Love Bugs have arrived

16 years ago

The love bugs have arrived, so much for sitting on the back porch. I am trying an experiment. I sprayed horse fly spray on the surfaces and kitchen window and around the sliding door. Let's see if it repels and or kills them!!! I spray and the flys stay away. When I hit some love bugs while spraying they died, but they die getting hit by water from the hose too. Wish me luck and I'll let you know in a day or two how they are. Last time we had so many it was hard to get in the door with only a handful getting in.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (12)

tony_k_orlando
16 years ago
I have em here in Orlando today as well. Long ride scheduled this Sunday, ugh!
0
presmudjo
Original Author
16 years ago
192 to Melbourne will really be crappy. 441 to Ockachobee or however you spell that will be really bad too! Hopefully hubby won't have to go to Ft. Pierce for a while!
0
Related Discussions
You know you have have the garden bug when you....
Q
Comments (11)
...when you solicit other people's organic material to mulch the "new" areas you've reclaimed from lawn. A couple months ago, I saw a guy trimming all of the hedges at the bank across the street. Next thing you know, he's backed his pickup truck into my yard and he's helping me haul this stuff here'n'there. That was great stuff! Fresh, tender growth from the shrubs mixed with the leaves he had raked off of the mulch. Then there's the trunk-loads of trimmings I've brought here many times from my Mom's house (she refuses to compost,) bags of sawdust from honey's work, bags of peanut shells from a friend's chicken farm, and bags of pine needles from honey's Mom's house. ...all happily composting in a giant pile near the back fence, waiting to be dumped on a new lasagna bed next weekend. ...when you spend an hour putting potted plants in the yard to get rained on, then an hour getting wet & icky putting them back on the porch. ...when there's a rainy morning in the summer and you go to work outside, since that's the only time it's not too hot. ...when you've timed a move so it will be a good time to dig up your plants and bring them to the new place too. ...when you hear yourself thinking, "If this grass was mowed, the beds would show up better." ...when you realize you've been absent-mindedly deadheading someone's plants while you're at their house visiting. ...when you end up with so many pots of cuttings that you don't even have anywhere to plant them.
...See More
Bitten by the Roses Bug, Daylilies Bug and Now Iris Bug
Q
Comments (21)
Jean- My 4 o'clocks never come up the following year, they always get frozen by winter. They do not even self seed here. I mean they do alll summer but then again nothing comes up over winter. So I have to start them again, which is a real pain. I had them running all along the front wall last summer until I yanked them to make that big planter box in the front yard were lots of new daylilies are going to be planted. Now morning glories are another story, those always (and easily) self seed. I find that if I leave any or miss any they bloom the wrong colors with smaller flowers, so I pull out self seeded vines and plant new ones from bought seeds. Last year I had some on a tower but they got so overgrown I pulled them out. This spring I think I will plant them on a much bigger, stronger tower were my trumpet vine died. Julie- I love the flowers on the bearded iris but for me the bloom period is too short to go nuts and plant them all over. Also, I do not like the looks of the bearded iris folliage. That skinny bed section in the front will be it for now. The Siberian Iris are different and I think they will be a lovely no fuss addition to my garden. Last night I also ordered one Japanese Iris because the picture was so lovely, I could not resist. I had some Japanese Iris many, many years ago at another house but not since then. I have this empty spot that I tried daylilies in but moved them because I did not like the look there. Its got roses and crosima on the sides and daylilies in front and then empty spot will now be iris. I also bought my first ever Spuria Iris and still don't know where I will plant it.
...See More
Dreaded squash bugs have arrived
Q
Comments (44)
I haven't had much trouble with squash bugs on either melons or cucumbers, but some people have a lot of trouble with them. However, I do try to kill squash bugs when I see them, so maybe I kill off most of them before they can find the cukes or melons. Usually I grow the winter squash, melons and cukes in the back garden, which we never planted this year because of the incredibly heavy rainfall, so the squash bugs in the front garden are separated from the cukes and melons by over 100 yards. I don't know if that is why I don't have squash bug issues on the melons or cukes. This year, the melons are in the front garden and I haven't seen a squash bug on them, but I do think I wiped out all the squash bugs in June because I haven't seen any of them since then. I have Sugar Baby watermelons and Hale's Jumbo muskmelons in the front garden and haven't found any sort of pest on them yet, except for spider mites which are everywhere here in the summer and get worse as the heat worsens. The spider mite population ought to be peaking now and should start to fall soon, so I think my garden has outlasted it this year. Stockergal, I am sure the farmer who once farmed our land planted the bermuda, and I hate it. When we bought the place we had beautiful native grasses mixed with wildflowers and it was so beautiful and everything peacefully coexisted together. When it came time to mow all that down short in the area selected for our home site, so that the builder could start construction of our home, we instantly had bermuda grass pop up everywhere. Without the taller prairie grasses to shade it, it took over the area and outgrew everything else. I've been fighting to keep the bermuda grass out of beds of ornamental planting ever since. The thing that works best for me is to shade it out, but once trees are big enough to shade it out, you do have to plant a shade-loving ground-cover for erosion control. and we'll never be rid of all the bermuda because our yard never will be fully shady. Hailey, Have the row cover ready. The minute one squash pops up out of the ground, the squash bugs and SVBs will materialize out of thin air. Dawn
...See More
??Curling leaves, white bugs, green bugs, black bugs, tan bugs??
Q
Comments (5)
Thank you very much for the reply. It's definitely appreciated. Do you happen to know of any sort of organic sprays that I could put on the plants to prevent aphids from returning once I've pinched 'em all away? I think I might try spraying them off into a ditch or something because finding them all and pinching every one of them might be a bit too tedious for my likes. Thank you again.
...See More
rdean61
16 years ago
For all you natural born FL residents, how long have these things been here? I lived in SC all my adult life and never heard of them.
0
acoreana
16 years ago
They just arrived here (Hernando County) today...by the thousands! Geesh...didn't spot a single one and today I'm looking out through my office window at a screen covered in them as more float around in the background.

