Bugs Crawling and Eating Plants Early

This spring has been quite abnormal. Warm and spring-like weather arrived in March and got much of us thinking that spring would be here early. In fact, many plants put on new growth and bloomed way ahead of schedule. Then the month of April and early May brought little rain and unusually cooler fall-like weather. A lot of plants with tender new growth got damaged by the cold and killed back by the cool spells. Many vegetables have been sitting there in the garden waiting for it to warm up. Then when one thought it couldn’t get any stranger, the bugs show up much sooner than expected. Personally, I have already spotted Japanese beetles – two weeks early, and mapleworms – one month early! Who knows what else is out there all ready to devour our plants.

Insects are all around us; in fact they are a very important part of life. Insects aid in the pollination of plants, improve condition & fertility of soil, destroy weeds, and help keep pest populations under control. They are also wonderful indicators of good or bad water quality.

In the typical backyard, there are give or take about 1,000 insects at any given time. Naturally, most go unseen. But believe it or not, only about 3% of all insects are considered pests. With that said, it is important to not kill all insects but first identify those that are pests and concentrate our efforts to control just them.

The best strategy to have when attempting to control insect pests is use lots of methods. Grabbing the spray can may not always be the best idea. Plus, it may also kill the beneficial insects. If only a few insect pests are present, then hand pick them off and destroy them. This works well with most caterpillars, Japanese beetles, and plant bugs. Many cultural control methods, such as crop rotation, mulching, companion planting, and proper soil preparation, will limit insect pest populations. Just cleaning up the garden and removing crop residue, food or water sources, and weeds will help. Many insects, such as, squash vine borers, overwinter in old leftover plants. Sometimes, insects may not do enough damage to justify doing anything.

If an insect pest population gets high enough and other control methods does not work, one may have to turn to using an insecticide to eliminate insect pests. With so many insecticides on the market today, there are way too many to list. Always read the label of the insecticide product to see if the pest you wish to control is mentioned. Also check to make sure that this product can be used safely on the targeted plant or plants. This is very important when it comes to sensitive situations, such as with edible crops.

Ever wanted to take a class on gardening? Well, here is your chance. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System in partnership with Central Alabama Community College will offer a community course on home gardening this summer. The course will be held each Tuesday night beginning June 6, 2006, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at CACC - on the Alexander City campus.

This class is for beginner gardeners looking for their green thumb, hobby gardeners wishing to refine their knowledge and skills, and experienced gardeners wanting to broaden their horticulture wisdom. Topics that will be covered are soils and plant nutrition, lawn care, fruit culture, vegetable gardening, bedding plants, garden bugs and pests, plant diseases and disorders, and care and maintenance of ornamental plants. The class will meet on Tuesdays for 8 weeks; class will not be held on Tuesday, July 4^th. The course fee is $75. Yours truly (Shane Harris, Regional Extension Agent, of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System) will be the instructor. No refunds after attending the first class.

For more information, contact the Tallapoosa County Extension Office at 256-825-1050 or visit us online at www.aces.edu.