Last fall, I planted 150 species tulips. My last words on that post were “it will still look beautiful next spring.” Boy, was I wrong.

Four tulips bloomed amongst the snowdrop and crocus foliage. Click to enlarge

The snowdrops that I had divided came up. At least some of the crocus that I divided came up. And four tulips emerged and bloomed. Four. Out of one hundred and fifty.

Why Didn’t They Bloom?

At first I thought that a few tulips must not have been planted quite as deeply as the others, and so came up sooner. But as the days and weeks went on, no other tulips showed up. I realized, much to my dismay, that four was all I was going to get.

Three of one hundred Lilac Wonder tulips bloomed

One of fifty Little Beauty tulips bloomed

Well, I’ll Be…

And it would have remained speculation on my part, except for what happened today. I was getting a bunch of miscellaneous chores done and happened to walk by the purple smoke bush. I’ll be the first to admit that the shrub bed has been neglected the last few years and there is quite a mix of grass, dandelions, goldenrod, and Vinca minor acting as a er–ground cover, until I have time to attend to it. As I was passing by, I glimpsed a bit of pink amongst the grass. I don’t know of any weed blooming pink at this time of year, so I stopped to take a closer look.

Seven or more tulips the voles forgot to eat

Now I am wondering if I should try to relocate them back to the peony bed after they are done blooming, or just leave them be. What would you do?

They’re having a plant clinic over at Garden Rant, and I decided to submit the perplexing, premature leaf drop my ‘Autumn Brilliance’ Juneberry exhibits every year. The leaf drop was addressed in today’s clinic, but since they didn’t show all the images, I thought I’d share them here.

This is what my Juneberry looked like about a week ago

By late June, some of the leaves show spots and the berries are starting to turn color

By early July, some leaves are starting to turn yellow. They will soon drop.

Here's what the leaves look like in early August

By mid-August, the tree is about three-quarters defoliated.

The native, wild-grown Juneberries hug the edge of the field.

Friday the garden looked fine. Saturday we were gone, Sunday it rained. On Monday I asked my husband to dig up some new potatoes for our supper, and he discovered the garden was infected with Phytophthora infestans, commonly known as late blight.

The empty area is where he dug potatoes. You can see blackened leaves hanging from the surrounding plants.

Late Blight Factoids

• Ideal conditions for late blight are days in the 70sF (~20sC) and nights in the 50sF(~13C). (Those are ideal conditions for me, too.) Even better if there is moisture in the form of rain, fog, or heavy dew. “Four to five continual days of such weather are an open invitation for an outbreak.” It just so happens when it isn’t rainy, we usually have both fog and heavy dew, and we’ve had these conditions for weeks.
• Infection is spread by sporangia from moldy leaves. The sporangia can’t survive in dead plant debris or in the soil. It needs to winter over on potato tubers. This is why you are always admonished to use certified seed potatoes. One infected potato, given the right weather conditions, can take down your whole crop. However, “use of certified seed can reduce the amount of infestation from infected seed pieces, but it will not prevent foliar infection from other sources, such as neighboring fields.” And apparently a “neighboring” field can be up to 10 miles away.
• The sporangia come from oospores, which apparently can survive in soil. But the sporangia, not the oospores, are what cause the major outbreaks.
• “A rule of thumb: if rainfall or irrigation water exceeds 1.2 inches in a 10-day period, good conditions for late blight exist.” We had over 2 inches of rain earlier last week.

Tomatoes Can Also Get Late Blight

Tomato plants infected with late blight

Our very first tomatoes, picked August 3, 2009. They may be our only tomatoes.

What Can Be Done?

• “When late blight appears in isolated sections of fields, spread of the disease can be slowed considerably by quickly destroying infected plants. Killing the living potato tissue halts further spore production.” “Sanitation is the first line of defense against late blight.…Volunteer potatoes, solanaceous (potato family) weeds, and any infected plants should be destroyed as soon as they occur.” (What’s growing in your compost pile?)
• Potatoes infected with the fungus can start rotting before being harvested. They will continue to rot after being dug and can spread the fungus to good potatoes.


My husband dug these from the garden. The brown patches are infection. We trimmed off the brown parts, cooked, and ate them. The raw potatoes were very crisp, like the crispest apple.

