Battle of the bug:

Insects of various shapes and sizes — and degrees of ickiness — will invade your garden. Some are good. Some are bad. Here’s advice for controlling them organically

Good morning! It has been feeling like summer already and it really is only late spring. Some things seem to be a bit mixed up with the easy winter followed by an early spring. Hopefully, you have noticed that the hummingbirds have returned as have many songbirds, and the butterflies are making their appearance, too.

Lilacs and many other flowers have come and gone much earlier than usual. Several readers have sent e-mails expressing concerns over the delayed arrival of insects and birds. It should have all leveled out by now, but I don’t think they were late — I think the flowers were early. (Let’s hope the monarchs didn’t decide to make a stop in Louisiana wetlands on their way back from Mexico and Central America.)

The easy winter and early spring have also produced a bumper crop of insects. I know this isn’t a glamorous or fun topic, but knowing the difference between the good and bad bugs — or let us say the heroes and the villains — can help your garden immensely.

So today, we will cover what common insects and caterpillars you might see in your garden and what each one does. There are thousands, but I had to choose only a few. Know that the controls I’m recommending are all organic. I can’t encourage you enough to use them over chemical pesticides.

Aphids (villain)

One of the most common garden pests is the aphid, which literally sucks the life out of plants. They love roses, lupines, geraniums and chrysanthemums as well as vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and cabbage. They are disgusting little blobs about the size of a tack and can be many colors but tend toward whitish gray to dark gray. They feed in large groups that make a plant stem look fuzzy because there are so many of them. If you see leaves and stems that look wilted or curled, you need to check for aphids.

Many good bugs in your garden eat aphids such as assassin bugs, praying mantis, ladybugs and spiders. When you spot aphids, you can use Safe Soap or make your own by using Murphy’s Oil Soap (about 3 or 4 tablespoons) mixed with three cups of water in a spray bottle. Spray the stems and undersides of the leaves. Wait for about 20 to 30 minutes and then dislodge the aphids with a strong spray of water. The soap basically suffocates them. You can do this as often as necessary but try not to do it when the plants are in direct sun or during the hottest parts of the day. If you are not the squeamish sort, simply grasp the stem and run your hand down it and squish them — but it is pretty disgusting.

Red lily leaf beetle (villain)

This bug is just as described. It is bright red and you will find it destroying your Oriental and Asiatic lilies. It does not bother daylilies. They suck the life out of lilies and make big holes in the leaves, eventually weakening them so much that they die. They winter over in the soil so once you have them, they are very difficult to get rid of — but you can cut down on the numbers with diligence. Pesticides needed to kill them are toxic to bees and other insects, so please don’t use them.

I got an e-mail from Frances Lodge of Minot who shared this tip for handpicking the beetles. They are not as easy to pick or as slow as Japanese beetles so in order to slow them down, she sprays them with soapy water. This slows them enough to handpick them and drop them into a pail or jar filled with soapy water. Frances says that even the ones hiding under the leaves or inside a curled leaf can’t fly off before being caught. They lay their eggs on the undersides of the lily leaves and look like a gelatinous patch with little red dots suspended in the jellylike substance. Just squish the egg masses and rinse the plant with a hose.

Cutworms (villain)

These are brown or gray caterpillars that curl into a C form when you bother them. They are usually on top of the soil or just a bit below. These are the buggers that eat your seedlings off right at the soil line. You know when they are about because new seedlings will be literally chewed through or you will see signs of gnawing at the soil line around the base of the plant. You usually see this in the morning because cutworms eat at night. They like all kinds of new plants but go after impatiens and snapdragons as well as vegetable garden plants.

Like Japanese beetles, cutworms can be controlled with the use of beneficial nematodes that you put on the soil in microscopic form. The nematodes burrow into the ground and kill the cutworms and the grub that becomes the Japanese beetle. You can also just squish them. Seems this squishing thing is becoming a theme.

According to information online, cutworms are attracted to cornmeal, but they cannot digest it. So once they eat it, they die. Perhaps a decade ago, I had a small problem with cutworms; but since I began using nematodes for the Japanese beetles, they have disappeared.

Tent caterpillars (villain)

These are the nasty caterpillars that come out by the hundreds from those weblike tents you see on bushes and in trees. They eat just about anything and can do a lot of damage. The easiest control is to take the tents out of the bushes and dump the whole thing in a bucket of soapy water or just step on it. These little nasties are particularly fond of my husband’s crab apple trees. One of his early spring chores is getting them out of the trees and burning them. Whatever works, I guess. My 5-year-old granddaughter, Nola Graces, takes great delight in walking around the property, knocking them to the ground with a stick and stepping on them. Now that’s organic.

