I pulled weeds and planted onions in the garden today. Saw a honeybee, ok. A mosquito, not ok, and a cucumber beetle. Where did the last 2 come from? I know the bee is from my hive

Mosquitos are year round, I think. At least they are here.

The old saying that cold kills off the bugs is NOT true. I grew up in the frozen tundra of Minnesota. Cold only served to make the bugs larger with more endurance. Survival of the fittest.

After this last cold spell, I am covered up with mosquito hawks which I don't mind but they are so fragile I am surprised they survived.

I agree. Unfortunately winter does not kill all bugs. A lot of them hide and wait to come out when temps are to their suitability. That's the same thing I do.

I have already found brown squishy worms that look like corn worms. I stomped them of course but I think worms hid underground like grubs during cold times.

Two pests I am not looking forward to aren't bugs but birds: wrens and phoebes. I'm quite sure the majority of you think they're cute but not me. Here's why: they choose to build their nests around your house or up in your vehicles. They poop on everything. Their nests and eggs attract snakes, rats and possums. They wake me up at the crack of dawn. They destroy potted plants. I have PTSD from when wrens killed one of my dwarf tomato plants. They ripped it out of its pot just so they could dig a dumb hole for their dumb nest.

True about the birds, but I like them anyway. You can add Barn Swallows to the list. The listed birds are all insect eaters and there are never enough of those birds. The swallows while raising a family, though, can eat mosquitos nearly as fast they hatch. There is a noticeable difference in the numbers of mosquitos after the babies fledge and leave the nest compared to when they are being fed in the nest. I haven't had phoebes since the cold spell in February a couple of years ago.

needrain said: True about the birds, but I like them anyway. You can add Barn Swallows to the list. The listed birds are all insect eaters and there are never enough of those birds. The swallows while raising a family, though, can eat mosquitos nearly as fast they hatch. There is a noticeable difference in the numbers of mosquitos after the babies fledge and leave the nest compared to when they are being fed in the nest. I haven't had phoebes since the cold spell in February a couple of years ago.

Wish I could trade you my wrens and phoebe for a pair of barn swallows!

TomatoNut95 said: Wish I could trade you my wrens and phoebe for a pair of barn swallows!

Really? They attach mud nests all over the house and are really persistant once they select a spot. I can't leave the garage open for 15 minutes when they trying to locate a place to nest. Mud is daubed around everywhere in just a few minutes. They find any door that's open in a millisecond. The overhead doors or the side door. They are beautiful birds to look at. Great flyers.

needrain said: Really? They attach mud nests all over the house and are really persistant once they select a spot. I can't leave the garage open for 15 minutes when they trying to locate a place to nest. Mud is daubed around everywhere in just a few minutes. They find any door that's open in a millisecond. The overhead doors or the side door. They are beautiful birds to look at. Great flyers.

Oh, my bad. I must have been thinking about martins who nest in houses. Never mind, I definitely don't want barn swallows; my crummy wrens and phoebes are enough pains in the neck. Phoebes sit on my garden stakes and poop on my plants. Wrens sit right outside my bedroom window and wake me up at the crack of dawn with their super shrill song. Wrens chose to nest in extremely stupid places like up in infrequently used vehicles, piles of junk and potted plants.

Blue birds can also be stupid. They once nested in the gutters during a dry spell then when it rained one of the babies washed down into my rain buckets. I generally try discouraging pest birds from nesting anywhere near or around my house. Rocks have to placed in potted plants to keep them from digging holes there.

True that Carolina wrens are little but loud. I can't think of another bird that's as loud. I hung a bunch of gourd houses around as an alternative to the hanging baskets. They do choose them most - but not all - of the time. All birds leave their droppings if they have a perch above. I just consider it free, organic fertilize as it washes off and into the container. I don't discourage birds of any kind, really. There are feeders and water around which attract them. I enjoy them and it's really gratifying when I see one snatch an insect up. No question about birds being messy, though.

Reminds me I need to get that birdhouse assembled...I hung gourds, red wasps took them all. One day to get ready for the rain to begin tonight by midnight, cloudy today and 73*. Here we go again, Feb is back.

So how does one keep the wasps out of birdhouses?

They drove the chickadees out of one for the past two years.
They kept me away too. After dark I slapped a piece of duct tape over the opening and let them roast in the summer heat. Normally I ignore them but they would not ignore me this time.

Loving this February weather so far here. Few nights below freezing yet. I will tolerate the gloomy days. It's only weeks till DST and springtime.

I don't have bird houses so I don't have to worry about wasps getting in them. Birds can nest in the trees and bushes.

I HATE wasps. They're evil little devils; and I swat them whenever the opportunity strikes. The water hose makes for an effective weapon as well. I've heard bars of soap discourage wasps but I've never tried that. Fake, paper hornet nests don't work either; the wasps built up in it. Raid wasp spray is probably the best brand of wasp killer; even though it's not as fast acting as it used to be. IMMEDIATELY after you spray a wasp nest, you run as fast as you can. Wasps don't drop to their deaths as fast as they used to, and some even escape.

I just pay attention when it warms up. When I see a paper wasp going into a gourd, I try to remember to lift it off its hook at dusk and stick it in the freezer overnight. When I remember it's there, take it out and shake out the wasp carcass and hang it back up. Birds seem to have no objection to a wasp nest shell or anything leftover from a previous nesting. They just rework it to suit them. I put them up mainly for the Carolina wrens since they are the only birds that have built in the plant containers, but I've had a titmouse family a couple of times. I'm always trying to get a photo when they use one of them, but those aren't very successful. Here's a Carolina wren sitting in the hole.

Cute! I almost didn't see her against the tree bark. I have a gourd birdhouse that my youngest gave me. It is decorative but the hole is angled so water will run into it. I just hung it in the greenhouse.

Great idea to use the freezer also.

I normally don't mind wasps but they were certainly more aggressive last summer. Perhaps the drought triggered their behavior. I was stung a few times and once, that little buddy hung on and would not let go. Yeowch!

I have a pollen sub feeder that has in past years been home to tufted titmouse, last year carolina wrens did a couple of hatches, and somewhere around here my carolina chickadees are nesting. I have a small birdhouse too, I need to clean it out, getting to be that time. The bees finished the pollen sub so its feeder is available for any bird desperate to get started.
For wasp spray I use dawn mixed with water, works pretty well, pretty non-toxic. They like my eaves and shrubs and fence better than the bird houses.

We caved and bought a wasp trap, I float 50/50 water/sugar in it and they drown. That wasp that hung on to me was a hornet. Bad bad hornet. Ground nested.

Aww, titmouses are so cute!! :hearts:

Trying to imagine putting a wasp in my freezer...

Kat, those wasp/hornet traps should work fine. I've hung out those yellow jacket baggie traps and they do pretty good. I don't see many hornets here unless they're the orange/yellow ones. I smack those. I hate yellow jackets; I was stung once and nearly passed out. I became so lightheaded I fell down. I regained myself within seconds, however, and I haven't been stung since. I have a perfect record on not getting stung by a wasp so far; I am too cautious I guess.

I mostly leave wasps alone - live and let live - but the ones that decide to nest in the hollow tubes of the pasture gates have to go. Soapy water works well if applied generously in the early morning before light.

I've already had brown squishy worms showing up in my greenhouse. I stepped on one the other day and another little one was in my celery, I had followed a trail of poop.

June bug season now.

I am expecting the oak leaf caterpillars to show up any day now.