• Storing potatoes in a cool, dry location will slow down the infection. Our basement is cool, but damp.
• The following varieties show some resistance: Kennebec, Elba, Onaway, Rosa, and Sebago. Kennebec is one of the 10 varieties we are growing.

One More Thing

Late blight stinks. Literally. The infected plants smell really bad. If infected potatoes get a secondary bacterial infection, they smell really bad, too.

Sources

I used these two sources for information and quotes. If you have more accurate or detailed information, I’d love to learn it.

• Late Blight of Potato and Tomato (conventional approach)
• Organic Alternatives for Late Blight Control in Potatoes

The End

Almost exactly a year ago, my ‘Endless Summer’ hydrangea was blooming. This year, as you can see above, it doesn’t even have buds.

What Went Wrong?

Okay, I forgot to feed it. Does it completely fail to make buds without fertilizer? I think not. It may not flower as profusely, and the blooms may not be as big, but no flowers at all?

The weather was not to its liking. There was that late May freeze. Yes, I covered it, but still. Other covered plants showed visible damage. Perhaps the hydrangea suffered damage that I couldn’t see, that killed the flower buds. Certainly the smaller hydrangea nearby got hit. It never recovered, either.

And the weather is still not to its liking. I think Hydrangea macrophylla likes more heat to its summer. We’ve scarcely hit 80F the whole summer. Not that I, personally, am complaining.

What’s Eating Them?

Are these critters causing those spots?

Some of the damage is from snails, I bet.

You can click on any of the captioned images for a closer look. Maybe you can tell me what's afflicting this plant.

My daughter just went out to her garden and found all her basil seedlings snipped off and left. Not eaten and not even wilted yet.

Most of you don’t realize it, but Cold Climate Gardening is host to a secret club, the Stink Bug Haters Club. It all started innocently enough with this post. But as more and more stink bug sufferers found the post and took advantage of the Subscribe to Comments feature, it started to take on a life of its own, with the various visitors sharing disgust and stink bug capture and killing tips. I haven’t had much trouble with these bugs myself, but I’ve always wanted to provide the people who’ve been commenting with more information. I finally tracked down some experts, Amanda Koppel and Dr. Kim Hoelmer, to write a guest post.

The changing of the seasons: spring brings with it new growth, summer brings the hot sun and swimming, fall is the harvest and a touch of cold, and winter… snow! But when the temperature starts to drop, you might find another visitor besides Santa Claus in your house.

Where Did They Come From?

The brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (hereafter abbreviated BMSB), is an invasive species of stink bug native to China, Korea and Japan. It’s thought that BMSB first came to the United States in shipping containers arriving from Asia. The bugs were first identified in Allentown, PA in 2001, although they probably arrived here several years earlier.

Where Are They Going?

Since becoming established in Pennsylvania, the bug has spread throughout the Mid-Atlantic states as far south as Virginia. It’s also been spotted in several southern and midwestern states, and has become established on the west coast in Oregon. It’s still on the move! Since they are strong fliers, BMSBs may fly to a new habitat, but many hitch a ride in shipping containers or on cars.

How Stink Bugs Bug People

In autumn, the adult stink bugs aggregate on and inside houses, sheds and other structures looking for a warm place to spend the winter. Many people find this to be a nuisance because the BMSB gives off a characteristic odor when they’re crushed or disturbed. However, this bug might pose a threat to your plants, too. BMSB has been reported on 73 different plant species in Pennsylvania alone, including butterfly bush, lilac, buckthorn, tomato, and grapes. Feeding on most ornamentals is probably innocuous, but various kinds of fruit crops can also be damaged by BMSB feeding.

What Can You Do?

So how can you protect your homes and gardens? Caulking or physically sealing cracks around doors, windows and attic vents are the most effective methods that help to prevent them from entering, and eliminating weeds around your house will decrease temporary harborages. BMSB is a small insect, so it’s important to be diligent about sealing every opening or they still might find ways to squeeze in. You can also hire a professional pesticide applicator to spray insecticides around the outside of your home during the fall months when the stink bugs are looking for places to spend the winter.