Slugs and snails (villain)

These slimy, useless pests do horrible damage to lots of plants but are particularly fond of hosta and the new leaves on most emerging perennials and annuals. They aren’t choosy. If you use a lot of mulch, they love you. Slugs and snails feed at night and hide in cool damp places during the day. Mulch is their perfect world as are shade gardens that stay moist – right where you plant hosta. To control these pests, I use an organic product called Sluggo. Simply sprinkle the pellets around the hostas and on gardens that are particularly bothered. I use it first thing in the spring and then four weeks later. It is very effective, is not harmful to children or pets and breaks down into a soil conditioner. I am stressing the children and pet aspect because many slug baits are poisonous or harmful. In addition, there is Sluggo Plus, which also kills cutworms, earwigs, pillbugs and sowbugs. It is made of iron phosphate, which occurs naturally in the soil.

I also just cut slugs and snails in half when I water early in the morning or take the dog out at night. Frogs, toads and snakes eat slugs and snails so perhaps a toad house would help.

Green tomato hornworm (villain)

I included this one just so you could see it. It goes after only tomatoes but is a marvel of nature. Hornworms are bright green with white stripes and when wrapped around the stem of a tomato plant, you can hardly see them. They get huge — as big around as your thumb and about as long. With a horn on the top of their heads, they literally suck the life out of tomato plants. Just pick them off (you might need your glasses because they blend in so well) and squish them – they are bright green inside as well as out. The kids love it.

Japanese beetle (villain)

This is the bane of almost all gardeners. Please resist using pesticides, which kill other things, too. And don’t get Japanese beetle traps. They just bring you more beetles to eat more plants to lay more eggs. Every other spring, I apply beneficial nematodes; and although I always have a few Japanese beetles, there are not enough to cause worry.

Handpicking first thing in the morning or in late evening is the best defense, but it does take dedication and time. Handpicking will cut down on the numbers significantly. These beetles are copper colored with hues of metallic green. They eat roses, birch trees, fruit trees, rhubarb and just about anything else.

In the grub stage, they eat the grass roots, causing large patches to die off. The grubs are also the reason you get mounds of dirt in your grass because the moles are tunneling to eat the grubs. Skunks also dig to get at them.

Some folks recommend milky spore as a remedy, but it is expensive and my experience has been that it does not work here because of our very cold winters. It is also my experience, if you are a rose lover, that Fairy roses and the relatively new Carpet roses are not bothered by these beetles.

Ladybugs (hero)

These little red guys with black spots help control aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, mealy bugs and scale. Anyone with a greenhouse will tell you they are invaluable. They keep mine in order throughout the winter and are quite busy on sunny days. According to online info, one little ladybug will eat up to 5,000 aphids in her life — now that’s effective bug control. If you dislike having them in your house when autumn comes, simply use a hand vacuum to collect them and then release them outside.

Assassin bugs (hero)

These brown or black bugs are about ½-inch long or a bit bigger and they have a sharp beak with which to inject prey with toxin that kills them. They help kill lots of pests, including aphids, Japanese beetles, green tomato hornworms, cutworms and a bunch of beetles found in vegetable gardens. They are common in most gardens, but because they are ugly most everyone assumes they are bad. They are not.

Monarch caterpillar (hero)

I put this one so you know NOT to squish them. They are black with yellow and white stripes. They really are quite beautiful caterpillars which then become beautiful butterflies. The caterpillars eat milkweed before forming a chrysalis, which is bright green and quite hard.

Praying mantis (hero)

Now this is one of those bugs that filmmakers have enlarged tremendously and used to scare audiences as they terrorize entire cities. Really, they are fairly odd looking, like a bunch of sticks held together precariously. At about five inches, they are also large. A praying mantis is usually brown or green and is an enemy to aphids, caterpillars, earwigs and several vegetable garden beetles. They do not hunt these pests but rather lay in wait and attack.

I hope identifying some of the heroes and villains of your garden is helpful as you move through the beginning of summer and, hopefully, grow masses of beautiful flowers.

Until next time, enjoy the sunshine, pack a picnic and take a hike, watch for the early roses and the silly June bugs and keep a lookout for a luna moth, another of nature’s wonders.

Happy gardening.

Jody Goodwin has been gardening for more than 25 years. She lives in Turner with her husband, Ike, her dog and two cats. She may be reached by writing to her in care of the Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston, Maine, 04243-4400 or by e-mail at jodyike@megalink.net.

Slugs are slimy, useless pest that aren’t choosy. They do horrible damage to lots of plants but are particularly fond of hosta and new leaves on most emerging perennials and annuals.

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