Yeah, I still haven't found it. He better get out, because today is "Mudvayne day". HA! And I just bought a new can of Red Seal- fine cut, natural flavor. I also understand about listening to music while doing something else. I usually listen to Jackyl when I cut the grass. I can't listen to 'em when I run the weedeater, though. When the songs get to that chainsaw part- I start cutting everything down. Last time, I cut one of my mother's elephant ear plants down, and she gave me a good scolding. Her, out there in her moo moo, just wearing me out, verbally. HA! Anyway, I've got an employee that does photography on the side, and he showed me how to take good closeups - so, i'll try to get some good pictures this weekend. Get ready for alot of pics next week! Take care.

EG

awesome!!! you too!! ~Medo p.s. ya might want to pass along that close up info!! LOL now that would be sure useful!! coulda used that on that "recluse" (i think that's what it was) ~Medo

Well....Me and my cat (he always goes with me) went out last night with my flashlight, and liquid sevin in the red pump spray bottle - to check on the garden. Lo, and behold - there were 2 brown bugs fornicating on one of my cucumber leaves. So, I just ended their happy moment right there on the spot! Anyway, this morning I checked on the garden, and saw one by itself. So, I tried to do some research on it, but haven't figured out what it is yet. It doesn't look like any of the cucumber beetles i've seen pictures of on the internet, but it also could be a different color for my region. Here's a photo of it, before I eradicated the little pest. EG

Ok, I found these on my squash plants
Squash bug eggs

More squash bug eggs

Squash bug

I have been finding another beetle in my garden, so I took a photo of it - to email to my local county extension agent. It's a white fringed beetle, that is known to attack almost 400 varieties of plants, and the larvae do serious damage to root crops. I figure my turnips are toast....here's the photo I took.

UH OH! Look what I found today....watch out jeni!

spotted cucumber beetle

WOW you even got the eyes!! that's an awesome pic!!!
so today after seeing this we went out and we looked under the leaves and i saw a BUNCH of them AGAIN!! AND a whole bunch of baby eggs!! man they just don't give up!!! LOL so we just squashed em. so we'll see what's up!!! seems we are growing some pickles!!! YAY!!! :') and gourds?? ~Medo

Yeah...I am pretty proud of that one. The people at the extension office were thrilled about it. I also sent them a picture of my garden...hee hee. The lady wrote me back, and said it was very unusual..hee hee. You've still got squash bugs? Me too! I'm killing them everyday. Seems that I have another problem, as well. This is the most serious of all. The dog woke me up at 1 am to go outside, and I grabbed my flashlight and liquid sevin, and just went out to the garden. I knocked down a small moth right over the turnips, and as soon as it hit the ground - a very large black widow spider pounced on it, and wrapped it up. I soaked that little Â¥ÂΨââ¦â⤠with the sevin, and will check it out this evening. Whew! That could have been serious.

EG

baby cucumber beetles - and no, they aren't cute...

WOW that was close!! thank goodness for your dog!! he/shes smart!! and looking out for your garden!
ya we still had them yesterday, and on my nite blooming jasmine i have aphids, i am sooooo danged mad!! so tonight i'm gonna make up a batch of that ivory soap and oil. and tomarow i'm gona spray some of them things down, since no more rain.
ya that's a pic to be proud of!! that's for sure!! :') ~Medo

Oh god, I just went out with the flashlight, and liquid sevin - and found every bad bug in the top ten! Squash bugs, another cucumber beetle, 6 of those white fringed beetles, a stinkbug, and about fifty-eleven click beetles!
My dog's not smart....it just has to use the outdoor facilities alot. Yay! for super macro on a digital camera!

EG

OHHH NOOOO!!! i think tomarrow we are gona go out and get some of the dead stuff and one's that have been pulvarized!! and tomarow night we are gona go out and see what its gona be like at night! i think it will be great for the kiddo's!! LOL although the hubs will be home, LOL hmmm.........
~Medo **big grinn**

After all of the "bad" bugs i've put in this thread, I just had to post a photo of this little lady. She was after the aphids on my corn.