Currently, there are no federal quarantines in place to prevent the spread of BMSB. Since the BMSB hasn’t become a major agricultural pest yet (although it’s believed that it could, based on its known host plant range), there are no established control methods for eliminating them from your garden. Picking them off your plants or catching them on sticky cards are two possible ideas. Pheromone traps for this insect are under development but are not yet available commercially. Most stink bugs are attacked by a variety of natural enemies, especially insect predators and parasitoids. Research has shown that native North American beneficial insects don’t show much interest in BMSB, however, and there are no commercially available beneficial insects that effectively attack BMSB. USDA entomologists are studying the feasibility of introducing effective BMSB natural enemies from Asia that are safe and specific to the stink bug and which would offer some long-term relief.

I know a lot of the commenters have already tried sealing up their homes to little effect. Many are desperate enough to try any kind of poison to get rid of these pests. So, on behalf of stink bug victims everywhere, I decided to ask a few more questions:

Do you know much about the pesticides that a “professional pesticide applicator” would use? Could you elaborate on why it should not be a DIY job to spray these chemicals?
AK: A pesticide applicator would likely spray an insecticide from the pyrethroid class. Examples of pyrethroids include deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, and cyfluthrin.

This is not a do-it-yourself job! There are laws associated with pesticide application. For example, it is illegal to apply pesticides contrary to what the instructions on the label say. Further, it’s illegal if you allow your pesticide to drift onto things for which it’s not intended.

Even more important, pyrethroids are neurotoxins, and improper spraying can be very hazardous to your health. For example, if your skin comes into contact with deltamethrin, it can lead to redness, and facial paraesthesia can result if it comes into contact with your mouth or eyes. It’s best to let a trained professional handle these chemicals.

The website from which the commenters are buying pesticides provides this article on the stink bugs. Would you say it is accurate?

AK: I’d say it’s exaggerating a few facts. This bold statement from the site, Don’t be misled into thinking any stink bug is a good bug bothers me, because the spined soldier bug (Podisus maculiventrus) is a good guy! The spined soldier bug is NOT destructive and, in fact, eats a number of pest caterpillars in gardens and commercial crops.

Also, Try not to handle them and be careful if you do – not only will they release that nasty smell but many species are able to inflict a nasty bite! was a bit funny, since I’ve been working with stink bugs for 4 years and have never been bitten. Stink bugs don’t even have mandibles; they use a long “beak” (a tube) to pierce through the skin of fruits, veggies, and crop plants and suck out their food.

And, Stink bugs leave strong odors which linger for 6 months or more, makes little sense to me. I’ve had hundreds of collected stink bugs from wheat in a Ford Explorer, and their stink is gone from the car in 2-3 days.

It’s important to remember that one purpose of that webpage is to sell a product.

KH: Also, the website mistakenly implies that most of the stink bug species are capable of acting as pests in gardens/orchards. This is not the case at all. Only a handful of stink bug species are ever pests. Most species are completely innocuous as far as human interests are concerned. One additional error of fact in the ‘bugspray’ site – BMSB will NEVER EVER reproduce inside a home or structure. This occurs only on the host trees or shrubs, and only during the summer months. Bugs in the house during fall and winter are just hanging out, waiting for spring and the opportunity to return to the outdoors. You will only see adult BMSB entering your home, never the immature stages.

What do you know about cypermethrin, baygon, and deltamethrin, the three pesticides recommended by the aforementioned site?

AK: I mentioned deltamethrin above. Cypermethrin is used in household products to control ants and cockroaches. Baygon is another name for a number of pyrethroids used together.

Do light traps actually do much?

AK: Light traps aren’t a terrible idea, but I’m not sure how effective they would be. On the farm, we have a blacklight trap which we use to monitor for stink bugs. Based on the number of stink bugs caught, we estimate how many bugs might be in nearby fields. However, this is NOT for BMSB, and it doesn’t control large populations at all.

KH: When light traps (or their lethal cousins the bug zappers) are used indoors or in enclosed patios, they can be very effective at eliminating the insects in the immediate area. However, when they are outdoors and open to being seen from a distance, it’s important to remember that THEY ARE VERY ATTRACTIVE and even though they may trap or kill large numbers, they are attracting a larger number of stink bugs from further away to your home or yard than would have arrived without the traps being there!

For More Information

From Penn State University: Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Entomological Notes (pdf)
From Ohio State University: Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Fact Sheet (pdf)
From Rutgers University, New Jersey: Brown Marmorated Stinkbug – A Non-native Insect in New Jersey (pdf)
From The University of Florida: Featured Creatures: Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
NEW! Stop Stink Bugs – a site devoted to the cause.

