The Good, the Bad, and the Buggy

I'm plagued with bug bites.  This morning I woke up, climbed out of bed, and headed sleepy-eyed into the bathroom, scratching unconsciously at an itchy place on my back. Then I felt a tiny something moving about back there. Apparently, I had dislodged a little tick! I promptly enshrined him in a piece of medical tape and threw him in the trash. Later, in the garden, I made my rounds, checking the zinnias and bush cherries for Japanese beetles and the zucchini / yellow squash for dad gum squash bugs and their eggs.

I've made a good dent in the Japanese beetle population by picking them off by hand. This can be very effective in small areas such as my garden of raised beds, especially when beetle numbers are relatively low. The presence of beetles on a plant attracts more beetles. By not allowing beetles to accumulate, plants will be less attractive to other beetles. One of the easiest ways to remove Japanese beetles from small plants is to shake them off early in the morning when the insects are sluggish. The beetles may be killed by knocking them into a bucket of soapy water, but I prefer to catch them live in a container to feed to the chickens. I shake them out onto the ground. The rooster runs over and pretends he has found some goodies for his girls, calling them to attention. The hens hurry over, jump right on the beetles, and gobble them up!

Now squash bugs are a different story. I've been dutifully squishing adult squash bugs and rubbing their eggs off the squash plant leaves on a daily basis, but I've missed some! This morning I found a leaf covered with young hatchlings. I picked the entire leaf and presented it to the chickens in the chicken yard. They eyeballed the leggy critters and snubbed my offering! I had to smoosh those baby bugs myself.