  You can then kill the beetles without having to spray your garden directly.

Over the counter chemical sprays work well in controlling them but chemicals also kill beneficial insects.

There is promising research at Michigan State University that involves introducing naturally occurring microorganisms into the environment to infect the grubs and reduce their population.  This new method will be different from the milky-spore treatment that is currently available.

Bob

Anyone who has ever planted a garden knows that it is almost impossible to grow cabbage without cabbageworms.

Here in my garden I have yet to see a cabbageworm in the cabbage patch.  The Imported Cabbage Worm is the easiest to identify.  Those little white butterflies you see fluttering around in the garden are the adult stage of the imported Cabbage Worm. If you look closely, you can spot the eggs they lay.  Every time a butterfly lands on a cabbage leaf it lays a single tiny white egg.

The other cabbageworm that causes us trouble is the Cabbage Looper.  This worm moves across the plant by arching its body and moving its rear legs forward to the front of its body.  Then it stretches out to move its front legs forward, much like an inchworm.  You will not see the adult moth of the looper because it flies at night.

My cabbage patch is right next to the chicken run; just a wire fence separates the garden from thirty-five hens.  I think they may be intercepting the butterflies before they have a chance to reach my cabbage, although today the butterflies are out in full force.

Both species of cabbageworms chew large holes in the leaves and heads and leave behind large amounts of frass (droppings).  The control for them is the same too.

A biological insecticide Bt — sold under the trade name of Thuricide, Dipel and others, is a very effective and safe way to kill cabbageworms without harming beneficial insects.  Chemical insecticides easily and rapidly kill the worms but also kill any beneficial insects that happen to be in the garden.

You can try making a homemade cabbageworm killer by mixing two to three parts white baking flour with one part table salt.  Dust the cabbage plants with the mixture.

The smaller the cabbageworms, the easier they are to kill – no matter what insecticide you use. So, treat your cabbage plants early before the cabbageworms get a chance to grow.

Bob