Amanda L. Koppel, Dept. of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Dr. Kim Hoelmer, USDA-ARS Beneficial Insect Introductory Research Lab, Newark, DE

Even young children take gardening seriously and want to succeed. (Photo by Cadence Purdy)

I prefer to regard children as apprentice gardeners, gradually acquiring more skills as the years go by, working their way up (at their own pace and interest level) to journeyman and eventually master gardener. As much as possible, I like to let them choose their own projects, plan the execution of them, and solve their own problems. Here are three books, supposedly for adults, that do just that.

The Veggie Gardener’s Answer Book by Barbara J. Ellis serves apprentice gardeners well in several ways. It is small enough to be manageable in young hands, with a wipe-clean cover that can take visits to the garden without falling apart. The question-and-answer format makes it easy to zero in on a topic of burning interest or flip open to a random page and still grasp what’s being discussed. And it asks–and answers–lots of questions, everything from what are the easiest crops to grow to how can I make weeding go faster to how do I cope with a garden that got out of control? The first part of the book covers general gardening techniques and the second part gives advice on specific crops. There’s also a glossary, a bibliography, and a handy chart to help you determine how much to plant out of that generous seed packet. It truly is a “knowledegable gardening friend,” as the introduction suggests, a friend who doesn’t talk down to you, because the book was written for adults.

Wherever there’s plants, you know there’s going to be bugs, and Good Bug, Bad Bug by Jessica Walliser helps the novice garden determine friend from foe. The spiral-bound format of this book makes it easy to flip through, but it’s the index that makes it really useful. Look up the plant that has the bug on it, and it will give you all the pages that have bugs that frequent that plant. (By doing so I learned that sawflies were gobbling up my rose’s leaves.)

The bugs are easily identified by the photographs. Each bug gets a two-page spread that describes the damage it does and suggests preventive actions, live biological controls, organic product controls, and additional information when available. For example, adult cutworm moths are a favorite food of bats, so a good way to reduce cutworms in your garden is to encourage bats. Similar information is provided for the good bugs: who they control, and how to attract and keep them. All remedies are organic, but I especially like that the emphasis is placed on providing natural enemies of the pest and controlling environmental factors, before resorting to sprays and powders. If the bug in question isn’t in this book, it’s time to call in the grownups.

Don’t Throw It, Grow It!: 68 windowsill plants from kitchen scrapsby Deborah Peterson and Millicent Selsam is a good remedy for boredom all year round, but especially in the northern winters when outdoor gardening is impossible. This book goes way beyond avocado pits and carrot tops, teaching you how to grow not only familiar vegetables, fruits, and nuts, but also branching into herbs and spices, and produce from Latin American and Asian cuisines. You could get an education just finding some of these. Oops. Did I say education? Fortunately, since this is a book for grownups, there is none of that didactic, it’s good-for-you tone that ruins many a juvenile trade book.

Grow enough of these groceries, and you’ll learn many seed germination and plant propagation techniques–and have fun doing it. Did you know fenugreek was a legume? Did you ever consider growing beets for a holiday centerpiece? Peterson tells some funny stories on herself as well; her spirit of experimentation is contagious. I can’t think of a better way to relieve the winter doldrums than to go shopping in the supermarket for a plant to grow. As the author advises: “Always buy two of each–one to grow and one to eat.”

Goldenrod is my enemy

There, I’ve said it. I don’t care if goldenrod is a native plant; it is no longer welcome in my gardens. I tried to be understanding, truly, I did, but it just did not want to play nice with the other plants. It did not want to play at all: total garden bed domination was its only goal. And it just about succeeded:

Give it an inch, it will take the whole bed. About the only plant left standing is phlox--itself a native. August 2006

Several kinds of goldenrod

I should make clear before we go any further that there are many species of goldenrod. I’ve found three growing in my beds, and all three have a reputation for being “aggressively weedy.”

This goldenrod is most prevalent in our area. September 2008

Arrows point to rough-stemmed goldenrod. It has the widest leaves of the common ones. September 2008 (click on image to enlarge)

The very thin leaves give rise to the name grass-leaved goldenrod September 2008

Not all goldenrods are bad

Just because I am ousting some villains, I don’t want you to think all goldenrods are bad. Consider:

• Their pollen is sticky. It does not go airborne. It does not cause hay fever or other sneezing allergies. (You would think after all these years, this myth would have been dispelled. But just in case . . .)
• They have an “important role in native ecosystems as soil stabilizers and sources of food and shelter for wildlife.” (William Cullina)
• Other species are well-behaved. Even Solidago rugosa has a cultivar, ‘Fireworks’ that Allan Armitage calls “an outstanding selection.” Of course, the good goldenrods will probably not just show up in your border. Only the thugs do that.

