What's eating my peas? please!

[decterlove]

I have some starts now about 18 inches and staked of sweet peas but some critter is just tearing into them. There are a fair share of snails and slugs in the backyard, not tons, like I've seen elsewhere, but the multiple small holes in the leaves would lead me to suspect some other kind of worm. Ideas?

Should I put up a blind in the backyard and wait patiently with a flashlight and a 410 shotgun? Is there a local market for escarcot in one of them new slow food restaurants in this area?

[Barry]

Go out at night to see what's happening. I'll bet it's either slugs/snails or earwigs.

I have some starts now about 18 inches and staked of sweet peas but some critter is just tearing into them. There are a fair share of snails and slugs in the backyard, not tons, like I've seen elsewhere, but the multiple small holes in the leaves would lead me to suspect some other kind of worm. Ideas?

Should I put up a blind in the backyard and wait patiently with a flashlight and a 410 shotgun? Is there a local market for escarcot in one of them new slow food restaurants in this area?

[Kunnskaping]

I have some starts now about 18 inches and staked of sweet peas but some critter is just tearing into them. There are a fair share of snails and slugs in the backyard, not tons, like I've seen elsewhere, but the multiple small holes in the leaves would lead me to suspect some other kind of worm. Ideas?

Sounds like you might have bean beetles supplementing their favorite diet. They look like green ladybugs. Look for them on your plants and flowers and kill them. They are slow moving and not hard to trap with your fingers.

In the future, try companion planting with flowers that attract beneficial insects that will keep the bean beetle population down. It's worth reading up on that for many pests. UC Davis has some good integrated pest management information online and there are many good books on the subject. Plus, you can ask for help here when you are ready for that.

[decterlove]

Alright just went out......brrrrrrrrrr......double brrrrrrrr...with my windup rechargeable flashlight from Tar-j..........it's slugs..........small ones, teenagers probably........about 1/2 inch long.........not a lot of them but it does look like gang activity to me. What do I do now?

I've used Slug away or whatever that stuff is in the big yellow box in the past.........I've read about beer........mighta used it once or twice a long time ago but I think I was too drunk to remember.......not a whole lot of cover/debris for them to hide in the immediate vicinity but enough in the yard overall....

Ideas? thx

[shellebelle]

Do snakes eat slugs? Maybe a garden or corn?

Alright just went out......brrrrrrrrrr......double brrrrrrrr...with my windup rechargeable flashlight from Tar-j..........it's slugs..........small ones, teenagers probably........about 1/2 inch long.........not a lot of them but it does look like gang activity to me. What do I do now?

I've used Slug away or whatever that stuff is in the big yellow box in the past.........I've read about beer........mighta used it once or twice a long time ago but I think I was too drunk to remember.......not a whole lot of cover/debris for them to hide in the immediate vicinity but enough in the yard overall....

Ideas? thx

[decterlove]

silly girl............actually they do.......garter snakes and especially ringnecks which are seldom seen but very common in this area. And I have a blue tongued skink from australia/lizard that actually loves to eat the snails from the backyard. But these slugs are little and yucky........rook rike reeches! (pardonez moi, si vous plait ou livrez-vous moi, pour être tellement politiquement incorrect...) I don't want to use them in any culinary fashion..........I just want to KILL them. Ah, that feels better.

Do snakes eat slugs? Maybe a garden or corn?

[shellebelle]

Non non vous pas obtenez pardonné, mauvais quand ceux-ci sont des bruts même serpents ne les mangeront pas. (Okay I cheated and went to the translation page but I used to be able to write like this.)

By the by aren't most snakes hibernating now so the slugs now have free rain. Guinea hens - they wold eat them. Of salt the buggers.

silly girl............actually they do.......garter snakes and especially ringnecks which are seldom seen but very common in this area. And I have a blue tongued skink from australia/lizard that actually loves to eat the snails from the backyard. But these slugs are little and yucky........rook rike reeches! (pardonez moi, si vous plait ou livrez-vous moi, pour être tellement politiquement incorrect...) I don't want to use them in any culinary fashion..........I just want to KILL them. Ah, that feels better.

[decterlove]

Обжулено! Плохая девушка! О'кейо, после этого пытается вычислять это одно вне!

Yes, most snakes are hibernating right now except those lucky enough to have condos in Boca Raton. (My snakes, however, are not...they have to work for a living!)

How much salt should I use and won't it hurt the peas? (which are staked by the way and I notice that one plant all the way on the left side is actually relatively free a holes...)

(gee I'm really abusing these little thingamagig icons happy faces....never been into them before....guess I'm catching up! wait till I get around to playing a video game!)

Non non vous pas obtenez pardonné, mauvais quand ceux-ci sont des bruts même serpents ne les mangeront pas. (Okay I cheated and went to the translation page but I used to be able to write like this.)

By the by aren't most snakes hibernating now so the slugs now have free rain. Guinea hens - they wold eat them. Of salt the buggers.