I have discovered the name of the brown beetle, toward the middle of this thread. It is a click beetle, and they are particularly fond of potatoes and corn. The larvae will over-winter in the ground, and feet on the roots and tubers.

EG

Ok this thread is giving me the heebie jeebies. I'm really not a wuss but some of the pics make me cringe, that I think the click beetle, ist hat the hairy one? *shivers*

I am good so far. I have not seen another beetle nor hornworm in my garden!!! My broccoli leaves still have some gorgeous holes from those hornworms LOL but eh, I now have actual broccoli growing in one of them!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the spider...I don't do spiders. Daddy long legs I'm fine with but anything fat. Ick. I kill those bastards as fast as a I can. LOL. Or scream for DH if he is home and let him do the honors ;)

I have not seen eggs for ANYTHING in the garden!!!

Oh.....and I now have 4 cans of pickles done!!

Engineer, I don't mean to hijack your thread, but those are great pics. What kind of camera do you have?

Yoohoo EG........I'm back!

Good lord you have a battle on your hands. It seems like you have every type of pest in your garden. I would be completely freaked out. I am a complete wuss when it comes to bugs. I still jump when I dig up a worm. I know, I know.

You would have died laughing if you had seen me turn my compost for the first time. Full battle gear - haha! Thankfully that has changed. I now look forward to fluffing it. I even have a psycho worm that goes all acrobatic when I turn it.

Question - which camera are you using? I am pondering a new one. Don't want to spend a fortune though.

Maureen

Jeni - No, the click beetle is the smooth brown bug, that had it's back to me. The bug you are referring to is a white fringed beetle. Also....the eggs are there, I assure you. You just have to look for them. You have made pickles????? Yay! what kind?

Oregon - I use an Olympus c5000, with the camera set to super macro.

Maureen - Yay!!!! You came back! Did you hear about me calling the pickled green tomato lady? LOL She gave me her recipe! And she loves pickles and stoves in the same picture. Ha Ha and, yes - I have found a wide range of bad bugs in my garden. I can guarantee you that to them, i'm public enemy #1. I understand about the compost pile...i've got all kinds of stuff in mine, but still take my hands and break up the large clumps.

EG

I am so all over the place that I sometimes lose posts. What's the story on the pickled green tomatoes?

I'm loving the compost thing - how quickly we can change. I went from being squeamish to having OCD (obsessive COMPOST disorder). I wake up thinking "Is today compost turning day?" Haha!

Maureen

Maureen - that's a funny explanation of OCD. Very good! Oh, i'll help you get caught up - on the pickled tomatoes. Just click on the link below. Enjoy!

Here is a link that might be useful: Maureen's happy place

that's too funny!! i also lose my posts!! sometimes i can't sleep or just get bored so i just start clicking and reading and then next thing ya knwo@!!! BOOM!! i'm i'm in everyone's business!! as if!! LOL hmmmm.... all female!! LOL and giving my opinion!! geeze!! welllll.....ya know what they say, about opinions and such!! LOL **big grinn**
i had read about maggots and how they help break down the compost, soooo me being the "thinker" (nnot the best LOL) i am, so i processed the meat and such in the fridge, and added it to the compost tumbler. well it worked. drew the maggots like ya wouldn't believe. another thing that works is chew if it wasn't so bad, but spit in there. i'm sooo not kidding. flies are drawn to the human stuff!! LOL ~Medo

EG,

I made great grammas recipe!! Now if only they turn out like great gramma's...we shall see!!!

As for eggs...Imma keep lookin! Aside from mosquitoes the bugs seem to be pretty minimal so far. I had those dozen or so cuc beetles that for some reason surrendered on their backs to Sevin dust, hehe, and I had 2 green lil worms (I'm thinking hornworms but they were still too lil to tell). That is IT. But I am NOT jinxing myself. :)

Thanks EG - I'll check it out now (didn't want to go look and lose the rest of this post!).

Medo- you crack me up "BOOM!! i'm i'm in everyone's business!!"