Pull goldenrod early, and pull it often

True confession: when I said in the beginning that “I tried to be understanding” and tolerate goldenrod in my borders, that was a polite way of saying that I tried to rationalize my failure to weed this bed in a timely manner. I never deliberately planted goldenrod in any of my garden beds. I may have let the first seedling or two grow because I didn’t recognize it as a weed. And once it was blooming, I probably decided it was so pretty, I would pull it later. Before you know it, it had turned into a project that had to wait until I had time.

More than once, I tried to dig it out from amongst the perennials growing here, only to have it come back in the spring from roots I had missed. Then there was the year I started digging out the good plants–the plants I wanted to save–and planting them elsewhere. I finally realized nothing less than a complete renovation of the bed would be sufficient to eradicate the goldenrod.

I finally take back the garden

If you have ever attempted to drive a spade into a thriving bed of goldenrod, you would understand the daunting task I faced. It was so daunting, I didn’t face it for a year or two. (Don’t worry, it was easy enough to find other garden work to do.) In 2005 (yes, this has been an ongoing problem) my husband helped me renovate a three-foot wide section that adjoined the Birthday Garden. I managed to keep that goldenrod-free, which gave me the courage to tackle the rest of the front bed this year.

Follow my progress as I take back my garden bed from the domination of the Solidago species. Each thumbnail can be clicked to view a medium image with text, and can then be clicked again for an even larger view. Use the back button or click on the title to get back to the gallery.

How to succeed with a big weeding project

In the past, trying to accomplish large projects in small increments didn’t work. By the time I was ready for stage 2 of a project, stage 1 had become undone. For example, when I had worked on this bed years ago, the goldenrod had grown back before I could finish weeding the bed thoroughly. So I was really hesitant to tackle this project in stages, but I didn’t have a choice. There just isn’t a way to clear three consecutive days in my calendar, and I don’t think my body could handle that much consecutive wear and tear. I realized I didn’t have anything to lose, because if I “failed” the result wouldn’t be any worse than a goldenrod-infested bed, which I already had. What contributed to my success this time, when I had failed in the past?

• I stopped thinking of it as a do-or-die project. I realized if I could clear another three feet, and keep it clear, that would still be progress.
• On the other hand, I stopped approaching it as an attempt to “save” the bed that had been there, and recognized that I needed to renovate it, that is, start over.
• The weather cooperated. Lots of sunny, dry weather, which discouraged new weeds from sprouting and made the goldenrod easy to remove.
• I worked on it first thing in the morning, when the weather was cool and my energy level was high. This minimized procrastination.
• My kids were older. Babies and toddlers inevitably create the kind of interruptions that can sideline a project.
• Mercifully, no back spasms or other injuries that would sideline me.

Not all of the above are conditions which you control, which is why it is important not to get discouraged if your project isn’t successfully completed the first time you attempt it.

Identify your goldenrods online

I found Walter Muma’s Ontario Wildflowers site to be very helpful for identifying native plants. Not only are several photographs included, but the specific details that distinguish one species from another are listed with as little jargon as possible. I only wish I had discovered his site before my goldenrods had gone over; I might have been able to make a more positive identification of some of them.

Read about garden worthy native plants

The following books will help you learn about native plants. I reviewed them earlier this year.

Native Plants of the Northeast: A Guide for Gardening and Conservation by Donald Leopold (Timber Press, 2005).

Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada by William Cullina (Houghton Mifflin, 2000).

Armitage’s Native Plants for North American Gardens by Allan Armitage (Timber Press, 2006).

How about you?

Did you ever have a garden bed where one plant took over? How did you tackle that problem? Are there any plants that are currently frustrating you with their aggressive growth? Let us know; perhaps someone else knows how to control it. Or, do you have a favorite, well-behaved native plant that more people should know and grow? Tell us about it in the comments.

