I'm Starting to Like Bugs! Gross!

The other night my son and I had this conversation:

Son:  “There’s a huge roach on the floor! Where’s the bug spray?"

Me:  “I don’t keep bug spray around.”

Son: “I can’t believe you don’t have bug spray! You aim the can, you spray it, the bug is dead.”

Hmm.  I detected a certain qualified experience in this quick and apt description of how to kill a bug with a can of spray which makes me wonder about his living conditions over in Athens. 

Son:  “At least hire a service.”

Me:  “First of all, I’m putting you through school. You wanna go to college or you want me to kill bugs? Second of all, I’m just not that worried about a few bugs. If you want to kill it, use a shoe.”

Unbelieveable! No, not my son – me! What has happened to me that I have this tolerance level of bugs to the extent that giant palmetto bugs crawling around our house doesn’t bother me? Especially since I really do hate palmetto bugs and all manner of roaches. There’s no redeeming them that I can see, not in the food-chain, the soil-food-web or anywhere. Kill the sucka! Just use a shoe.

Add to my list of hates: houseflies, things with over 20 legs and of course, there’s zero tolerance to black widow spiders (and I did find one in the garage this year). And have no mercy on fleas and ticks.

Oh, phylum Arthropoda, how we love to hate your many creatures!

But wait a minute! I don’t hate them all. That's the thing. Arthropoda is a rather large phylum and I'm downright fond of a few of its members. All this is because of years and years of vegetable gardening whereby I've learned that lots of them are really helpful and some of them are downright crucial.  

Who could hate a round little red thing with black spots and an adorable name like “ladybug," especially when all she does is eat aphids and other evil creatures, thus keeping my food garden safe from harm? And there are others on the front lines defending food (albeit without cognizance of such). Take the Big Eyed Bug. Like the name says, he has these adorable giant, protruding eyes. He also has a piercing mouthpart whereby he sucks the life right out of his prey. He is considered a major player in keeping harmful bugs at bay. And the good thing is, when his prey is scarce, he can live off the nectar in flowering plants, thus keeping him around just in case bad bugs appear again. 

And then there are the parasitizing wasps. If you happen to ever see the harmful tomato or tobacco hornworm on your tomato plant and he has these white, egg-like protrusions coming out of his back, he has been parasitized by the Braconid wasp. There’s no need to kill the hornworm at that point. Simply let the larvae eat him from the inside out. 

Even the horribly scary looking yellow and black garden spider I leave alone.  

If this bug discussion is too creepy for you, then surely you can tolerate a few positive words about bees? Bees keep us heavy in flower and fruit. They are essential laborers in the food supply of man. And when I say bees, I mean more than honeybees. Any bee (or anything really) that goes from flower to flower for nectar or to collect pollen does a bit of pollination; thus, is a crucial element to our food supply. To be sure, bees can sting, but I work among them in the garden every day. I’m careful, because I respect the stinger, and I’ve never been stung while in the garden. 

Bugs and bees are awesome little creatures. You should hear Henning Von Schmeling talk about insects. Henning is the horticulturist at the Chattahoochee Nature Center.

I once heard him give an eloquent talk about insects. His enthusiasm about the subject was so real and infectious it made me want to go out, catch a few bugs and keep them as pets. Just as long as Henning doesn't persuade me to keep any palmetto bugs as pets. My son was right. That bug had to go. Just use a shoe.  

If you want to see pictures and read about beneficial insects, here is a great link:

http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/chf/outreach/eduresources/good/guysframes.htm