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Lorax

Tiny Warriors as a first line of Defence!

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Heya!,

Been browsing the forum for a while now but haven't really made any posts so thought I'd start with something a bit different.

Spent a bit of time with the search function and found a few posts relating but not really anything concise so here we go.

I'm sure you guys will agree insects can cause huge problems if left unchecked, recently spider mites have become the scourge of my existence!

Now I don't know about you but I hate using harsh chemical pesticides and found the more natural approaches such as Diatomaceous earth and Potassium Salts which usually work by dehydrating organisms have fairly low efficacy, considering a lot of the plants in my care love high levels of humidity.

This lead me to employ natures own defense system, my own army of Anthropods.

Part 1 will be a list of common pests, a few ways to discern them and their natural enemies, Part 2 will talk about ways to attract them.

Bear in mind it is in no way complete and part of the reason I'm posting is to learn as much as possible from everyone here, so feel free to correct me or add anything, I'll edit the post to suit.

I'll organize the list alphabetically by name of insects for ease.

Aphids

Aphids are small (1-3 mm), winged or wingless insects that vary in colour (green, grey, or black).

They tend to form in groups around the tips of new shoots and feed on sap, as a byproduct they are also responsible for spreading a number of viruses. You will notice a decline in a plant vigor as a result of aphids.

Natural Enemies- Predominantly ladybugs have been used to control aphids as well as a number of Parasitic wasps (Aphidius sp.), Lacewings have also been found to be effective.

Borer Beetles and Weevils

The main culprit is the European house borer and it's larvae, which is a quarantine pest in Western Aus.

The adult beetles (8-25mm) attack weakened plants, otherwise healthy branches falling off with tunnels bored throughout is a sure sign of an infestation. Although they generally are not the sole cause of a plants death.

Natural Enemies- Our friend the parasitic wasp is helpful once again as well as assassin bugs, predatory beetles and native birds.

Caterpillars

Caterpillars come in a broad range of shapes and sizes, some build shelters from curled up leaves while others seek shelter in denser foliage, most are nocturnal feeders and affect plants predominantly in autumn.

Symptoms include browning leaves and leafless branches, also signs of webbing around the leaves.

Natural Enemies- Here comes the parasitic wasp to the rescue, birds can also help with control. If you are very keen to remove them handpicking does work but always wear gloves as some species are covered in irritating hairs.

Crusader bugs

Crusader bugs (10-20mm) attack shoots and flowers causing them to wilt and die.

When disturbed they excrete a foul smelling liquid.

Natural Enemies- Parasitic wasps, hunting spiders and birds.

Colorado Potato Beetle

A small ladybug sized yellow and black striped beetle that's known to feed on plants from the Solanaceae family (datura, tomatoes, potatoes ect) and Cucurbitaceae (pumpkins, squash and zucchini etc).

They can lay up to 500 eggs every couple of weeks on the underside of leaves and the emerging young will stay in a group and feed causing severe damage.

-Courtesy poisonshroom

Natural Enemies- Parasitic wasps and ladybugs feed on the larvae of the potato beetle.

Birds, assasin bugs and predatory stink bugs may also help.

Mites!

Mites are tiny incarnations of the devil no more then 1mm, they feed on sap and the souls of the young :wink:.

The first signs of a mite infestation is usually yellow stippling of the leaves, the undersides of the affected leaves may also be coated in fine webs, under which there are hundreds of tiny yellow-to-red mites and pearly eggs.

Natural Enemies- Because of their size they don't have much in the way of natural enemies although Minute pirate bugs will lay siege to a colony of spider mites.

Predatory mites are also available and highly effective although quite a costly endeavor.

Mealybugs

Smalll (2-4mm) sapsuckers that like to hide in buds and newly formed leaves, as well as up against the veins of the undersides of the leaves causing similar effects to aphids.

They are covered in a white protective wax that seems almost furry.

They also employ ants as defence, protecting them from predators and caring for the eggs/larvae.

-Courtesy of Poisonshroom

Natural Predators- Predatory beetles and parasitic wasps, as well as lacewings. Keeping the area free from ants will also help.

Scales and Lerps

Small (2-3mm) sapsucking pests, severe infestations of scale insects can result in defoliation and retardation of the plant’s growth, and even the death of the plant. The excretion they drop also grows a fungus called "sooty mould" which can be very harmful.

Natural Enemies- Ladybirds, assassin bugs, lacewings, hover flies, parasitic wasps and birds have all been effective in controlling an outbreak.

Snails and Slugs

These molluscs are active at night, they can chew holes in leaves and kill seedlings.

Control is especially important during April and May as they will be breeding.

Natural Enemies- Frogs and large skinks such as the blue tongue lizard and shingle back, also scavenger birds; Magpies, Kookaburras.

I'll post part 2 after some eats.

Edited by Stath
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I need to get me a snail predator bad. A Blue Tongue would be nice to see around the garden too.

Any special care requirements anyone's aware of?

