People often think that ‘something’ is attacking their plants whereas it might be ‘somethingS’.

My spring vege garden was attacked by mites – mostly red legged earth mites – i know because i could see them. I sprayed with pyrethrum on several occasions and the mite plagued passed.

At this time I finally cleaned up the grass from the adjoining 1 acre paddock and suddenly the mice, slugs, snails, millipedes and earwigs had nowhere to hide. So in they came. All four pests attacked the young seedlings in unison. The following morning the beans, carrots and celery were totally bereft of leaves.

The good news is the carrots and celery have survived. They simply kept on growing new leaves and the pests either gave up or were trapped by the pellets and oil traps i spread around. Unfortunately not many beans can out grow the loss.

The moral of the tale is don’t give up – often plants are capable of surviving even though nothing is left but a stalk.

there are many thrips and mites that cause damage to fruit and vegies. most of their damage can easily be confused with deficiencies or other. for example, i’ve been reading and hearing about a lot of tomato crop failures in suburban gardens here in victoria. unbeknown to many, these tomatoes aren’t suddenly succumbing to fusarium..but they do get tomato spotted wilt virus following a “thrip rise”, after apparently growing perfectly right through spring. the tomato spotted wilt virus is on the increase in eastern states, and is caused by western flower thrips..CSIRO assures me. anyway, the thrips infect some plants (during a thrip rise) within 20 minutes…and many gardeners try all different sprays to try to save the plants. the infected tomatoes should be thrown out, as they are a continued source of TSWV, in the absence of already dried up and died natural thrip food in summer.
back to what i was originally going to suggest….a 20X loupe is absolutely essential in finding and identifying these tiny pests. took me 5 years to find these buggers. incidentally i ended up removing all other herbs/flowers in my garden that hosted large numbers of thrips…so i can grow some tasty tomatoes. look for thrips after stormy weather in November and early December, inside tomato flowers. no single spray will completely knock them all dead, so an overall control strategy is required. there’s loads of info available from CSIRO etc.

yep i agree with you pepe.

these are the earwigs from a single old celery plant – and the trapped earwigs in linseed oil. i have millions of these little critters on the place at present. i assure you they are not just eating decayed plant matter.

these are the earwigs from a single old celery plant – and the trapped earwigs in linseed oil. i have millions of these little critters on the place at present. i assure you they are not just eating decayed plant matter.

Goodness Pepe…would normal cooking oil attract them or just the linseed oil that does the trick???

heaps of earwiggies…. yucko.

pepe said:

these are the earwigs from a single old celery plant – and the trapped earwigs in linseed oil. i have millions of these little critters on the place at present. i assure you they are not just eating decayed plant matter.

heeeree chook, chook, chook…

Lucky1 said:

Goodness Pepe…would normal cooking oil attract them or just the linseed oil that does the trick???

not sure about cooking oil – sorry.
morning lucky one and all.

bluegreen said:

pepe said:

these are the earwigs from a single old celery plant – and the trapped earwigs in linseed oil. i have millions of these little critters on the place at present. i assure you they are not just eating decayed plant matter.

heeeree chook, chook, chook…

yep and they were all gone in 5 minutes – good little omnivorous fowls.

yep and they were all gone in 5 minutes – good little omnivorous fowls.
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One in the oil..look like anchovies…. from a distance;P

i just pulled up some old cabbage, broccoli and lettuce (laced with earwig garnish) and fed them to the chooks. they ate the earwigs first and then, in all the excitement, the hen on the nest faraway laid an egg – well – what a din of squawking, cackling and crowing !!!
insects must hear that noise and think all hell has broken loose.

the new earwig traps with the catch after 2 nights and nicotiana (tobacco) completely uneaten leaves

pepe said:

the new earwig traps with the catch after 2 nights and nicotiana (tobacco) completely uneaten leaves

I’d be keeping up those traps, they seem to be working :)

bluegreen said:

pepe said:

the new earwig traps with the catch after 2 nights and nicotiana (tobacco) completely uneaten leaves

I’d be keeping up those traps, they seem to be working :)

will do – i’m hoping big centipedes, birds, skinks and lizards will also breed up.
apparently earwigs eat mites – so i have provided their ideal habitat, a food source and total lack of poisons – so they have said thanks. LOL.

I wonder what the life span and breeding cycle of an earwig is??? Got yourself a might catch there Pepe.