Each morning and evening I drive along a beautiful row of shrubs along our driveway. The shrub is called "Bridal Veil", I think. Recently Ryan mentioned to me that the shrub is dying. What? How did I not notice that? I drive along side of it twice a day. I'm outside playing with the kids in the yark every few days right up near the row. I love plants and kinda have a green thumb, how could I not notice? How busy am I that I wouldn't notice a 200' long shrub row that was 90% dead?
Saturday when I was out pulling weeds, I paid some attention to the shrub row. Sure enough, it looked like it was dying and moving right down the row. As I took a closer look, I saw that it wasn't really dead yet. And it wasn't a disease, rather it has provided a tasty snack for some bugs. So, yesterday I was telling my coworker about it and we decided that I needed to find the bug and kill it before it killed my shrub. My DNR forester buddy told me that if something was eating it, I should be able to find the pest. Oh, great, like I was going to find some tiny bug in the shrub... its kind of like finding a needle in a hay stack.
Last night was supper was in the oven and the kids were about ready to make me crazy (those are a whole seperate post), I went out to hunt the pest. And you know what? I found it and lots more like it. The shrub was covered in millions of little beetles. Dangit, how come I didn't see those on Saturday when I check out the shrub? I collected the pests and some of the shrub and brought the jar into the office. My forester buddy identified the pest (you would think he's an entomologist, not a tree guy) and told me of the chemical cure. Tonight, I'm off to find someone who carries the chemical cure so I can kill the Cottonwood Leaf Beetle before it kills my Bridal Veil.
3 comments:
Apparently you are so busy you don't remember talking to your husband who two or more weeks ago told you that the hedge was infested with Asian beetles (I was wrong about the beetle species) and that I thought it was killing the hedge. Everyone please comment on this and encourage my wife to go to bed early even if the house is not clean.
Sounds like you need a good night sleep!
Okay - so what I'm wondering what was the chemical cure that the forester buddy came up with - just wondering.
Did it work it's magic? Are the evil bugs gone?
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