To: JANIS FOLEY
Subject: Birds in the garden...
JF> > exhuberant dogs break off major branches chasing cats through the 
omato
JF> > patch, but as for eating them - nah.
JF>        Well you've never met my dog!  We've caught her stealing pears off
JF>the  neighbors tree!!!  And she was the one who ate my only tomato just a
JF>few weeks  ago!!!  And she's been seen picking loquats and she also eats
JF>ripe oranges!!!
  That sounds about right - you'll notice it's not the plants, but the
  fruit she craves. I sniggered when my first dog delicately stripped
  all the raspberries off their vines. But I kinda got peeved when she
  started sharing our strawberries, too. :-(
JF>        I think I had tomato hornworms last year... what are potato
JF>beetles?  Are they those grey things that curl up when touched?  I've 
eard
JF>people call  them potato bugs or roly poly's... I don't know my bugs too
JF>well...
  The grey things sound suspiciously like cutworms, which will chop very
  tender or tiny seedlings off just above soil level. I foil them with
  cardboard or paper collars placed around my tomato seedlings. An
  alternate method is to place a small twig beside each seedling VERY
  CLOSE right next to the stem, touching it. The cutworm can't wrap his
  tail all the way around, preparatory to the Big Chomp; so he falls
  down, grumbling. But I find the paper collars more reliable. :-)
  Cutworms will hide near the base of their latest meal, in a little
  mound of soil. Search for these mounds and kill the nasty critters. Or
  else get some ducks to do it for you.
  Potato beetles look an awful lot like ladybugs, in size and colouring,
  except they are striped. Their larvae are a dull brick-red with black
  spots - you can tell them because they're smiling as they denude your
  potaoes, make inroads on your tomato plants, and utterly demolish
  eggplants. If you find yellow egg masses on the undersides of your
  nightshade family plants, don't let them hatch to see what kind they
  are - squish on sight! :-)
                     ...Sandra...
---
 þ QMPro 1.52 þ Love all, trust few, always paddle your own canoe.
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
---------------