*sigh*, can't wait till they're gone again.
0
countrynest
16 years ago
Tony K,While you're riding don't open your mouth but you know
that already.
Does anyone knows if the same predators of mosquitoes,such as dragonflies,bats,birds,eat lovebugs ?
They're here as well. ugh!
Felix
0
wanda662
16 years ago
I beleive the only preditors are the automobile and the guy going down the road on their motorcycle.
0
presmudjo
Original Author
16 years ago
OK, yesterday the few were flying around. We put a couple fence posts in and there were sprinkles in air. We turned around and walking to the house, it was black! Oh my God. The rain released them. I pulled out the spray gun with the horse fly stuff and sprayed them. They dropped. Well, I sprayed the areas around door, porch railings, and stuff like that. It does seem to keep them at bay for about a day and a half. At least this way, less will get into the house.
0
cindeea
16 years ago
ack ack ack, I was inhaling them at my potting bench today...YUK

Do ya think they are a protein?? Bleecht!!
0
presmudjo
Original Author
16 years ago
I found the container the fly spray came in. Just incase you all might want to try it. Tractor Supply has it. Bronco Equine Fly spray, citrus scent. It has helped a lot! Did the rain yesterday kill a bunch off, or are they in hiding?? Very mild with them today. Hubby is traveling all over today so his white truck will be black in the front! ERRRR.
0
michaelc0
16 years ago
Here is a link on the lovebugs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Love Bugs in Florida
0
bflyer
16 years ago
Was bad this weekend in Orlando during a butterfly festival. Right after the first big rain we had. My hand-held bug zapper (usually used for skeeters) did it's job again.
0
nativemel
16 years ago
I can tell you what attracts them. Acetone and liquid cement/glue. Specifically, the kind you use to fix sprinkler lines. I was making some repairs and the love bugs were massively attracted to the pipes where I had cleaned with the purple acetone and then glued parts together. They were hoarding and crawling over each other to get a taste. Needless to say, they weren't bothering me unless I had the bottles of acetone and glue near me.

Wonder if you could set up an acetone/glue trap away from your porch or potting bench so that you could at least enjoy a little time outside?
0

Love Bugs have arrived

Comments (12)

tony_k_orlando

presmudjo
Original Author

Related Discussions

rdean61

acoreana

countrynest

wanda662

presmudjo
Original Author

cindeea

presmudjo
Original Author

michaelc0

bflyer

nativemel

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Love Bugs have arrived

Comments (12)

presmudjoOriginal Author

Related Discussions

presmudjoOriginal Author

presmudjoOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

presmudjo
Original Author

presmudjo
Original Author

presmudjo
Original Author