Tag: something ate it

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Stop it

Apparently corn is just as good as grass to chew on.
In less aggravating news, the second set of (newer) Christmas Lima beans are up.
I like how you can still see the bean pattern.
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Almost forgot

Paula’s cactus flower had an earwig in it last night. Maybe it eats the pollen?? The flower itself didn’t seem damaged, unlike the coreopsis flowers.
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Evening things in the Pacific rainforest that is Norman

Cowpeas coming up among corn, beets, and peppers. Coreopsis in background.
Black coat runner bean flowers.
Mini bell pepper flowering.
Rouge Vif d’Etampes squash has big leaves!
Inca pea bean leaves.
Golden jenny melon needs more sun I think. Its seedling seems stuck.
Madhu ras melon is in a better spot.
This beetle eats solanaceous plants. It is sitting on my Peruvian ground cherry. This beetle is now gone.
Presumed beetle eggs. They are gone now. A mysterious giant finger squished them.
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Another night, another earwig

I put petroleum jelly around the bases of the four test plants. I took pictures of two. I also covered the Brunswick cabbage again with a jar since it got eaten a lot last night when uncovered.

You can see the messy petroleum jelly right near dirt, at base of ground cherry stem. I took care to make sure no other parts of the plant were touching the ground.
Here’s the poblano. Its seed leaves (cotelydons) were touching the ground so I put the petroleum jelly above them.
While I was finishing up the other two plants in the earwig battle zone (raised bed 7), I noticed the newly planted William’s pride apple has flower buds. Wow! It might even get pollinated as the neighbors have a crabapple tree in bloom…
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Quick checkup before work

I need to put a cover back on the Brunswick cabbage.
Briar very interested in oil traps. 🤦‍♀️ Can’t see in them well but there were earwigs last night.
Salvia greggii started blooming yesterday.
One leaf got chewed up a lot on tomatillo.
Likewise on tomato. I’ll try petroleum jelly on stems tonight.
Pepper seems ok.
Peruvian ground cherry also seems about like yesterday.
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Earwig battle

Several interested earwigs on oil jar edges and a few already in oil! Yay!

Don’t think too hard, earwig. It’s totally fine.

Less yay: more earwigs eating the Peruvian ground cherry (which is farthest from the oil).

More yay: big beautiful toad patrolling the backyard prairie.

An excellent friend.
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No more diatomaceous earth, now for oil traps

I talked with a nice county extension agent today who said anything soft-bodied could be hurt by diatomaceous earth (DE) including toads, though being large and hopping they’ll be less so than a slug or earwig. But, I love my toads, so no more DE.

She did however suggest oil traps to reduce their population while I work to make the habitat less absurdly full of rotting wood (thanks past Claire for all the mulch).

So, now we have five pitfall traps with about half an inch of oil in them.  Three have used fryer oil (vegetable oil) and two have fresh, unused vegetable oil.  (That big plant in the lower right is the Brunswick cabbage I have been nursing along under a glass jar.  Time for it to face the world!)