[shellebelle]

Crap Russian but thats okay "It is cheated! The bad girl! О'кейо after that tries to calculate this one outside of!"

LOL I could make some great comments but this doesn't have the whisper button, LOL.

Ahhh yes I figured those who had to earn a living were not hibernating.

I wouldn't use much. Just a tiny bit to melt them.

Anything though that dehydrates them wold work - how about soap flakes or powdered soap of any sort. Sprinkle tonight wash off tomorrow?

Обжулено! Плохая девушка! О'кейо, после этого пытается вычислять это одно вне!

Yes, most snakes are hibernating right now except those lucky enough to have condos in Boca Raton. (My snakes, however, are not...they have to work for a living!)

How much salt should I use and won't it hurt the peas? (which are staked by the way and I notice that one plant all the way on the left side is actually relatively free a holes...)

(gee I'm really abusing these little thingamagig icons happy faces....never been into them before....guess I'm catching up! wait till I get around to playing a video game!)

[decterlove]

I sincerely apologize for my crappy Russian. I was hoping I could deceive you like a KBJ agent....I learned most of the foreign languages I know from hanging out in the back of a 7-11 in Los Angeles in the late 70s. I knew I shouda gone to Berlizter.

Soap sounds like a great idea. I love using soap to kill bugs. By the way, matting spray is a great way to kill black widows inside.....locks em right up and they you can squash them safely or just stick em to your walls....

Too Damn cold to go out there tonight and shampoo the little buggers tho!

[quote=shellebelle;43141]Crap Russian but thats okay "It is cheated! The bad girl! О'кейо after that tries to calculate this one outside of!"

LOL I could make some great comments but this doesn't have the whisper button, LOL.

[shellebelle]

LOL I liked your Russian made me laugh. Thought it was a great come back especially with its ties to Sebastopol.

Yeh way cold tonight isn't it - you might catch them early morning like day break.

What is matting spray? And did you know that those sticky mouse traps will catch brown recluses?

[quote=decterlove;43149]I sincerely apologize for my crappy Russian. I was hoping I could deceive you like a KBJ agent....I learned most of the foreign languages I know from hanging out in the back of a 7-11 in Los Angeles in the late 70s. I knew I shouda gone to Berlizter.

Soap sounds like a great idea. I love using soap to kill bugs. By the way, matting spray is a great way to kill black widows inside.....locks em right up and they you can squash them safely or just stick em to your walls....

Too Damn cold to go out there tonight and shampoo the little buggers tho!

Crap Russian but thats okay "It is cheated! The bad girl! О'кейо after that tries to calculate this one outside of!"

LOL I could make some great comments but this doesn't have the whisper button, LOL.

[decterlove]

What is matting spray? And did you know that those sticky mouse traps will catch brown recluses?

Dats anoder intrawesting ideah Nadia.......ooops I meant SHELLEBELLE....I tank youd ford educating me so kinely!

Matting spray is just sticky spray used in framing pictures....you can get it at any art supply store, etc. I've used oven cleaner on black widows that were outside but in a human/spider contact area.....cruel but works. It is my understanding that there are actually not any recluses in this area although I tend to be a little reclusive myself.............however I'm not Spideeman so I could be wrong mistaken.

Вы для всех ваших ядерных секретов моя маленькая русская девушка шпионки. Вы имеете lacy, котор нужно нести на ноче после того как вы принимаете вашу ванну пузыря?

[shellebelle]

LOL I htink I got that last russian quote - hehehe, cute!

What is matting spray? And did you know that those sticky mouse traps will catch brown recluses?

Dats anoder intrawesting ideah Nadia.......ooops I meant SHELLEBELLE....I tank youd ford educating me so kinely!

Matting spray is just sticky spray used in framing pictures....you can get it at any art supply store, etc. I've used oven cleaner on black widows that were outside but in a human/spider contact area.....cruel but works. It is my understanding that there are actually not any recluses in this area although I tend to be a little reclusive myself.............however I'm not Spideeman so I could be wrong mistaken.

Вы для всех ваших ядерных секретов моя маленькая русская девушка шпионки. Вы имеете lacy, котор нужно нести на ноче после того как вы принимаете вашу ванну пузыря?

[alanora]

I tried salt once and it nearly ruined my yard for good. Isn't there a biblical portion about salting the earth so that nothing shall ever grow?!!!!! I have some raccoons under my house that love snails and slugs. You can have them if you can catch them........I remember only stoih eta, eta kneeegah. mindy

LOL I htink I got that last russian quote - hehehe, cute!

[shellebelle]

The key with salt is minimalistic approach. If you can see them a few grains will do. Too much will definitely kill the plants as well. I have used it to protect my strawberries as well just by using a line around them but minimal. You could even place it on plastic and create a barrier.

I tried salt once and it nearly ruined my yard for good. Isn't there a biblical portion about salting the earth so that nothing shall ever grow?!!!!! I have some raccoons under my house that love snails and slugs. You can have them if you can catch them........I remember only stoih eta, eta kneeegah. mindy

[Barry]

I used to nudge them into small jar with soapy water.

