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Be a Sherlock in your garden

What's eating my (whatever)? Be curious, be aware, and you'll find out

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED MAY 26, 2022

These are leaf-footed bug nymphs. The ones I found and

quickly dispatched this morning looked exactly like this. They

are smaller than you might expect.

Gardeners, the invasion is upon us. It's time to take up arms -- and open our eyes -- and learn to outwit the interlopers, or at least slow them down.

The insect pests and vertebrate pests are eyeing and trying our new vegetables, our developing fruit, our flower buds. Easy pickings for them, if we're not vigilant. Example: I knocked a collection of leaf-footed bug nymphs into a cup of soapy water this morning. They were hanging out on my little Babycakes blackberry bush. Do I think I got them all? No way -- now I'll be looking for them everywhere, every day.

Train yourself to figure out what's going on. Relying on answers from social media is a gamble -- and the answers too often are guesses. Be certain of the source of the information. The best source I know is the UC Integrated Pest Management Program and it's right there on your phone, just like social media. The IPM Plant Problem Diagnostic Tool is invaluable.

Oh, and can I say this: Neem Oil Is Not the Answer to Every Garden Problem!

Actually, using any pest management method is a waste of time and money unless you know which insect or disease you're fighting.

Now, a few words on being a garden detective: Use your eyes! Get a magnifying glass if necessary. Get out into the garden often, at different times of day. Then consider these questions, and you might be able to answer that "what's eating" question yourself.

-- Are the leaves full of holes? Look where the holes are; different pests leave different clues. On leafy green vegetables, for instance, caterpillars tend to sit on the ribs of leaves and chew out the leaf tissue in between. Holes along the leaf edges of a new transplant could be from birds.

-- Are leaves or fruit becoming stippled? There's likely a piercing-sucking insect pest on the loose. Could be thrips or leafhoppers or a number of others. If you also see fine webbing, the pest very likely is spider mites.

-- Are there small loose black dots on leaves? That's likely poop from caterpillars or worms. Examine the leaves above it to find the culprit.

For insect management, this IPM page is the place to start . Be sure to look at the photos of insect nymphs (juveniles), too. They often look very different from their adult versions.

-- Are there bite marks in the almost-ripe tomatoes? Rats, voles, raccoons and squirrels are most likely the biters. Birds will peck at fruits, though enough pecks can look like bites. Deer will take the whole fruit or flower and much of the plant if they can. Here's the IPM link to vertebrate pests . (Tomato hornworms will attack tomato fruit, too, but they'll eat the unripe green ones, along with the plant's leaves.)

-- Is the plant dead/dying all of a sudden? Don't blame insects. To quote the California Master Gardener Handbook: "With a few exceptions, insects and mites seldom kill their host plants, but diseases often do." And that's a topic for another day!

Still have questions about your plants? Ask the UCCE master gardeners! The Sacramento County office is at 4145 Branch Center Road, Sacramento, and the phone number is (916) 876-5338. Or email mgsacramento@ucanr.edu.

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Keywords:

bugs gardening Sacramento integrated pest management vegetables pests spring UC IPM bird insects

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

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Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

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July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

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July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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