Bugs and eggs everywhere...

It's starting to get to me already. I had a 4 spinach plants starting to bolt so I pulled a few to make a salad for hubby's lunch and took them inside. As I was pinching the leaves off I started to get to the center small leaves and I had hundreds of white bugs/eggs all over the entire center of the plant. Then a catepillar started to crawl accross the counter. This was from the plant in on the deck where the moths gather when I forget to turn the lights out. I didn't have quite enough lettuce in there (which appears untouched) so I went out to the pyramid and went to pick some lettuce and found a big juicy catepillar (I swear I could hear him chewing on the leaves). I couldn't bring myself to pick any lettuce in the dark... I did pick him off with some sticks and threw him in a pan of water, I am doomed I hate bugs. I wish I could go back in time when I didn't care to look for them. My praying mantises are hatching so I can't use anything to kill the bugs because I don't want to kill them... Yet. Oh this is going to take some getting used to. I feel like bugs are crawling all over me now...

Heehee; that's the world we live it. Most of them you don't ever see, but we are surrounded by "bugs." My goal is to try to keep plenty of the good ones around, so the bad ones don't take over the world.

Some folk use a light saline solution to wash their vegetables, in a basin. This will make the wee pesties fall off into the water.

camprn wrote:Some folk use a light saline solution to wash their vegetables, in a basin. This will make the wee pesties fall off into the water.

That's good to know Camp, I have been using Walshevek's bleach water solution. Hubby doesn't like the idea of soaking the veggies in bleach but I am fine with it, I rinse well. I will give the saline a try. I need to find my flashlight and start to do some massive bug hunting tonight .

I hate catepillars.

Another good soak is a vinegar water solution. Also has a mild antiseptic property.

Kay

Thanks Kay! Will try, does anybody know what kind this is?

Looks like a cutworm. They come in different colors. Bad bug!

Thanks, my kids think I am some kind of monster killing catepillars. They think I am killing butterflies...

What about this one? Anyone know what kind it is?



It is now my son's new pet, ick.

Found a tomato horn worm today, picked it off, and threw it to my chickens, they ran over, walked right over the top of it, and left it?? I think I have some dumb chickens?? lol

Haha, darned ol chickens! At least you don't have a pet cabbage looper, lol.

southern gardener wrote:Found a tomato horn worm today, picked it off, and threw it to my chickens, they ran over, walked right over the top of it, and left it?? I think I have some dumb chickens?? lol

They must know they taste horrible.

landarch wrote:

southern gardener wrote:Found a tomato horn worm today, picked it off, and threw it to my chickens, they ran over, walked right over the top of it, and left it?? I think I have some dumb chickens?? lol

They must know they taste horrible.

I am afraid to ask... How do you know