Birds, Bees and Beneficials

One of my favorite blogs is Bill Bird's "Sacramento Vegetable Gardening". Bill is a jazzman with words. His blogs have a rhythm comparable to a Gene Krupa drum solo.

In one recent post, Bill waxed rhapsodic about a certain rose in his yard, Our Lady of Guadalupe.

      As I was reading this post about the trials and tribulations of growing this rose (and actually, the blog is more of a love letter to his wife, Venus), I was wondering how he was going to bring it back around to, if you will excuse me for being a stickler, "Sacramento Vegetable Gardening". 

     Bill did not disappoint. He tied into a neat little package at the end, exclaiming: "Our Lady of Guadalupe attracts a number of beneficial insects to the garden, including bees..."

     This is a subject we have tackled on these pages, as well: the benefits of having a wide variety of beneficial insect attracting plants in your yard to help you do battle against the bad bugs.  And, it's a topic covered more in depth at farmerfred.com.

    But Bill's apian accolade got me wondering: what other beneficial insects are attracted to roses? And, are there any beneficials that use roses for more than a source of food (housing, for example)? For that answer, the "go-to" guy has to be Baldo Villegas, an entomologist for the state of California, past president of the Sacramento Rose Society and Sierra Foothills Rose Society, as well as being a consulting rosarian.

     "Roses produce a lot of nectar, some more than others," explains Baldo. "Single-petaled roses are best for seeing what attracts insects both good and bad. Some of the best beneficials that I see are syrphid flies, tachinid flies, as well as numerous wasps, both parasitic and predatory. Among the parasitic wasps are the braconid and ichneumonid wasps and predatory wasps that are mainly those in the family Sphecidae. Then there are a lot of different types of bees such as honey bees, andrenids, halictids, megachilids (aka leafcutting bees), and anthophorids (including small carpenter bees). The only ones that use roses for housing and for prey gathering are two predatory wasps in the family Sphecidae. One of these wasps preys on aphids and the other one on flies."

For pictures and more information about these garden good guys, visit the UC Davis IPM Online Natural Enemies Gallery.

Dog vs. Drip Irrigation

I'm not sure what the attraction is, but dogs and water find each other, wayyyyy too often. We've had more than one sprinkler mangled by our dog. Probably a combination of thirst, playfulness and boredom. Our sprinkler solution: put a tomato cage around the sprinkler head to keep a few inches separation between nozzle and muzzle.

     Les in Gold River has his own doggone water issue:

     "We are dog sitting my in-law's dog for awhile," Les writes. "I was thinking of re-doing my drip irrigation this year, but now my in-laws' dog has done my thinking for me by ripping up sections of the drip line. So before I try to put something back in place, is there something that you can recommend that I try that does not encourage dogs to chew it up?"

     You mean other than blame the psychoses of your in-laws for screwing up the dog? Nah, that's too easy. Other than burying the line, I can't think of any other deterrent; installing an enclosed dog run in another part of the yard, perhaps. You may want to check with the Dripworks website to see if they have any dogproofing ideas.

     The Dripworks catalog is a great resource for anyone tackling the problems associated with drip irritation...uh, irrigation. Just thumbing through the catalog can give you several "Aha!" moments for improving your own yard watering procedures. And the Dripworks online site has helpful tips and videos that can help beginner and pro alike solve their drip irrigation and yard watering woes. (note: I was not compensated for this endorsement, damn it.)

     And that includes a helpful staff. I sent a copy of Les' e-mail to Cathie Nicolaus at Dripworks. And she responded:
     "I experienced my lab puppy doing the same thing, she liked the emitters the best because of the water spraying out. I had to redo my entire system on the deck! Here is something to try: Get a spray bottle and mix cayenne pepper powder and warm water and spray on the area that the dog is going for. You may have to make a small offering of tubing for the dog to get the idea, but he should rather quickly. For squirrels, we have in the past recommended petroleum jelly and cayenne pepper mixed together if you need to have it last longer on the tubing. In retrospect for our dog situation, I would have used the petroleum jelly/cayenne pepper mix around the emitters (being careful not to plug any holes) and tubing, since the water from the emitters was attracting the dog."