The Rural Voice, 1998-10, Page 42WARM UP
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38 THE RURAL VOICE
Gardening
Where do those bugs go?
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
I don't think there are too many
gardeners this year who did not have
their share of problems with insects.
The hot dry weather seemed to
beckon all sons of critters to the
garden.
We don't use pesticides in our
garden because we don't take the
time and find it too expensive. My
motto is live and let live, yet this year
I felt I should be a spray gun
commando. My roses dropped their
brown skeletonized leaves by the end
of June, the peonies' leaves turned
black after blooming and my poor
rose tree was devoured by who
knows what, something that even
insecticidal soap couldn't wash away.
So I have decided to take a harder
look at some gardening practices that
will make it more difficult for these
pests to survive in my garden. This is
the first part of a two-part column on
pests and diseases and the organic
approach.
The first step is to identify the
problem. Damage in the garden is a
result of insects, diseases, mammals
or abiotic injury. In my case I can
rule out mammal.
The first cause of problems could
be•a weakening of the plant itself
caused by abiotic injury. Simply put,
this is a disease caused by soil or
weather conditions, man-made
physical or chemical disruptions.
Leaf and root systems are affected
and, of the two, a root problem is the
more dreaded. A plant that has its
roots threatened is more likely to die
if the problem is not fixed. Your
observation skills come into play
here.
Some of the more common abiotic
injuries are caused by too much or
too little fertilizer causing either
burning or deficiency symptoms like
overall yellowing or weak spindly
growth. Another culprit could be
your house pet. Evergreens are
particularly sensitive to urine from
male dogs. Protect the lower portion
of the shrubs, or get a female dog —
although that will not solve the same
problem in your lawn. You could
give damaged lawns a good watering
to dilute the salt content and
encourage new growth.
Damage is also caused by wind,
hail, or lightning. You can't rule out
herbicide or pesticide injury if you
use the products and fail to read the
instructions carefully or have an
overzealous neighbour spraying on a
windy day.
Damage from poorly drained soil
can be fatal. There are species of
plants that survive these conditions
quite nicely so a bit of research could
save you a lot of money and work if
you plant varieties which tolerate
these difficult conditions. This year
drought -tolerant choices would have
been successful. A lot of the trees
around our gravel ridge suffered
brown, toasted leaves and early Icaf
drop due to the dry conditions.
Compacted soil and air pollution also
can cause abiotic injury.
When I have problems in the
garden I immediately suspect insects.
Insects that cause plant injury are
divided into five categories:
defoliators, sucking, borers,
gallmakers, and soil pests.
The defoliators nibble, totally
consume, or mine their way through
the leaves of a plant. This inhibits the
plant's ability to produce food for
itself. Some defoliators you can see
while others hide in a web, folded
leaf or portable shelter. Caterpillars,
beetles, leaf miners and sawflies fall
into this category.
Sucking insects go after the sap
and weaken the plant. Since there are
no obvious tears or chewed leaves,
the damage is already done by the
time the symptoms appear. The
leaves become mottled or faded and
can curl or twist; leaves and tender
shoots wilt and flowers are
malformed. Aphids, leafhoppers,
mites, thrips, plant bugs and scale
insects fall into this category. Aphids