These plants don’t look too happy, but I’m not sure if it’s the cold that put them in a snit, or a viral infection. Left to right: Daylily 2E, Colchicum giganteum, Daylily 4B, C. ‘Harlequin,’ Daylily 4C, C. speciousum

After nearly two weeks of warm, frost-free weather in April, my garden got socked with a 22 degree (-6C) night. I would like to think these poor plants are suffering from frost damage, but I know streaking in the leaves is a symptom of many plant viruses.

Please, faithful readers, if any of you have seen plants with this kind of leaf damage and know what it is, I’d love to benefit from your expertise. If you click on either of the above close-ups, you will get a much larger image that may make diagnosis easier.

New Hampshire resident Mike Cherim is in the business of putting bad bugs out of business. I first contacted Mike because he offers a very secure contact form for WordPress. I later used his theme for my Blogging Art and Practice site. Then I discovered that before he started designing websites, he sold–and continues to sell–a variety of bugs used as biocontrols, sometimes as a part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). And so I asked him some questions:

Let’s start with the basics. What’s biocontrol, and what’s IPM?
In a nutshell, biocontrol is using natural enemies of plant pests–predators and parasitoids–to do the grower’s dirty work by either eating or fatally utilizing insect pests for their own gain (and to the grower’s benefit). IPM is the practice of using biocontrols coupled with other control measures such as trapping, picking, etc. IPM, or Integrated Pest Management, can also include the use of certain pesticides, but this is a gray area that involves a lot of not-so-obvious understanding.
What do you call them? They’re not all insects, are they?
Popular terminology is “beneficial insects” but it’s a term we don’t use as was requested by the USDA a long time ago (this is the subject of an up-and-coming Bug Blog post). The reasons the USDA told us this are:

1. Not all biocontrols are insects, some are mites, others are nematodes; and
2. Ladybugs, for example, are only beneficial to growers, not aphids, thus the USDA didn’t care for the blanket term.

It’s a little nit-picky, but we play along. We prefer biocontrols, which is short for biological pest controls. “Natural enemies” is also another popular term and we’ll use that, too.

In your website introduction, it sounds like it was the overuse of pesticides that caused the problem, similar to how the overuse of antibiotics has created resistant strains of bacteria. As you say, “In essence the chemical manufacturers shot themselves in the foot (with their own tarnished silver bullets). And growers, most notably the largely unregulated home gardeners, added greatly to the overall problem.” So home gardeners, by spraying something–anything–at the first sign of trouble, have helped create insects that are resistant to the very poisons that were once used to eradicate them?
Your analogy equating the issue of insect pesticide resistance to the abuse and overuse of antibiotics is very apt. The process involved in developing resistance is very much the same. And home gardeners do contribute greatly to the problem. Homeowners spray (or hire someone to spray) more pesticides per acre per year than any other segment of the horticultural or agricultural industries, yet they derive the least actual benefit. Their reason for spraying is usually an aesthetics reflex. In other words, they want their plants or lawn to look nice, but they don’t rely on either for their day-to-day survival. A few chewed leaves or a dead patch of lawn is barely justifiable if one is trying to reduce pesticide abuse. Moreover, since gardeners don’t have the tight budgetary constraints of commercial growers, they tend to overuse and waste more.

If that’s true, what’s the first thing a home gardener should do to redress these mistakes?
Letting go is my first thought. Nowadays a garden is about relaxation, enjoyment, and fresh produce (if things work out). So not being a control freak and learning to live with a few pests and a little plant damage is the way to go, in my opinion.

That said, it’s not that giving up completely is necessary. There are low impact solutions gardeners can turn to. They have soap, oils, bacteria (Bt), biocontrols, hand-picking, repelling, and trapping. It’s not like gardeners are powerless without toxins in their tool belt.

Just ask an all-natural rattlesnake how “safe” his venom is

As an aside, when I say without toxins, this includes making do without botanical pesticides like pyrethrum and rotenone as well. I figure I should mention this because a lot of people think these botanical pesticides are safe. They’re not; gardeners are just led to believe so by the marketers of these goods. The fact is, these types of products are hazardous to humans, animals, good bugs and bad, and somewhat harmful to the environment. The benefit to most of these products is that they break down quickly… if seven to fourteen days is quick. Oh, and they’re naturally-derived. Remember, though, natural does not mean safe. Just ask an all-natural rattlesnake how “safe” his venom is. Nature kills every day.