The key with salt is minimalistic approach. If you can see them a few grains will do. Too much will definitely kill the plants as well. I have used it to protect my strawberries as well just by using a line around them but minimal. You could even place it on plastic and create a barrier.

[shellebelle]

You just have too much time on your hands I can see that. Here slug slug slug, here slug slug slug. ROFLMAO

Once in the jar then what? Invite for salad?

I used to nudge them into small jar with soapy water.

[Barry]

Like I said, I used to... But that was before there was such a good source of community recommendations , when I still had a life...

You just have too much time on your hands I can see that. Here slug slug slug, here slug slug slug. ROFLMAO

Once in the jar then what? Invite for salad?

[shellebelle]

We're letting you come to the Goddess Wear Fair - come on - we let you have a tiny tiny life, LOL!

Like I said, I used to... But that was before there was such a good source of community recommendations , when I still had a life...

[Sara S]

What a funny thread this has become! I love this WACCO!

I see very few slugs here, but if you can put a continuous ring of salt around your pea plants, far enough away from them or other plants so that the salt won't get to them, the slugs won't cross it.

I don't know whether this would work for slugs or not, but here's the Buddhistic, although admittedly long-range, solution for most ALL bugs in your garden: grow frogs! I started this sort of by accident, about ten years ago, when I noticed some polliwogs in a shallow wheel rut in my front driveway; they were so cute, but so vulnerable to birds, and the rut would be drying out, of course, so I kept adding water and made a wire cover. Pretty soon: baby frogs! Even cuter!

So I began just providing environments (first just a plastic barrel chainsawed in half) for frogs around my garden and orchard, stocking the first one with some polliwogs from a ditch down the road and some of the gunky mud they live in), and after a couple of years, voila! ALMOST NO BUGS!
Less every year! AND they serenade me in the early spring when they're making more frogs!

A couple of years ago someone gave me an old pond insert, which is great, too, and nicer looking. I do have to be sure that the water stays murky with microscopic algae, since the polliwogs eat that until they get their legs; some water weed is growing now in the insert which is keeping the water too clean, so my project today is to siphon the water out and restock it with some gunky water, since the frogs'll be mating soon. I also stick some branches into the ponds and barrels, so there'll be something for the egg sacs to attach to, and a ladder of some kind for the occasional lizard who falls into the water (lizards eat a lot of bugs, too!)

Since the West Nile Virus has been found fairly nearby, and I have noticed a decrease in the number of small birds around here, I do keep old strainers by each place to scoop out mosquito larvae when they get thick, although the frogs'll eat the mosquitoes, too, if they can.

[shellebelle]

That is a great idea!! I love it!

What a funny thread this has become! I love this WACCO!

I see very few slugs here, but if you can put a continuous ring of salt around your pea plants, far enough away from them or other plants so that the salt won't get to them, the slugs won't cross it.

I don't know whether this would work for slugs or not, but here's the Buddhistic, although admittedly long-range, solution for most ALL bugs in your garden: grow frogs! ...

[Rucira]

make up the following concoction , put in a spray bottle and spray. quarter cup canola oil, 2 tablespoons HOT hot sauce, 2 tablespoons murphys oil soap . mix up with a gallon of water. be sure to get the underside of the leaves. u have chewing insects. u can also let loose lots of live ladybugs as a preventitive for this sort of thing. snails wont cross flat copper wire and they dont like salt.

Should I put up a blind in the backyard and wait patiently with a flashlight and a 410 shotgun? Is there a local market for escarcot in one of them new slow food restaurants in this area?[/quote]

[Willie Lumplump]

So I began just providing environments (first just a plastic barrel chainsawed in half) for frogs around my garden and orchard, stocking the first one with some polliwogs from a ditch down the road and some of the gunky mud they live in), and after a couple of years, voila! ALMOST NO BUGS! Less every year! AND they serenade me in the early spring when they're making more frogs!

A couple of years ago someone gave me an old pond insert, which is great, too, and nicer looking. I do have to be sure that the water stays murky with microscopic algae, since the polliwogs eat that until they get their legs; some water weed is growing now in the insert which is keeping the water too clean, so my project today is to siphon the water out and restock it with some gunky water, since the frogs'll be mating soon. I also stick some branches into the ponds and barrels, so there'll be something for the egg sacs to attach to, and a ladder of some kind for the occasional lizard who falls into the water (lizards eat a lot of bugs, too!)

Since the West Nile Virus has been found fairly nearby, and I have noticed a decrease in the number of small birds around here, I do keep old strainers by each place to scoop out mosquito larvae when they get thick, although the frogs'll eat the mosquitoes, too, if they can.

I worked in the biological control of insects and weeds, and I think the original ideas in this post are simply amazing! I'm sure that many school children would love to learn about what you did, Sara. Would you be willing to visit some classrooms? Would you be interested in writing an article together for a nature magazine? I could take photos of each stage in the whole process. This whole story is too good for you to keep to yourself.