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Good idea for a thread! Pictures might be good too (but thats a fair bit of effort). Another one is the Colorado Potato Beetle - they look like lady bugs, but are more orange than red and have more spots of uniform size. They exude a yellow/orange stuff from around where their legs join the shell when they are handled. They eat holes in the leaves plants of the Solanaceae family (datura, tomatoes, potatoes ect) and Cucurbitaceae (pumpkins, squash and zucchini etc) and are very destructive. I think they also cause the leaves and flowers to curl and deform.

As for what eats them - I would love to know and obtain, because they are like a plague in the tropics.

Also mealy bugs - little fluffy white sap suckers that like to hide in buds and newly formed leaves, as well as up against the veins of the undersides of the leaves. They can also affect the roots. I think it mainly causes wilting and leaf and flower deformities, and can kill small plants or seedlings. They breed profusely and can completely cover the surface of seedlings and small plants. Ants 'farm' them, providing them with protection from predators and I think the ants also carry their eggs to safety when they are under attack. The same is true for aphids and scale as well as a number of other sap sucking pests

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G'day Stath. Welcome to the forum :) . Some good info there.

I need to get me a snail predator bad. A Blue Tongue would be nice to see around the garden too.

Any special care requirements anyone's aware of?

 

If you are going to keep a blue tongue lizard outside, then it has everything it could possibly need, sun, rain, shelter and food. Other things to consider would be......

You wouldn't want to use snail bait around your garden .

Your yard would need to be escape proof.

Cats/dogs can be a menace to blue tongue lizards .

If you had a large body of water, like a pond, and the water level was a lot lower than the rim of the pond, the lizard could fall in and drown.

Blue tongues are diurnal and wont encounter all of the snails that are cruising (munching) around at night, but it will still have a bit of an impact on the snail population.

:)

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I need to get me a snail predator bad. A Blue Tongue would be nice to see around the garden too.

Any special care requirements anyone's aware of?

That's a mad idea, they are one of the only reptiles where a license is not necessary, at least here in vic, not sure about the other states, you will need to check with the local wildlife authorities.

I've kept them in the past, make awesome pets, great personalities and my last one lived to 16 years. I'm sure if they had a steady supply of insects to munch on you wouldn't need to worry about any sort of enclosure, just make sure a topped up water bowl is always available and a plate of greens with a bit of shredded carrot twice a week to keep them from munching on your veges.

-Whoops Amazonian beat me to it

"Colorado Potato Beetle - they look like lady bugs, but are more orange than red and have more spots of uniform size." "Also mealy bugs - little fluffy white sap suckers that like to hide in buds and newly formed leaves, as well as up against the veins of the undersides of the leaves.

Haven't heard of the potato beetle, but definitely mealy bugs, forgot about those, and scale :unsure:, cheers poisonshroom, I'll add them to the list.

Ants 'farm' them, providing them with protection from predators and I think the ants also carry their eggs to safety when they are under attack.

Great point!

Edited by Stath

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Cheers for the kind words guys.

Now for part 2.

Attracting Beneficial Insects

Attracting beneficial bugs can be quite difficult although very rewarding once you've managed to set up a good ecosystem.

You will need to provide good shelter, a constant supply of water and favorable food items, as a general rule a shallow dish with a bit of gravel (very important to stop your little friends from drowning) should always be available and kept topped up. Mulch will provide cover to just about every predatory insect you can think of as well as providing nutrition to your plants, a good layer of mulch will do a world of good.

Another thing to consider is when choosing where to put the plants that will do the attracting make sure you get a a good variety interlaced all around the plants you are trying to protect try not to bunch them all up in one spot.

I'll try and discuss each insect in further depth.

Assassin Bugs

Assassin bugs (4-40mm) vary in color and can be black, brown, yellow, gray, green and some species have other very bright markings. They have long antennae and long, skinny legs. The assassin bug’s head has a long neck with the beak or sucker underneath.

These guys will eat just about any sort of insect they can get a hold of so they make a good staple choice.

They also feed on nectar so plants from the daisy family (Asteraceae spp.) are a good, as well as things like Queen Anne's Lace, oleander (careful: this one is poisonous if ingested by kids or pets), fennel, alfalfa, camphorweed, goldenrod, dill ect.

Mulch and some well place hiding spots (old logs, rocks) will help keep them around.

Hover flies (Syrphid flies)

Syrphid flies (6-19 mm) are often very brightly marked ranging in colour but most are yellow-orange and black, and can be mistaken for bees.

Syrphid maggots crawl on garden foliage, searching for aphids to eat. They're quite good at squeezing in the curled up leaves where aphids hide, too. As an added bonus, the adults will pollinate your flowers.

Nectar rich flowering plants such as yarrow, lovage or fennel will help attract these guys.

Lacewings

Only the lacewing larvae are predatory on other insects in the garden. The adults survive on pollen and nectar. They will also turn cannibalistic is no food source is around.

Creating a good habitat for them will help the adults set up shop in your yard and start breeding.