Maureen

Jeni, hhmmmm.....never tried those pickles before....lol. I'll warn ya, though - I bet she'll be hard to beat. About once every 6 months, my mother cooks something while everyone is at her house - just to let us kids know that she can still spank us anytime she wants at cooking!

Ok, it's about 8 pm...gotta get the flashlight and liquid sevin- and head out to show the bugs who's the boss on this property....

EG

I would give great gramma's recipe but it would cost ya ;)

Are you finding anything out there??? Killing anything???

Here is what I found today sitting on one of my sunflower leafs. Is that not the most gorgeous bug ever??

Now someone tell me what it is!

Wow Jeni - that's a rather fashionable bug - colors are very "in season"! No idea what it is though.

Maureen

P.S. Do you ever wonder what your neighbors might think when they see you crouched in the garden snapping pics of bugs?

ROFL.OMG you just made me seriously laugh out loud. I have been out there snapping pictures like crazy of plants and the garden and such to look up and go OMG, the neighbors are looking! I bet they think I'm CRAZY!!! I've been message boarding since pregnant with my 4yo and the things we share sometimes even makes my husband raise an eyebrow. "Honey, WHY are you taking a picture of the inside of the freezer?"

You mean people don't normally do that?? Whodda thunk?

LOL i know my neighbors think i'm strange anyhows, but i let them know right off the bat, i'm sending pics to my garden buddies!! LOL they're like ohhh!! i say, ohhh while i'm at it can i take a pic of your garden?? and send it!!?? they're like ya!! :') LOL i'm just terrible!!
that is a beautiful bug!! did ya know that yesterday was my daughters (6yr) fake daughters birthday, i say this cuz she's driving me nuts with, is this march?? and her name is lindsy. ahhhhhh its crazy the things a real mom has to remember about the fake moms kid. LOL ~Medo

Belly laugh! I KNOW that I am off the wall according to some people but now THEY know when I am taking pics of bugs, tomatoes, yada yada with my big ole butt in the air. Whut-eva! As Flo would say "Kiss my grits!". (That comment will help to date me!)

Today I had a tomato sandwich for lunch and saved some seeds and was taking pics of the seeds with the tomato and my 21 YO daughter was like "Mom - why are you taking pics of your lunch?". Cuz I'm saving seeds for next year silly!

Hey Jeni - the bug is gonna be a leaf hopper of some type....just research those words, and you should locate it. It should be a sucking insect....and yes, it also sucks to have it in your garden.

Maureen - taking pictures of your lunch again?

EG

Bah. Thats what I get for bragging about being bug free at the moment. LOL. I will be keeping a better eye out. Any idea what I'm supposed to do with them?

Jeni - it's a scarlet and blue leafhopper

Ok - here's a better picture of a squashbug.

not bad!! your just showing off!! mmmmm hmmmm!!!! LOL **big grinn** LOL thanks, that's not what i had. let me see if i can find one of that'll Bas**** again!! i'll put it in a bottle just for kicks and grinns and then take its pic!! LOL
yep, today we had a preacher originally from ark. at vbs!! talk about a different kind of preaching!! LOL MAN!!! totally loved it!! coulda listend alll day!!! he gets on a roll and you knew it was coming!! LOL **happy smile**
ok so far no bugs, but we went to my moms and OMG she had sooooooooo many spiders on her porch and such!! it was gross!! and one just dropped down, ohhhh man o man, it missed us by 1/2 a foot. now i know it was a hobo but still. what if it was a recluse!! the others were just gross!!! look at this!!{{gwi:1279420}}
these are ALLLLL over her porch
there's gotta be at the very least, maybe 100 that we can see!! and the biggest i saw was (the body) the size of a quarter, they are so fat off of the bugs from they're huge lights!!! they automatically come on while they are away. what kinda spider is it? ~Medo

Medo - I don't know what kind of spider that is. Speaking of spiders, I went out to the garden this morning, and of course - my bees were all busy doing there pollinating thing. I noticed a big bumblebee dangling from a spider's web, and he was trying to break loose - but couldn't. The spider was about an inch away from the bee, when I took my coffee cup, and knocked the bee loose. He flew off, in complete relief. YAY! I saved one of my bees. I bet the spider wasn't happy at all. LOL