I have heard that a lot of beneficial insects, when released into the home garden, fly away and don’t really help the area in which they were released. Is this true? If so, what can be done to take care of this problem?
That’s often true of ladybugs, but we know this, share this information, and then account for this when determining application rates. Most releases will suffer some losses: losses in transit, losses in storage, handling losses, and losses to the wild upon release. But all of this is expected. If the requirements of the released predators or parasitoids are met — food shelter, water — most will stick around.

We encourage preventive releases, when no food is around, but this isn’t a problem either since the insects won’t get discouraged and give up, nor will they fly “away.” They will just keep searching for food, ever-widening the band of effectiveness.

Say a home gardener doesn’t have a bad pest problem–yet. What can a home gardener do to encourage the good bugs to rule without importing them? How can we encourage beneficial insects to make their home in our gardens?
First step is to not spray poisons since doing so does not make a welcoming home for the good bugs.

Next step is to accommodate them by meeting their requirements. This can done as simply as planting some wildflowers, certain flowering bedding plants, or other flowering plants, and then making sure some water is available (a little dew is all it takes). We offer a seed mix of flowering plants that provide nectar and pollen for beneficial bugs, assuring they have a balanced diet, a place to seek refuge and reproduce, and a place to feed and feel comfortable. One additional flower that we know is really good (but not in our mix) is tansy, the wildflower (Tanacetum vulgare), not to be confused with so-called tansy ragwort (Senecio jacobaea).

In theory, one should be able to release one male bug and one female bug, then watch nature take its course. Is this an effective practice?
Like pesticides, good bug releases need to be made every year, or whatever period is applicable to the program. It’d be nice if we were creating balance, but that’s not what we’re doing, because mother nature is too slow. We don’t create balance; we create a temporary imbalance (more good bugs than is natural) to quickly control the pests. Actual balance is attained on its own, over time, by nature. Once pests are reduced to small numbers, the predator- and/or parasitoid-populations will respond accordingly. Since new crops are planted the following year and things start over, the program usually needs to be repeated. Overwintering numbers won’t usually be enough on their own, so think of buying more bugs as getting a booster shot.

Green Methods has been in business selling biocontrol and IPM products for fifteen years. That’s a long time. I wouldn’t have thought there was much interest in such things in 1992. Who were your best customers back then? Do you find yourself serving the same types of customers as when you first started, or has your base shifted?
There was already a heightened awareness of organic growing back in 1992, so we weren’t pioneers or anything. We did assume the majority of our customers would be organic growers and gardeners. We were surprised that this wasn’t the case. Most of our customers were and still are conventional growers and gardeners looking for a change. The number one reason we hear is that pesticides don’t work anymore (often the result of abuse-induced resistance). Another reason people go this route is that they want to do something positive. Call it a lack of blissful ignorance, I guess. We applaud these people.

Where do you get these “bugs” from? Is their original habitat harmed by their absence? Does the process of collection harm their habitat?
Regarding habitat threats, it’s not a problem. For one thing most of the critters (another good term) we carry are insectary- or lab-reared. And the wild-collected ones, like ladybugs, are done by way of a permit and it is an overseen and regulated industry.

What about costs? Will growers and gardeners that take this approach be able to afford it?
Quite simply, yes. We often hear that biocontrol is more expensive than conventional controls, but that’s only during the transitional phase when the end-user is learning (to scout, diagnose, act). Once the green methods are learned it tends to cost the same or less sometimes. There are also other benefits which can go into the success column, one being that the plants grown look better, greener, and are generally healthier than their toxin-treated counterparts.

Thanks for the brief overview, Mike. Readers who want to know more are welcome to post questions for Mike in the comments section, or mosey over to his website and read the book:

The Green Methods Manual

Mike used to publish a Green Methods Manual (and used copies are still available on Amazon), but now makes that information freely available on his website. You need to understand how biological pest control works before it will work for you, so take advantage of the research that’s already been done for you.

Do you need to buy biocontrols?

You can request a free catalog to be sent in the mail, but as Mike sees it,

Your best interests will stand a better chance of being met if you focus on dealing with a distributor geared up to meet your needs and ask and answer questions — and there will be lots of questions, probably from both sides. From personal knowledge, I feel the best way to have a rewarding heart-to-heart experience with a distributor is in person or over the telephone.

Biocontrols and IPM goods can also be purchased from Green Methods online, but you need to know what you’re doing.