Minimal leaf damage . . . not much to worry about

Searched the garden with a flashlight before sun came up this morning to try to learn what is eating my plant leaves. Did not find any slugs or snails, which was my first guess. Did find a few sow bugs aka pillbugs. Not really very many to concern myself over. Could it be these that are eating my plant leaves? Upon further investigate via the internet I learned: ‘sow bugs are omnivores or scavengers feeding on dead or decaying plants or animals. Some may eat live plants.’ I think it’s more likely they lust after the decomposing shredded bark I use for mulch.

Besides, sow bugs are a food source for other animals. So, for now, I’m ruling these guys out as the cause of my loss. How do you like the cool 'scientific' touch of this sketch? Looks like something straight out of my high school biology class.

The leaves in question are pepper – only one type, the other two are untouched

Pepper Golden Bell leaf damage

eggplant – I have only one and it’s ion the same bed as the pepper with the same kind of damage

Eggplant Ichiban leaf damage

my only hydrangea – oh no not my only hydrangea!

Hydrangea Annabelle

Curiously, only one of the Hosta has holes and only a couple – slugs absolutely adore Hosta plants and would tend to claim the whole plant as theirs, so again, I don’t think it’s slugs.

Hosta Piedmont Gold leaf damage

A few weeks ago, after much, way too much, rain for this part of the country, I found a great many slugs and only 3 or 4 snails, which I am pretty sure the large population of birds that visit my feeders daily quickly dispatched. With slugs and snails you can expect to find slime trails on the plants and the surrounding area leading up to the smorgasbord. I haven’t found any slime trails at all. So, I think I can rule out slugs. I will try the old ‘beer in a cup’ trick just to see if any are still out there. Just bury the container so the top is level with the ground and they will fall in and blissfully drown themselves in beer. I love this idea because I get to drink the 'excess' beer.

Another clue in determining what is eating the leaves is where on the plant the damage is. The holes are not on the edge, that pretty much rules out most caterpillars, but not all. The holes are irregular shaped – not perfectly round - and the majority of ‘holes’ are actually rips or tears. This is the most puzzling feature of all.

I did get an idea from one website – Yates - that suggested the ripping damage might be caused by birds. Makes the best sense so far. The aforementioned large population of birds could be searching for bugs and ripping my leaves as they pick the little morsels off the plants. I do see several birds wandering through my beds pecking about here and there. Could it be that I will need to surround the plants with netting to keep them out?

Boy, this gardening thing could raise my ‘cost of growing my own’ just a little more. I may as well grow my plants inside a building. Just kidding. The damage is rather minimal so no extreme measures will be needed, yet. I just want the mystery solved and I’m pretty sure that birds are probably the cause.

It is odd though that the leaf damage is on a Golden Bell Pepper plant and not on the Purple Beauty Pepper or the Anaheim. Hmmm, maybe these birds are picky eaters after all.

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Shifting climates provide good and bad news

Found this on ecoscraps blog

Climate Change Reflected in Hardiness Zone Maps


Woodrow Wilson of the Arbor Day Foundation: What the hardiness zone map clearly shows is that the climate has warmed, certainly since 1990 when the last USDA map was updated.

Kim Kaplan, spokesperson for the USDA, on the climate change reflected on the maps: It’s not the purpose of the map. It’s not good evidence. It’s not a matter of [whether] there is or isn’t climate change; it’s just that this isn’t a good argument.

Good argument or not there have been many instances where gardens in different areas of the U.S. are able to now grow plants that they once were not able to due to warmer climates. And this has been the case since as early as 2003.

Tropical plants like mangoes and orchids are growing in zone 7! This may be a boon to those gardeners but for natural ecosystems, significant warming could have far-reaching, perhaps disastrous, effects. According to recent research, many wild plants and animals are currently showing significant responses to rapid climate change.

A January 2003 paper in the journal Nature analyzed 143 separate studies on how global warming might be affecting the physiology, behavior, and evolution of wild species. Coauthored by scientists from NASA and Stanford University, among others, the paper concludes that consistent temperature-related shifts have already taken place in organisms ranging from mollusks to mammals and from grasses to trees.

These shifts include flowering and leafing out are taking place earlier in the season. Also, animal migration and egg laying is taking place earlier than normal. As more plants extend their growth range poleward and upward in elevation they bring with them their associated insects and diseases. However, don’t count on both beneficial insect and pest insect populations to increase equally. The history of our planet teaches us that during rapid climatic changes in the past, species showed differential movement. In other words, they reacted independently, rather than in unison, to the environmental stress.

Therefore, just because a particular habitat grew harmoniously two zones warmer than where you are doesn’t mean that it will in its new environ. For example, the pollinators needed for those mangoes or kiwis or orchids may not follow them to your area.

Another worry is that a new species introduced outside of its normal growing zone may become invasive where it wasn’t in its home growing zone.

On the flip side, there may be plants that can no longer grow in your hardiness zone. In a study published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, researchers show, using mathematical modeling, that the ideal climate for Cyclamen will become increasingly rare and might have totally disappeared by the 2050's. Some species of Cyclamen are adaptable enough and could survive climate change, but many would probably disappear.

The type of plants that have the greatest chance of extinction are those that require hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters.

A common Great Plains prairie plant, the partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata), could face severe reduction in numbers if climate conditions in the Midwest change to the extremes predicted for the next 25 to 35 years, according to a study to be published in the Oct. 5 issue of the journal Science.

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Diversity is making a come back

Saw this wasp just this morning.

It is the first time I have seen one of these since my childhood in Indiana.

This is a good thing to see one of these because they live off of caterpillars. Of course, it means there are caterpillars about. But it also means that the insect diversity is beginning to grow here and that is always good news.

Here’s some text from everythingabout.net when I searched for the name of this wasp. It is a Thread-Waisted wasp but we used to call them paper wasps.

“Wasps are highly important to ecosystems. Sawflies consume vegetation and so limit plant growth. Most other wasps are either parasitic or predaceous and therefore play a vital role in limiting the populations of thousands of other insect species. All wasps are eaten by other species, thereby providing many links in the food web. Many parasitic wasps have been cultured and used in the biological control of agricultural pests. Although a few of the stinging wasps are considered nuisances, they also provide benefits. Yellow jackets and paper wasps, for example, prey on caterpillars and other larvae that can destroy crops. Wasps feed on flower nectar and play a role in pollination.”

I haven’t seen much caterpillar damage to my garden yet, I attributed it to having so many birds around. I have six bird feeders throughout the yard that I fill almost daily and just figured their part in pest control is working, but now that I have seen this guy hanging around maybe he is the one that is helping to protect my plants.

Here is a caterpillar I found a couple of weeks ago on one of the Primrose Fireworks. I took care of this one myself but I'm sure there are others around, or maybe the Thread-Waisted Wasp got one of his own. This little beauty is called a Hyles gallii and is the larvae of the bedstraw hawkmoth pictured below.


I'm pretty sure I have seen a few of these around.

Should I be worried for the butterfly population that I'm trying to attract? I'm thinking, maybe not, because nature has a marvelous way of balancing things out so I’m just happy to see the diversity starting to come back.

Yesterday I saw a large bumblebee on the salvia, first time I have seen one of those in the garden. I got this picture from the site mentioned above. I didn't have my camera with me when I saw it.

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