Bugs, Good and Bad | myZeeland.com

Do you know that certain bugs are good for your garden. I know that toads are not bugs but if any one has some extra, I will take them. Toads eat slugs. That is all I need to know. Right now I am sure that the slugs are having a feast on my hosta. Very faithfully, every morning I take a walk around my yard and the first thing I do is pick up rolled newspaper, that I put out the night before, and dump it in a plastic bag. When daylight comes, slugs hide and there is nothing they like better than to crawl into a dark, damp place and sleep the day away. Rolled up damp newspaper is one place they hide. They also like to crawl under pots of flowers or any container that is setting on the ground. If you have a strong dislike to slugs take a salt shaker or a spray bottle filled with water and ammonia and give them a blast. I don't particularly like the job either but with about 400 hosta in my yard I do it.

Save the plastic bag that your Sentinel comes in just for this purpose. Put your hand in the plastic bag, pick up the slug, turn the bag inside out and tie it shut. Tight Shut! Again, this year we had a cool, rainy spring (actually it was just plain cold). I am finding bugs and slugs that are huge, much bigger than usual. The bigger the bug the more they eat.

Now back to the good bugs and toads. Toads are a gardeners best friend. They eat lots of bugs that can destroy a garden, whether you have veggies or flowers. Another of the good bugs are Mantids. Mantids are among nature's most elegant, efficient and lethal preditors. but despite their movie-monster appearance and ferocious reputations, they make great garden helpers.

To satisfy their tremendous appetites, mantids catch and eat all kinds of garden pests, including scale, mosquitoes, aphids, black flies and leafhoppers. And the mantis is the only predatory insect that continues to feed after sundown. This makes it an excellent control for night-flying moths, too.

Mantids are very sensitive to chemical insecticides. So if you want to use mantids as part of an organic pest management program in your garden, use selective products. If in doubt about what to use ask your local nursery experts or call your local extension agents. We are fortunate to have extensions in both Kent and Ottawa counties. Their phone numbers are listed in the local directory.

Remember the bat story of last year. Bats love mosquitoes so when you see those bats darting around at dusk say, Thank You, and no they will not fly and try to get in your hair. I think of it as a old wive's tale.