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Quote of the Day: Alexander Pope

May 20th, 2012

“All Nature’s difference keeps all Nature’s peace.”

Alexander Pope




I was thinking about this quote the other day when someone asked me about my pest control in the garden. Here at Chiot’s Run I just let nature run it’s course. Occasionally I’ll lose a crop to a pest, but I like to observe to see how nature works and what will happen. We must remember that the “pest” insects feed the benficial insects and the birds. If we meticulously get rid of all “bad” insects in the garden we’ll be inadvertently getting rid of beneficial things as well.

What’s your favorite beneficial insect and which is your more loathed pest insect?

13 Comments to “Quote of the Day: Alexander Pope”
  1. Kathi Cook on May 20, 2012 at 7:22 am

    Last year I found two tomato hornworms in my garden that were parasitized by braconid wasps. They were covered in little wasp cacoons. It was disgusting and fascinating at the same time. I am with you. Let nature take its course. I almost never completely lose a crop. Some years are better than others for certain vegetables. I think for me,weather in the Northeast is much more of a challenge than garden pests.

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  2. mandie on May 20, 2012 at 8:28 am

    I don’t do any special pest control, aside from picking off bugs that don’t belong (squash bugs last year!). I agree with Kathi, the Northeast weather is more the challenge!

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  3. Allison on May 20, 2012 at 8:47 am

    With the hail – yes, weather can drive you crazy. Chickens are also great with the pests. They love to eat bugs, and grubs, and ticks…

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  4. Annie on May 20, 2012 at 9:22 am

    I believe in letting things take their coarse most of the time but really haven’t been able to alter my negative feelings about snails which can wipe out my seedlings in the wink of an eye if I’m not diligent. I like your suggestion about becoming more curious about them. Thanks!

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  5. KimH on May 20, 2012 at 11:01 am

    Im with you.. I prefer the natural law of life in my garden.

    I love the adored lady bug but despise the loathsome squash bug. I love squash of all vegetables more than any, and those evil vermin can come in & decimate my squash in a heartbeat.

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  6. Lindsay Wilkinson on May 20, 2012 at 11:07 am

    I’m with you & glad you are writing about it. It really is a very wise lesson. One I first learned from my very elderly neighbor years ago. We were talking about the prolific mosquitoes in the area one day and he said very plain, “They use to spray, but everything beautiful went away. Once they stopped all the birds flew back.”

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  7. KimP on May 20, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    #1 – Hornworms!!! Figured out if I rototill in late fall to plant a cover crop, the ones that try to overwinter freeze out. That has helped immensely.

    #2 – For the last several years, I’ve had bugs and flies ALL over my strawberry plants. Little teeny green critters, too – probably aphids? They don’t seem to harm the plants and produce, though, so I have left them alone. This year? My strawberry plants are crawling with ladybugs and their larva. Yay!

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  8. amy on May 20, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    The hideous cabbage worm or caterpillar. They will decimate all of my brassicas in a NY minute if I am not fastidious about picking them off. I do appreciate how the braconid wasp deals with the hornworms.

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  9. Chef Debbi on May 20, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    I pretty much let nature happen, I do occasionally spray Bt for tomato hornworm but rarely loose a crop to pests, more like some kind of fungus or wilt. My biggest pest is grasshoppers, I can’t completely get rid of them but I find if I carry my clippers around I can snip their little heads off when I see them. They can decimate my little seedlings in one night.

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  10. tj on May 20, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    …Gorgeous photos Susy!

    …Oh this one’s easy, Ladybug – personal fav’. Squash Bug – *shudders uncontrollably* I have never really thought of it the way that you just did but that is a great train of thought to adopt. It’s just so hard for me when you see these Squash Bugs and Cucumber Beetles ravaging your squash, cucumber and pumpkins. Aughh!

    …Enjoy your evening!

    …Blessings :o)

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  11. Misti on May 20, 2012 at 11:48 pm

    We have an abundance of lady bugs right now, too. They are hanging out on my Chinese mosaic beans, right alongside a plethora of leafooted bugs and ants…it is a weird combination.

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  12. Maybelline on May 21, 2012 at 12:16 am

    Pray mantis is pretty awesome.
    I HATE grasshoppers.
    D E A T H to A L L H O P P E R S!

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  13. Donna B. on May 21, 2012 at 10:10 am

    Firstly, auugh that is a great photo of the lady bug! It’s being cradled by the clover… ♥
    I don’t believe “love” or “hate” is what I’d use for my pest control methods… but “tolerate”. Haha! I tolerate flies, earwigs, roly-poly, centipedes, milipedes, mosquitoes, stink bugs, crickets, grasshoppers, termites, cabbage moths, hornworms, ants, and aphids. Naturally not all of these are bad for the gardens, most of the time I’ll move the beneficials to my newly-created compost beds… Will I smush a few of them on-sight? Sure! I won’t eradicate with pesticides, but I am not against removing a few from my gardens… hehe!

    Especially carpenter ants… they made a nest right in my sitting area! Grrr..

    Reply to Donna B.'s comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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