EG

ahhhh that's so cool!! ya spiders suck!! Literally!! LOL
i'm at my parents and they're watching sci fi, so i'm on the pc, and dad say's ya, medo you could go out and slay the spiders, its not the spider preventer/killer, just the killer. ahhhhh hell, not worth it!! i'm like not now, tomarow when there's no mosquito's, i'm not nearly dressed for this (i'm thinking) they will eat me alive. more than likely i will be out there spraying, especially if mom goes out there to start spraying. LOL
thems some big ole suckers!!
have ya'll heard of one thats black and hairy, with orange spots on the back? apparently we have one on the front porch that's huge. don't know what kind it is. ~Medo

Good job EG! Bee populations are suffering. Did you know that bees pollinate 1/3 of the world's food supply? They are very important little critters. Truly "tux & tails" kind of critters.

This year I was kind of worried about pollination because there weren't many bees but I did notice mini bees. Came to learn that they are hover flies. They were very intent on visiting each and every bloom. Good guys! I don't like to kill bugs really, unless it comes down to my food -vs- their food, then I attack. Otherwise, eat whatever the hell you want.

I am completely enthralled with the circle of life. Doing a lot of seed saving this year....growing some green zebra tomatoes from a tomato that I ate last year. We can actually live out our lives with fresh fruits and veggies by buying one fruit or veggie and collecting the seeds. AMAZING!

Maureen- yeah, I was proud to save my bee friend. I found a new bug this morning, on one of my succhini plants. I researched svb moth, and this doesn't look like them. Hmmm... I don't know what it is, but will send the photo to my extension agent on Monday. I killed it after taking it's picture.

EG

very interesting looking critter.
i agree with you Maureen. i save seeds, and tops and such of the foods we ate, i grew the pineapple plant. kinda cool. my garlic grew back after tabor was done eating it, he cut the roots off, and threw them back into the ground and planted it, they grew back, kinda cool. so anything that does like that i/we just regrow. and i've grown a lemon tree from the lemon that they put in the tea at the diner. the only thing i can't succesfully do is get a apple tree to grow. ~Medo

Medo - I've never grown garlic but would like to. It's planted in the fall for harvest next spring, right? What kind of stuff have you grown from tops? Like radishes, carrots and stuff like that?

This past Thursday I threw some turnip seeds in one of the beds and they were already sprouted yesterday. I was shocked! Anyone grow turnips?

EG - I saw that bug in my garden recently. I wasn't able to kill it though. I'm a weenie. The only bugs that I CANNOT tolerate are cucumber beetles.

EG - I was thinking about how you redirected me back here and now I want you to check out one of my favorite forums "Going Green". All I ask is that you check out the "Story of Stuff" posting and then you are free to leave. Deal?

Maureen - ok, it's a deal!

never tried carrots, but now i'll have to!! LOL we did try radish, and it did grow for a while till talla pulled it, she said it was for the fairy, lets see beets, garlic, turnips, pineapple, mango (had 3 tree's but swapped 1), lemons, onions, a few vinish things, don't really know what they are yet. but i'll see a pic i'm sure, the survival rate of things here would be better if talla'd just be nice and remember that'fairie's have to eat too!!! LOL ~Medo

I have just found out that the yellow and black bug above is a banded net wing beetle. They do not damage vegetables, but feed on leaf litter.

EG

EG - does that bug break down leaves making them more easily compostable? (PS - I saw that you watched the video - honorable man!)

Medo - garlic....do you plant in the fall for a spring harvest?

My daughter is visiting - hurray, hurray! She spent the whole day traveling by bus. She is sleeping a few feet away from my in Mamadukes' (her name for me) bed. She is pooped - trip should have been about 6 hours by bus but they were held up at customs, yada yada. Important thing is that she is here!

