Re: worst garden pest you have encountered?

Cajun Cappy 4/28/2015, 12:12 pm

This is an easy one to answer. The worst garden pest at our house is Peg my wife. Razz

year round she is out most days at least 6 times a day for one made up excuse or another snacking on the stuff in the yard. Many a time I have called her from work on the boat to hear munch munch snark snurf snurf swallow on the phone. What ya doing Sha I'd ask. Just going to the mail box she would say. Of course that meant she had taken a circuitous route through the garden boxes by way of the fruit trees on the way to the mail box. Yesterday between monsoons she donned her crocs and waded out to the asparagus patch. She came back with 6 0r 8 nice ones. I asked Peg is that all they had? Expecting more. She said ohhh no, there was a good bunch I picked them on the way to the mail box. Laughing

**sanderson** 4/28/2015, 12:24 pm

Cappy

Bart 6/10/2015, 8:07 pm

The worst pest I've encountered so far are Japanese Beatles. Not so much for what they've done to the SFG plants, but for what they are doing to my roses. Without a doubt, they are the worst.

quiltbea 6/10/2015, 9:06 pm

Bart....I agree. I put in a whole row of lavender roses along the front of the house and before the season was done, they pretty much devoured the young plants. In fact, they are decimating all my roses slowly but surely in the last 4 years even tho I would go out twice a day with my jar of soapy water to knock then in and get rid of them. I can't keep up with them. I tried that stuff you put in the soil with the lavender roses and that didn't work. I'm defeated so as the last of the roses gets destroyed, I'll put in some other perennials to replace the roses. I just can't fight them any longer.

Razed Bed 6/10/2015, 11:59 pm

Another very bad pest is the dreaded meter reader who is as dumb as a doorknob and cares not where he steps. I find that the best pesticide for this pest is one from Acme Supply:

worst garden pest you have encountered? - Page 3 Yosemite-Sam-holding-two-big-guns

worst garden pest you have encountered? - Page 3 Yosemite-Sam-holding-two-big-guns

Bart 6/13/2015, 6:19 pm

Quiltbea, try a combination of Neem Oil sprayed on all parts of the roses. And Milky Spore on the ground around where the Japanses beetles are coming from. The Neem has keep the leaves from being eaten, but the flowers are still getting munched, but at a much slower rate. The Neem seems to be getting to the beetles. And the Milky Spore in a year or two, it takes that long to effect the grub stage of the little bastards, will also reduce the beetles. So, the roses my get effected a little, but at least they won't be totally destroyed.

quiltbea 6/13/2015, 6:55 pm

Thanks Bart for the info. I tried the Milky Spore stuff (expensive by the way) a few years back and it didn't seem to slow them down. But I never tried Neem Oil in combination with it which must have made the difference.

I may have 3 rose bushes left out of around 3 dozen so when those are gone, they'll be gone. I'll grow something less troublesome for this old lady.

**sanderson** 6/13/2015, 7:20 pm

What ever is used, do it when the bees are back home, and it's shady so they won't burn. Very Happy

Goosegirl 6/13/2015, 9:22 pm

Razed Bed wrote:Another very bad pest is the dreaded meter reader who is as dumb as a doorknob and cares not where he steps. I find that the best pesticide for this pest is one from Acme Supply:

Can I borrow him for the guys laying the new fiberoptic cables to upgrade the internet service in the area? Our entire town is getting dug up in little spurts, and just about everyone's lawn has areas where a trench has been dug, then the flap of grass layed back over the trench. Wouldn't be so bad if they would at least TRY to keep the area somewhat level with the rest of the lawn.....

greatgranny 6/15/2015, 2:08 pm

The worst pest has been the moles or voles. An entire box of multiplier onions and hardneck garlic was wiped out after I planted them in late October. Of course I didn't notice it until this spring. Oh well, I planted more cole crops so maybe that is what I was supposed to do in the first place. Now I need to pray that the cabbage moths don't show up.

**donnainzone5** 6/15/2015, 2:12 pm

Ditto the moles and voles. Apparently, I have both.

Although I haven't lost much yet (although some bulbs have failed to re-appear, and something may have eaten some fruit tree roots), I'm wary and have spent a significant sum on ultrasonic rodent repellant devices. My Siberian Forest Cat, Sterling, has caught 10 voles (I think) so far this season.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/15/2015, 6:43 pm

Squash borers. I have produced one year only of my beloved Patty Pan squash since moving here.....heartbreaking. One of the biggest motivators for my return to SFGing! So maybe I should thank them? Evil or Very Mad

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