On Insects

"The Creator has an inordinate fondness for beetles."

-- J.B.S. Haldane

In suburbia we do a lot to protect our homes. We cut down tall trees before they can fall on them. We put in lights along the front walk, the garage and the front door to deter (or blind) any potential burglar and increase curb appeal in case we want to sell them. We put up fences to keep children and pets in and strangers out. We mow our lawns within an inch of their lives and then use our leaf blowers to get every last speck of substance off our property and into the street, where it miraculously disappears.

Lethal method 1: yellow sticky strips in the house plants
(Margo D. Beller)

Inside we clean germs - real or imagined - from surfaces. And if we see insects, we want them out ASAP.

That can be a tall task because there are a lot of insects.

According to my copy of the "Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America," there are over 24,000 types of beetles in 113 families in North America north of Mexico alone, so Haldane knew what he was talking about. They include leaf-cutters, ground beetles, ladybugs, dung beetles, scarabs, water beetles and long-horned beetles, among many others.

There are other insects including wood borers, wasps, bees, butterflies and moths. Some insects are beneficial, such as aphid-eating ladybugs and pollenator bees and butterflies. Some are bird food, such as the carpenter ants favored by pileated woodpeckers. 

And then there are the flies. Kaufman says there are 17,000 types on this continent, and they include pesky gnats, mosquitos and maggots. 

Lethal method 2: extension dust mop
(Margo D. Beller)

There are companies that make their living killing rodents, spiders and insects. There are also a lot of products homeowners can use to kill mice, spiders, flies, cockroaches and other space invaders, including ways that won't make you sick using them. 

Two years ago, during a drought, we were faced with an invasion of carpenter ants that had somehow gotten into one of our bathrooms. To get rid of them my husband (MH) went to a big box store and bought traps that contained poisoned sugar water. The hungry/thirsty soldier ants took the bait back to the queen and fed her. She died. Soon the colony started dying. Problem solved.

This year we have had lots of rain but we've also had another type of bathroom invader - drain flies. I would find what looked like a small fly hopping around the sink or on the wall. MH looked them up and we learned about drain flies, which, despite the name, are in the flea family and feed on organic matter in sink drains. (Organic matter? In my sink?)

Getting rid of them was as easy as using drain cleaner followed by pouring in a pot of boiling water. Problem solved.

But when it comes to insects the battle is never really over, it just moves elsewhere and with a different combatant. Currently, it is on the enclosed porch against fungas gnats.

"Fungus Gnat - Rondaniella dimidiata, Woodbridge, Virginia"
 by Judy Gallagher is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

I'd be having my morning coffee on the porch and something would flutter by. It would land on a surface and I'd catch it in a container and put it outside. Soon I started to see more of them, which is when MH again looked it up and I learned the name of this invader. (I'm guessing eggs had been laid in a plant I had outside and then moved to the porch.) I've since learned watering my plants has made the problem worse because wet soil helps them breed.

So I've stopped my catch-and-release policy and and have taken to elimination with extreme prejudice.

To my shame I first considered the flying insect spray we had in the garage, but that might (or might not, depending on the website article I read) harm the plants (and me). Then I went to the big box store and bought some yellow sticky strips to put on posts placed just above the soil in the pots to catch any adults. I'm letting the plants dry out and will then soak the soil with hydrogen peroxide to kill any eggs or larvae. I've also put out vinegar traps.

I hope all this works because winter will be here soon enough and the plants will have to go back inside. But so far I have found no dead gnats and the live ones are still flying around on the porch. 

My friend the spider caught at least three gnats. I'm hoping it gets more.
(Margo D. Beller)

So now I've gotten back to basics: smashing them with an extension dust mop. It gives me reach, exercise and the illusion I am doing something about the problem. 

I've also discovered I have an ally - spiders. Yes, those same critters others want to kill and get out of the house are spinning webs on the porch and catching some gnats. According to Kaufman there are 4,000 types of spiders in North America and I have found many of their webs in the house, on the lawn, in the trees and in various areas of the porch.

I am not crazy about spiders in the house because their webs show me where I have been lax and really need to clean. But they are catching insects, and on the porch spiders are more than welcome to spin their webs and gather as many gnats or anything else as they want.  

Raking

(This post was from 2011. I am reposting it with a fixed link and a picture.)

Despite nearly 20 years in suburbia I still find the leaf blower to be at best a necessary evil and I try to use it as little as possible.

The first time I go out after the leaves start to drop I use the lawn mower to mulch them. The next time, after more leaves are down, I convert my electric leaf blower into a mulching vac and crunch up as many as I can stuff into the compost pile.

But after the pile gets filled I must use the blower to herd the leaves closer together to save some time and energy before I use my rake and tarp. 

Unfortunately, I am in the minority. Most of my neighbors have lawn services that use leaf blowers, huge fans and tractors to shove the leaves into huge piles at the curb. The din is painfully loud and the gas smell pervasive. At least they finish quickly.

Those doing it themselves have their own blowers and fans that are just as bad and take longer to finish. My neighbors must work when they have free time and if that means going out as night is falling and working in the dark, so be it.

When I pull out the rake I am purposely slowing myself down. I can go out early and work quietly. I am not wasting energy but I am getting needed exercise. I can listen to the birds. 

Also, I get time to think. Here are some things I have thought while raking:

1. I always know where my neighbor’s property ends and mine begins during leaf-blowing season because he will not go one inch further. 

Pods I raked to the curb. (Margo D. Beller)

2. A pristine lawn won’t last more than a day before leaves come back on it, even if using a lawn service. So why fuss about it? “Let’s not finesse it,” my husband often tells me as we work.

3. Speaking of MH, raking is a nice way of bonding with your spouse. Every year MH and I start by getting in each other’s way but without saying anything we develop a pattern: he makes smaller piles, I sweep them into the tarp. Then we lug the tarp to the curb. The job goes faster and we rejoice in its completion together. 

4. The birds aren’t happy when I work near the feeders but they are very happy when I clear the big leaves and uncover the bugs.

5. If you stop every so often you might find something interesting. One year it was a brown creeper heading up a tree. This year it has been a redtail hawk being harassed by crows and 15 black vultures circling over the house.

6. You can see how the lawn is doing up close, including where the mushrooms have come up, the ground ivy has taken over and the skunks have been digging for grubs. 

7. Wind is the ultimate leaf blower. If I go out on a windy day I figure out the direction and rake accordingly. It amazes me how someone will try to fight the wind, wasting time and energy. Life is too short.

8. I would love to meet the person on the Shade Tree Commission who decided having locust trees on my street would be a great idea. Locust leaves are too small to be effectively blown or even raked, and the female trees usually have hundreds of hanging seed pods that fall and blacken the lawn. Luckily, this year was the one in three when the female tree on my property produced only a few pods. I would like to punch that commissioner in the nose.

9. Why don’t more towns require leaves be bagged? It’s hard enough driving on leaf-clogged streets, harder still to walk on streets without sidewalks where leaves on both sides make a two-way road into one lane. In the years I would walk home from the train every night I feared the oncoming car at my back that wouldn’t slow down. Luckily, I lived to tell the tale. When my town comes through the crew leaves almost as much behind as it picks up. I would think collecting ecologically approved brown bags of leaves would be more efficient and quicker.

10. You are going to see your neighbors and they are going to see you, whether you like it or not. So wave and be friendly. It might be the last time you see them until next fall.