Maureen - that video was quite lengthy, but very informative. I liked the little stick people. I really don't know what all this bug does, but it's definitely not in my top ten most hated bugs. I killed another black widow tonight at the garden. She was freakin out, when I hit her with the liquid sevin- over and over and over.....I really soaked her good! heh Yay! Your daughter came to visit! Mine came home from college a couple of weeks ago. It was when I was making pickles and jam....on the stove! Woo Hoo! (you remember the stove, don't you?) hee hee If you don't, here's a little link for ya!

Here is a link that might be useful: the revolving door of happiness, for Maureen

EG - I "fondly" remember the stove! Isn't that what started it all?

Ok - so you are a redneck, right? That means armadillos 'n guns and other wild critters..yada yada. Are you still a redneck when you are sweet? Or shall we keep that a secret?

I really need an education in how the rest of the country lives. Now I am not trying to be silly here but the notion of owning a gun and actually needing it on a daily basis is sooooo foreign to me. My dad used to hunt (in the fall hunting season) and shot trap and skeet (???) but that is the only time I have ever come into contact with a gun. Obviously recreational. I suddenly feel so ignorant about the ways of the world. Very sheltered in a princessy kind of way. Uggg....this has reminded me of a very unpleasant thing. When I was about 10 years old, my dad came home with the remains of a moose that he had shot and he had the liver in a green garbage bag. As he climbed the stairs to our 2nd floor walk-up the liver flipped out of the bag. Blood everywhere! Maybe that is what scarred me for life.

To this day, I kill nothing. Not ants or bugs. If they show up in my house,, I escort them outside.

LOL.

I grew up in a redneck town. I still consider myself a bit of a redneck ;)

Yknow, going mudding, chasing raccoons, sitting around campfires. The person wit hthe muddiest truck at the end of the day was the COOLEST. Let's not talk about people who rode tractors to school. OMG. Now that was only a Horicon thing. I grew up in a town of 3800 people. The only thing big in our town was John Deere! Thats what ran our town.

The Horicon Marsh was the big attraction, people used to come into town just to see the geese and all of their sh*t everywhere you stepped. Crazy people.

Guns though were recreational only. We actually don't own guns. The only time I've personally ever touched/shot guns was when I worked as a Correctional Officer before having kids.

I now have a major phobia with guns though cuz my baby brother shot his knee off with my dads hunting rifle while sleep walking after taking Ambien this past January. (I have cool pictures if anyone wants to see I can email them, I won't post them though LOL).

that's what my husband is, a corrections officer, i think, well he works for a prison. sucks cuz he somtimes gets held over and we live so far away. so he'll be there for 16 hours and then have to go back that night.
guns are ok, in my opinion, (we all know about opinions) i love to shoot them, just not rifles, they are to long for my arms!! LOL and not the 40's, they are to jolting, i love the 45 cuz its (shot)alot like the 9 only a little more, and doesn't kill your arm afterwards. LOL
that totally sucks about your brother@!! no gun locks?? hubby has them all the time. i think i'm not sure, what am i supposed to say to a robber if he comes in?? hey stop!! i need to get this lock off!! if i can't get to lock and it off if he's in the room befor hand.. but ya know. and then he bought these danged gun safes', one for the guns, one for the ammo. BUT my dang paint ball gun is in there, so i can't have any fun, i really want to shoot animals that come in my yard that don't belong to me!! hmmmmm.....that would be any of them!! LOL ***big grinn** LOL ~Medo

Medo I would think if you pulled a gun on a robber they wouldn't be looking for gun locks. But take that with a grain of salt 'cuz it's silly me after all.

well hubs does say that if i pulled the shot gun, but of course it'd have to be unlocked!! and of course they scare the hell out of me!! i'm scared of the kick!! i've never shot one!! of course there's always talk of them using your own gun on you, i'm like as if they'll get that close!!! i'm a dang good shot!! and even from a distance, so ya, they won't get close, even in the dark!! shivering, at just the thought!! thank goodness we got out of the big town, we live in a tiny town, probably 200 people altogether! i love it that way!! everyone knows everyone, the only problem with that is everyone "thinks" they know everyones business!! LOL so when i make something everyone tallks!! Tee Hee Hee ~Medo