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Janet Brien / Articles

Part 8c—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden, 1-Month Update: The Ugly
The bugs and critters have discovered my seedlings and they are laying waste to many of my precious little ones!
The insects really love my garden. Unfortunately, they love it too much! This is a badly munched Maximillian Sunflower seedling that has seen better days.

Raised Bed Garden, 1 Month Update: The Ugly
As I fully expected, insects and other animals have come to feast on my seedlings. Aphid adults have flown to my new Gladiolus leaves, which are pushing their way out of the soil right now. They bear live young, which I have been mashing as I find them. Cucumber beetles, different larvae and other insects have come to munch on the leaves of so many of the seedlings, and ants are working on sawing up pieces of my Maximillian Sunflowers to bring back to their nests!

I am trying various tactics to thwart the insects. Spraying a mixture of garlic and tabasco sauce is working wonders on my seedlings to keep bugs from munching. I'll be putting down circles of cinnimon to keep ants from farming my sunflowers. It's a love-hate relationship because insects make wonderful photographic subjects, but I don't want them to eat my plants! SHOO!

Below are pictures of some of the damaged seedlings.

This is a once magnificent-looking Morning Glory seedling, now riddled with holes and munch-marks.

Something has sampled this Gladiolus leaf and created a series of tiny windows. Though artistic, I am not the least bit impressed!

This poor Cosmos seedling is doing its best to grow but an insect has injured it grieviously. With a bit of luck and some garlic-pepper spray, it may survive.

Oh dear. This once stunning Russel Lupine seedling had become a scarred warrior. However, you can see its secondary leaf is undamaged, and this plant has been recovering quite well since this attack.

Look at these poor Zinnia seedlings! Chomped up and full of holes, they are trying to recover from being tasty meals for several ravenous insects!

Next: Part 9—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden: We Have A Pumpkin Patch!!

10 comments

Pam J said:

Hang in there... plants survive the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in the wild !
9 years ago

Chrissy said:

Oh no! Delicate seedlings simply taste the best...I hope they survive it well.
9 years ago

Stormlizard said:

Although against "Genetic manipulation" I think it would be good if we could modify some insects so that they had a preference for "Dandelions, Stinging nettles and other weeds"

I hope your seedling come through the attacks.
9 years ago

Janet Brien said:

Thanks for the comments, Pam, Chrissy, and Storm! I feel confident my little buddies will pull through...many of them anyway! :D
9 years ago

Mickey fez said:

from big creatures to tiny ones they are all after your plants
9 years ago

Janet Brien replied to Mickey fez:

LOL, I have the tastiest plants in town! :D
9 years ago

Jenny McIntyre said:

Oh dear - I'd bought some lovely stocks a couple of weeks ago and there are only three plants which have survived. The rest are just bare stalks sticking out of the ground. I'm leaving them there in case they manage to get a few leaves on them.
9 years ago

Janet Brien replied to Jenny McIntyre:

It is simply STUNNING the amount of damage insects can do in a short amount of time. I've learned a lot of ways to stop them which aren't even using poison. Today I went out to the sunflowers which ants are climbing up and sawing leaves off to bring back to their nest (I think that's what's going on, anyway.) I learned that you can put vaseline on the stems to make it extremely hard to get up the stems and you can sprinkle cinnamon and starch around the base of the plant. They don't like the smell of cinnamon, and if they eat the starch, they can't digest it. Also, my spray of pepper and garlic works great but I have to reapply it every couple of days. I personally don't want to use poison if I can stay away from it.
9 years ago

Puchinpappy said:

Not all life is beautiful to our eye. You have captured real life here. We may prefer a different outcome but the bugs have to eat too.
9 years ago

Janet Brien replied to Puchinpappy:

Well said!!! And you're right on all accounts. Thanks so much for your comment! :)
9 years ago
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