Danged &%$#@+(^$ Critters!

[karstopography]

I'm glad those aren't found in this area! Or if they are, I haven't seen any here.

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/ur ... pillar.htm

Range map has them in your area. Mine too, but I haven’t seen any either.

[pepperhead212]

I saw that range map had them here, which is why I said "if they are, I've never seen them". Let's hope neither of us ever do!

[Setec Astronomy]

All my peppers have been sucked underground. Any trailing tomato parts as well. Anything in bins has been mowed by the new ground squirrel that is helping the gophers kill off everything.

That sounds like something out of a movie...oh wait, it is--

Head Greenskeeper to Karl (Bill Murray): "I want you to kill all the gophers!"
Karl: "I can't kill all the golfers, they'll put me in jail!"
Head Greenskeeper: "Not golfers, gophers!"

(From Caddyshack)

Sorry about your gopher problems.

[JRinPA]

Setec, Yeah, at night. It was an 11pm watering sortie with headlamp on. The 2+ gallon can, does about 20 ft of raised bed edge. I fill from the rain barrel. So I wet that nest area down once and walked back past it to refill, walked past again and finished watering the first pass. Then started back and watered that area a second time. Back to barrel and then went to water it a third time while doing so got the first cease and desist from the wasps. That sent me down away from the rain barrel. Then after a minute and still alive I made my way back on the other side of the 30ft bed, checking the cauliflower for bugs, and then got nailed a second time behind the knee. As it turns out that was directly across from their nest, 4 ft away. Then I ran inside to cry and there was still one up under my shorts! It's probably building a nest in the bathroom closet as I type.

My dad came home with a case of "Real Kill" years ago from an auction. It was after most of the bug killers went wussy bio whatever. This stuff knocks them down fast. But the supply is dwindling.

oh and Setec wheelbug is the same niche as praying mantis. Hunters. But I see way more wheelbugs here than I do mantises. Wheelbugs lay eggs on the pear tree branches, little hexagonal clusters about 3/8". One lady at the comm garden says she got bit by a wheelbug and that it was really terrible. I don't kill them, but I do give them space. A big female will be about 1.5" of body.

GoDawgs I was thinking about adolphs too, we still have some old stuff from the family beach vacations. For Jellyfish stings. The arm swelling is mostly down. I've been using a steady regimen of tomato sandwiches to flush my system.

[JRinPA]

Squirrels started in on the backyard block2 today. Nothing quite ripe yet but three destroyed. I took the time to hand pollinate three times and they look great. I just wrapped it in three layers of old ag19 and am going it hit it with garlic and pepper spray.
There is one old squirrel that lost his tail at least three years back. I say old because he was a big squirrel the first time we saw him tail-less. He probably remembers raiding my first corn patch when I had it in the very corner of the yard. This week he's been carrying off fallen pears. That was fine, this ain't.

[JRinPA]

So, six days it looks like since I wrapped the block2 with three layers of old AG19. Paper-thin old. So far, so good, no more damage after the initial three cobs destroyed.

The curtain wall is hung on four rebar corner posts. After hanging I laid rebar on the bottom as hold downs; it is sealed pretty good. It still has the green garden fence inside as well, about 2 ft high. I sprayed it all down with a half gallon of garlic / pepper spray, mostly on the fabric and then some spray over the top on the tassels. Twice the dogs were let out when a incoming squirrel was noticed scouting down the top of the fence.

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I picked for the first time today, 9 cobs, and the xtra-tender is spectacular. It is so fragrant I can see why the squirrels want at it. I hope to pick 6-9 cobs a day until they are through, and not be rushed. I took it out in the driveway on the truck bed to husk it so as not to get the smell in the backyard. The wind was blowing from west toward a neighbor's big silver maple. There was a very perturbed squirrel whining from the nest in the tree. I plan to spray again tonight.

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My block3 at the comm garden is also looking good. It caught up with block2 in the summer heat and it looks to me like it is only a week behind, if that. I hand pollinated that three times as well. So far, no damage from squirrels. I sprayed that block3 with garlic and pepper spray the same day that I sprayed block2.

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I never made pepper spray before, but this is what I did and it seemed to work. Into the regular old blender I loaded about 3 or 4 bulbs of the small garlic (from bulbils) I had on hand, halfway peeled, and I think 2 wrinkled green (hot) jalapenos, 2 thai dragon peppers, and at least another hot one. Pulsed that, added water, pulsed, until half full, then added water to the top. I stirred it once or twice over the course of a few hours, then strained it with a wire basket into the sprayer, added maybe a tablespoon of oil and squeeze of dish soap. Then I reused the strained mash with more water for the second half gallon at the comm garden. I tried a paper coffee filter over the pickup in the sprayer. There is already a plastic filter. It halfway clogged in no time, but still sprayed. After the two sprayings I took off the nozzle all the way and it immediately cleared itself. I looked and the paper filter was torn. I won't bother with that again. It just about had to have torn right away.

There are a lot more options for the squirrels now, food and water wise, and that may have some part in the current success. Lots of tomatoes to eat, and surely nuts are starting to ripen. This may not work for early corn. But it definitely stopped the pillaging that started last week.

[MissS]

Congratulations on getting some of that corn for yourself. It looks delicious.

[bower]

Yeah the corn looks great! I am making little squirrel noises as I scroll down your pics!

[GoDawgs]

Great job, @JRinPA ! That corn looks soooo good! I will have to try the ag wrap next year and play with pepper spray filtering. It also helps when other food becomes available to the squirrels.

Right now some wild persimmons are falling (possums love those too) and the muscadine grapes on the fence are ripening. I see piles of empty grape skins on the ground under a nearby tree where the squirrels have been taking them to munch on. I doubt we'll get any grapes for the second year in a row. The squirrels get them just before they're ripe enough to make jelly.

