Bugs, Grasshoppers, and More Bugs

It seems that seeing we did not have much in the way of hard freezes here in this area, we will be inundated with copious amounts of bugs of all kinds. And me being the rocket scientist that I am I forgot to put out new NOLO bait for the grasshoppers last year. So, they will really be a big problem for my garden. Definitely need to start spraying the surrounding area around the house and shop. I always try and use as natural of stuff as possible, but can't always do that. I've already got gnats all over the place. Pesky little buggers. How many of you are already having this sort of malfunction? Just curious.

Well, With the moisture we have had this year, the weeds are going to be a HUGE issue for us this year, so I've been spraying some pre-emergement for them. Don't know if I've timed it right or not, but this weekend I'm starting a new exercise program called 'Walk around the property with a Hoe'. I should do it every day and just hack out anything that looks small and green.

I'm hoping the snow and cold we've had is enough to keep the moth population knocked down. A couple years ago we had what was almost literally a biblical plague of moths. I do not want to go through that again! Not that there is much I can do about it.

Our dogs are still getting ticks and the ants are still out. There have also been a few weird looking gnats floating around. We had one freeze in November that was close to a hard freeze but only some light frosts since. It could indeed be a bugy year.

I generally don't have a flea or tick problem as I spray my dogs yard and the surrounding area with liquid Dawn using a hose sprayer. It kills the fleas pretty much on contact and seems to deter the ticks real well. I even give my dogs baths using Dawn. Just the plain blue Dawn, not those antibacterials or whatever. Works very well. After they get that bath then I give them another soaping down with baby shampoo. Brent, I never thought of moths as being a problem but can see where that could be a mess. Wow. Who'd a thunk it? Yeah, I think this year is gonna be the year of the bugs. I always have several bird feeders out to help with that. I am seriously thinking about a bat house this spring as well. They eat bugs like crazy. Hmmmm.

We've had some good hard freezes here this winter, but it's always a roll of the dice to see what bugs will proliferate each year. Last year we saw a lot of scorpions in and around the house. I remember a few years here when we had moth invasions so bad that I had to clean out the air filter in my car every couple of days due to them getting sucked into the air intake while driving (especially at night). In Albuquerque we can usually count on a good crop of German brown cockroaches, but if last year was any indication, they will be staying outside underneath all the bird feeders that LOML has up in the back yard. (On of my favorite nighttime sports is spotlighting cockroaches with a BB gun. It doesn't really do much to control the population, but it sure is satisfying to see the little suckers get blasted.)

We've had a couple of good freezes the last week or so, so hopefully will keep some of the bugs down... we don't see too much in the way of grasshoppers here, but the Japanese beetles nearly carry us away. They will almost strip a garden in just a few days... I put out traps last year in the front flower bed and in the middle of the yard... over the summer I had to empty them three times with at least two pounds of beetles in the bags...

Back a few years, more than I would like to recount, in East Texas we had an infestation of June bugs... you could hear them crunch under the tires as you drove under and around street lights....

Hopefully the freezes you had helps, Chuck. I haven't seen a Japanese Beetle in years. Kinda a neat looking bug but pretty darned destructive. Them June Bugs are something else. We have a bunch of them here, but not that bad. What you said reminded me of a trip I made to the Wasatch Mountains near Fillmore, Utah to do some trout fishing and some nice camping and in general getting away from it all. They had a beetle they called the Mormon Cricket that was HUGE! Ate everything and would bite you as well. I don't think they cared what they got a hold of. Covered the dirt roads going along the streams up the mountains. Talk about tires crunching beetles. Almost enough to make your skin crawl. AWK!!!