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Hey all, I've very recently moved one of my fresh loph seedlings outside to catch the last of the warmer weather. They have been sitting on a window sill for the past few months. The other day I checked on them and noticed a bunch of ants have been chewing holes in one of them. Has anyone had this problem? And how do you stop the little psychonauts from having a feast? I've moved them back to the window sill but am wondering if the damage done will prove fatal, should I try and salvage the plant by grafting?

Hey all, thought it would be good to have a general insect identification thread where we can all seek ID's for the creepy crawlies we find in our ethnobotanical gardens. Hopefully over time this thread could become a reference point so we can all get more familiar with garden insects. Sort your friends from your foes here. A couple of examples... Just found out the identity of this little dude today, many thanks to Tripsis Friend: Brown lacewing - Hemerobiidae. "Hemerobiids, like chrysopids, are predatory, especially on aphids, both as larvae and adults" So I'm quite happy to see them in the greenhouse Foe: Prominent damaged caused by (i'm pretty sure anyway) Asian Citris psyllids on a peach tree.. No sign of the offender, I got told its really really small. Sooo yeh! Feel free to bring your bug ID requests here and hopefully over time we will build up a pretty comprehensive set of garden insect IDs

Seriously, ......bugs are 'it' these days... Making the world pretty and nice, with art, for example, is hard. The Tao says, go with the flow....so, I write this little poem....to introduce this topic.... Why fight it? Why swim upstream, fighting all the way, When you can ally yourself with unstoppable forces of nature, and still profit... From putrification and decay? http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/inside-chinas-cockroach-farming-boom/

--EDIT-- the post has now changed. Please feel free to post your own creepies and crawlies for our viewing pleasure. Seen some interesting crawlies in the garden this year and been much more camera happy. Maybe someone else will also derive pleasure from them,.

All right, so I've been curious about using as-natural-as-possible means to repel insects from my plants. This thread is for sharing ideas/recipes for natural pest control. For example, I've heard crushed eggshells work well to stop snails and slugs in their tracks. I'm sure lots of you would have picked up some neat tricks! However, I do have some ulterior motives in starting this thread. At the moment I seem to have some scarid flies moving in to the plants I have inside during winter (where even did they come from????), and I want to get rid of the little bastards before they become a big problem (my plants are struggling enough as it is). Apart from using sticky strips to cull the population, using essential oils as a repellant sounds promising. But I'm not sure which oils to choose for these pests specifically. I'm wondering if anybody has any firsthand experience with this? Or perhaps other ideas? Maybe an all-purpose pest repellant recipe? My mum also would love to hear about any other tricks to get rid of the snails/slugs that are eating her okra.

Does anyone have suggestions for catching predatory insects, like mites, from nature... Then maintaining and breeding them? ( to each other of course!) I heard from one source, That predatory mites are attracted to mealworms for some reason... And that if I put a box of mealworms out, Predatory mites would appear and found be taken away with the mealworms.... Maybe because other mites are present? Not sure, but I might try this when it warms up a bit.....

Hi Shamans :)/> I just wanted to share with you guys my story and photos from my garden adventures today. Well it was my usual saturday. Doing odd jobs and hanging in my garden with plants, cacti and my red cattle dog. As I do my usual cacti seedling inspection. Check out the spring growth spurt. (plant bonding time ;P) I discover what appears to be a fly sitting ontop of one of my small cactus" a few months back. I go in for a closer to look at this fly as I am curious as to what he is doing. He doesnt seem to be moving at all. He seems to be up to something i wonder...?? Then I discover that this fly is actually dead ! I take a further closer look to try and determine the cause of death....??? PULVERIZED BY A TRICHO SPINE ! :devil:/> :devil:/> :uzi:/> I was blown away ! the spine has pierced straight into the flys chest cavity. It would have been instant death for the poor little fella ! Like a stake in the heart. Vampire slaying style. Was this some kind "plant symbiosis warfare" f**king awesome ! GO THE cactus! :worship:/> This little fella is gonna be one tough seedling when he grows up. I am sure he did his bros / & cousins in the pot proud ! :P/> I got my camera a got a few close ups. Enjoy ! :)/> :)/> :shroomer:/>