OK, firstly, if you’re easily led into fits of vicarious depression, don’t read this…
I hate gardening. I have every kind of horrible pest in my garden, and it’s not because I don’t have a goddamned balanced ecosystem or sufficient diversity. I don’t use pesticides… I hand-pick on an almost nightly basis when the plagues get too nasty… I’ve got patches of “insectary” plants to attract the beneficials… compost… recycling… rain catchment… reusable bags… it’s all a big hoax.
I just discovered that the gooseberry crane fly has decided to move in to my yard and defoliate my gooseberries. Pretty much overnight. The fruit’s all gone… there’s just sticks where leafy branches used to be.
I can’t grow chard or beets because of the leafminers.
I can’t grow root crops because of the root maggots.
I can’t grow brassicas because of the cabbage moth caterpillars.
The weevils are decimating my huckleberries among other things…
My peaches have leaf curl and bacterial canker.
And then there are the slugs.
And aphids. Millions and millions of aphids on everything that the ants can get to.
Now, I understand that there is a certain amount of damage to be expected when you have a nice balanced system. A few pests, a few predators. You plant a little extra, and they eat a bit and leave you with a decent crop.
That’s not what we have here. I’ve resorted to spraying with Bt, spinosad, neem, and pyrethrins. Normally, I wouldn’t do any of that. A little insecticidal soap and water was my standard routine, but this year, it’s all I can do to keep them from leaving me nothing.
The only thing that seems to work– and completely takes any pleasure out of gardening– is the row cover. Great. I have a garden covered by sheets. What fun.
I hope that later this year, I’ll look back on this post and laugh at how I’d over-reacted to a temporary situation.
In the meantime, I’m going to start looking for other hobbies.
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My students weeded 2/3rds of our inground dahlia tubers this season. That’s why we plant 3000. Go big and have some fun. At least the bugs aren’t eating you.
Similar shit’s going down in my yard. It’s a good thing we’re not subsistence farming.
WTH? Same thing out here. I’ve actually got small containers filled with vegetable oil, soya sauce and molasses in a natural attempt to curb the unnatural overpopulation of earwigs (yes, I’ve confirmed) that are devouring my beets and radishes. My soil is actually seething with moving critters, none of which I believe are the beneficial kind. I’ve never seen anything like it. Still resisting the poison at this point, but who knows what’s coming next…
Hah… I forgot those two pests– the kids and the earwigs. The spinach was pretty well wrecked when various kids learned that you could pick it to feed to the chickens.
And earwigs… my god… they’re on everything. The took a nice little zinnia planting down to a tattered bunch of sticks in a couple of days.
Actually, it helps to hear that I’m not the only one. Maybe there is something about this year that’s made it particularly bad. Maybe it’s not The End Times.
One more season of this, and I’m buying myself a big barrel of Monsantacide, mixing it with Dowphate, and loading up a backpack sprayer.
Last year the earwigs were decimating my China Choy leafy cabbage. I sprayed the plants and surrounding soile with a solution of water, a little liquid dish soap and about a half cup of tabasco sauce. I did this after dark, by flashlight, for several days in a row. It didn’t get rid of all of them, but it did noticably reduce the damage they caused my cabbage leaves. I sprayed all my leafy greens with that mixture. I also planted the greens in between rows of garlic. I think that helps deter the pests too. I have noticed a lot of earwigs this year. We have had a wetter and cooler Spring than normal for us here in the Sierra Foothills. Hang in there, Rian. You are not alone.