Angelica, carraway, coriander, cosmos, dandelion, dill, fennel, Four-wing saltbush, Golden marguerite, Prairie sunflower, Purple poppy mallow, Queen Anne's lace, tansy, and yarrow are all great for setting up a really good lacewing habitat.

Ladybugs

I'm sure you all know how to spot a ladybug, although don't get them confused with cucumber beetles which are yellow instead of red-orange and have much longer antennae.

Ladybugs will feast on most sap sucking pests such as aphids, scale bugs, mealybugs and lerps.

The larvae also love the taste of a sap filled insect and will usually devour more then the adults.

There are many plant varaities that will attract and create a good habitit for ladybugs although they are slow to breed and require massive amounts of food so don't excpet them to hang around after they've delt with your pest problem. Basket of Gold, buckwheat, butterfly weed, carpet bugleweed, cinquefoil (Apline and Sulfur), coriander, dandelion, dill, fennel, four-winged saltbush, Golden marguerite, hairy vetch, marigold, Prairie sunflower, Queen Anne's lace, Rocky Mt. penstemon, tansy, and yarrow (common and fern-leaf) are all great choices.

Parasitic Wasps

One of the greatest allies you can have is the parasitic wasp.

They are very small (3-10mm) with long, thread-like antennae. You will usually see the aftermath of a parasitic wasp before you actually see the insect itself. They present in a wide range of colors from black to yellow and red.

Attracting these tiny warriors can be down with any combination of the following: alyssum (white), caraway, cinquefoil (Sulfur and Alpine), dill, edging lobelia, golden marguerite, lavendar globe lily, lemon balm, masterwort, orange, parsley, pennyroyal, purple poppy mallow, and yarrow (fern-leaf and common).

Predatory Beetles (Ground beetles)

There are over 200 species of ground beetle and almost all of them are beneficial.

Adult ground beetles are nocturnal, and mostly hide under objects during the day. The ground beetles come out at night to feast on unsuspecting insects. They feed on caterpillars, root maggots, snails, slugs, grubs, and other soft bodied insects. Ground beetle larvae are also important predators, since they feed on below ground pests.

Attracting these guys is all about good ground cover.

Mulch, stones, bark and logs are all great habitats, as well as low lying shrubs such as amaranthus, clover or vetch.

Minute Pirate Bugs

These tiny soldiers feed on a variety of smaller pests other insects just glance over and as such are absolutely necessary,

The adults will take prey as well as pollen and nectar when live food isn't available.

The following plants are great for attracting these insects: alfalfa, caraway, cosmos (white sensation), fennel, marigold (lemon gem), Peter Pan goldenrod and spearmint.

Spiders

A lot of people have an innate fear of these furry little destroyers although they can be one best units in your infantry as well as being very easy to harbor.

As long as your garden is free from pesticides a few wood piles or dark crevices will soon have these eight legged friends scurrying around all over the place.

Other Helpful Animals

It isn't just insects that will fight the good fight for you.

Birds are great and with the addition of a seed feeding platform and some clean water your garden will begin brimming with colourful sirens of the sky.

Frogs are also great for dealing with mollusc's and other garden saboteurs.

A pond is a great feature in any yard, add a little plant cover and go collect a few net fulls of tadpoles around spring and your garden will come to life with an amphibious night time chorus in no time.

Thanks to the following sites and organizations for making this information available.

http://www.veggiegardener.com

http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com

http://www.eduwebs.org

Department of Agriculture and Food (W.A)

Wikipedia

Edited by Stath
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this is an interesting thread. what do you think about the possibility of cultivating a controlled population of termites to harvest didjs?
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Bluetongues need homes too.

Over the years I've made a number of 'rock piles' to provide permanent homes for Bluetongues. I don't really know if they are being utilised but we do get plenty of Bluetongues. I assume cats/ dogs would have a very hard time removing Bluetongues from these bunkers.

I put the largest rocks down first and make sure there are a couple of large central chambers, after that I just pile it over with more rocks, making sure I don't block access to the larger chambers.

I usually put a couple native plants around it too like Lomandra or Plectranthus. I think Spider Lilies would also be good to plant nearby because lizards could (hypothetically) drink from the water that pools in their leaves.

I also keep a terracotta dish out that is kept topped up with water especially for the bluetongues. Usually around Christmas you will see a heap of babies getting around.

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I think I was mistaken about the potato beetle - what I was referring to is spotted. Ill have to take a picture soon. they are very destructive none the less

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I think I was mistaken about the potato beetle - what I was referring to is spotted. Ill have to take a picture soon. they are very destructive none the less

 

Good addition anyhow, I see potato beetles hanging around the garden all the bloody time.

Would you maybe be after the the Spotted Cucumber Beetle?

215px-Spotted_cucumber_beetle.JPG

Not really orange but fits the feeding pattern.

Also the Argus Tortoise Beetle may be the cuplrit.

32826793.CRW_4272_RJ.jpg

They prefer plants from the Ipomoea sp. although they fit your description right down to exuding fecal defense when frightened.

Buuut so do ladybird beetles.

Not sure of the distribution on either of the two i mentioned.

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