[GoDawgs]

GRRRRRRRR! The deer raided the garden last night. Boy, that ticks me off. I could understand why they came earlier in the year when it was so dry and all the browse had browned up. Now it's been raining and everything is green and really nice. Yeah, I know.... it's just what they do. But I've never had problems with them this time of year before. First time for everything, I guess.

The two new bean beds were doing so well and the plants were so healthy. Here are the Blue Lakes with some of the munched remains pulled out and just laying there. Since the roots looked OK and it's been raining this morning, I replanted them:




These are the Providers, hit a lot harder.



After I finish this post I'm going pull out all bare Provider stems (no leaves at all) and shove another bean seed in there. It might be too late as these are both 55 day beans. It's six weeks until the week we usually get a first light frost and I can put row cover over them. First killing frost is about Nov 7-14. Oh well, bean seed is cheap at the feed & seed. I gotta try.

They also dined on cucumber leaves....



...and sweet potato vines.



Since there was a break in the rain we put a netting tunnel over both bean beds and also over the Red Ripper field peas. Those weren't touched at all which surprises the heck out of me!



They've mowed them down before. Maybe they were too full after eating all the other stuff. If they come back for a midnight munch tonight, they'll find the Rippers will be off the menu.

I just finished replanting the skips in the beans. If a seedling was nipped off above a set of side shoots I left it as is. If there was just a 3" bare stem left, it got pulled and replanted but only if there was a stretch of them. Seed planted between two 10" plants doesn't stand a chance.

[bower]

Couple shots of what happens when the ag wrap comes loose at the bottom. As you can see, one side came loose and is blowing in the wind. Sure enough, the pea loving critter has been in and left a load of pods chewed. I'm not sure exactly who this is, but betting on a rodent of one kind or another. There is a squirrel about, but with signs of 'sneaking under' action in several beds I can't rule out the other kind.
Whatever critter it is: did not touch hulless barley and showed no interest in the other grains. = not a rabbit.
Decidedly fond of peas and will wait for them to be full in the shell before ravaging pod and all.
Climbed up into one of the trellises and ate some peas on the inside of branches there, but not touching the ones hanging free on the back and on top. (But similar damage was found another year, on the high top branches. I assumed a bluejay or whiskeyjack had pecked em.)
This year finding ways in under chicken wire, and in this case, the row cover.

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[worth1]

All of my damage is coming from grasshoppers.

[karstopography]

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I’m guessing this is rat or mouse damage. No sign of anything coming in the daylight and eating these, but most of the pepperoncini that is turning red is getting hit overnight. I’m letting it ride for now, even the vermin have families to feed. Maybe the barred owls will come to the rescue.

[worth1]

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I’m guessing this is rat or mouse damage. No sign of anything coming in the daylight and eating these, but most of the pepperoncini that is turning red is getting hit overnight. I’m letting it ride for now, even the vermin have families to feed. Maybe the barred owls will come to the rescue.

That looks exactly like my grasshopper damage.

[karstopography]

Interesting. I have seen a grasshopper or two. I even smashed a few earlier in the summer, but now I mostly let them alone. Maybe I need to reconsider assigning blame to the mice!
Well, grasshoppers need to eat, too. Most of my garden at this point is reserved for the insects’ enjoyment. There’s very little I defend anymore. It’s like the Roman Empire crumbling or something and the Goth hordes are looting the once grand cities and temples. The forever war is over.

[Tormahto]

All of my damage is coming from grasshoppers.

Build yourself a cricket pitch, and maybe they'll play on that, instead.

[worth1]

Peppers grasshoppers perch catfish dinner.
The cycle of live continues.

[karstopography]

Or just eat the grasshoppers like John the Baptist did or the Mexicans do!

[worth1]

Or just eat the grasshoppers like John the Baptist did or the Mexicans do!

Not gonna happen.
I draw the line at eating spiders and insects.

[bower]

Well I also have a lot of grasshoppers this year. I've seen the damage they did to my lettuce in short order (it grew back though). But I didn't really consider them the likely culprit of the peas. I have peas scattered around the garden in many beds this season, and each time I've seen the damage on a patch, there's also been evidence of someone finding a way in by working hard on the wire (where chicken wire) or in this case an open door left flapping in the wind.
I'm with you karstopography at this point, satisfied to let them take some. I've actually been picking lots of soup peas as soon as they are mature enough, and bringing them in to dry. My coffers are full. A few bites here and there are no big loss, but if or when moose show up it could be game over in one big chew. This little predator, I can still get some for myself and let them take a few.
Not thrilled with the thought of a rat though, I must admit. Neighbor cat is visiting again but IDK if she would take down the big one.

I have a thing about grasshoppers, ever since my undergrad degree in biology. It happened twice that we had labs involving the use of live grasshoppers for vivisection. On both occasions I skipped out. One was at the end of a longer lab, I just walked out of it before that started. The other one was a full lab which I wasn't supposed to miss - well as it happens an excuse came up and I used it, but either way, I couldn't do that and live with myself. I talked to some other students about it - that it seemed like gratuitous violence to these animals, and nothing special to be learned - except for, tacitly accepting gratuitous violence as somehow acceptable. One student said maybe there was a dissecting skill that couldn't be had any other way. She went ahead with it, but afterwards told me "You were right. It was gratuitous". So ever since, I can't see a grasshopper without thinking about them being tortured as a requirement for a science degree. I feel guilt and shame when I see them, even though I didn't do it myself.

Mind you, that didn't stop me from pitching the big one out of the lettuce across the yard into the tall grass.
I'm worried about planting fall wheat on account of the abundance of grasshoppers, I bet they could wipe out a bed of tender seedlings in short order.