Eeeeeeeek! Terrarium emergency! Live SNAIL discovered!!!!
sahoyaref
19 years ago
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nathanhurst
19 years agomrbreeze
19 years agoRelated Discussions
pine nuts! (2 photos)
Comments (20)Oh, dear Nell, I lost my youngest son in a fatal car wreck. He was only 14 yrs old. It had just started to rain. The thin layer of water on oily road surface caused the car he was a passenger in to hydroplane when the driver tried to stop at the stop sign at the bottom of the hill. The car hydro-planed 200 ft down the hill and slid through the stop sign, out into heavy traffic. He was a passenger in the front. He was ejected out the rear window when the car flipped and then rolled three times. The driver of their car and the driver of the car it hit died too. It was Halloween night. They were going to the Fairgrounds for some Halloween fun that is held there each year for children and families. My other older children road in a different car behind them. Nine people died within a few weeks of that night at that same intersection. Many, many people died there before the state highway dept. finally fixed that grade and intersection. Yesterday was my baby boy's birthday. He would have been 27. I know this does nothing to ease your sorrow, but you have my most sincere heartfelt sympathy just the same. Sorry Lorna. Didn't mean to high jack your 'nutty' topic. :) Annie...See MoreInsects In The Garden Are Not A Reason To Panic
Comments (13)Y'all are too funny. The 'panic' statement was NOT aimed at or inspired by any one person, but don't y'all think there's a little bit of that "oh no" panic in all of us when we discover one garden pest or another has arrived? I just figured it was that time of year, and wanted to encourage everyone to view their garden/yard/landscape as an ecosystem and understand that ecosystems need balance, and that includes a balanced bug population. The only people I know who have really serious insect issues are the ones who routinely spray broad-spectrum chemical pesticides (and I have folks around me in the country who do this too, it is NOT restricted to only city folks) every time they see a bug. Once they've wiped out the good bugs, there's no one left to help them with the bad bugs, and bad bugs always rebound more quickly. Andria, bugguide.net is a good bug ID site and there are others, but that's the one I use the most often. Bt products should state on their label which Bt they are, unless it is clear in their name. The ones I buy have an Ingredient list and specify which Bt in that list. Bt kurstaki is sold in many products, and often it says Caterpillar Killer in large letters on the label. You'll find it in Thuricide and Dipel, among other products and, yes, the caterpillars you see on cole family crops are controlled by this form of Bt. The 'san diego' strain used for Colorado Potato Beetles will feature a Beetle somewhere on its label or in its name, like the product 'Colorado Potato Beater". The 'israelensis' strain used for mosquito larvae will have mosquitoes on the label and is found as mosquito dunks or as a granular product you can sprinkle into ponds and other still bodies of water. To avoid harming butterflies, I try to use Bt 'kurstaki' as little as possible, but it would be hard to get a good crop of cabbage without it. I don't spray the broccoli though, and I don't spray tomato plants with Bt to kill hornworms and fruitworms. I just handpick them when I find them and count on the help of the parasitic wasps. Boomer, Thanks. I think we have more than two kinds of gardeners here...we have many kinds and we all just do the best we can with what we've got. I gardened in a big city until I was 39 years old and moved here. I remember when folks sprayed DDT for everything when I was a child. Heck, I remember us kids running or riding our bicycles in the 'mist' that came out of the tanker truck when the city sprayed for mosquitoes. (It is a wonder the chemical exposure didn't kill us all!) I've tried raising a big 8' x 10' garden in a yard that was 95% shade, and was thrilled to have 6 tomato plants. I've done square foot gardening. I've done container gardening. What I do now is Biointensive gardening the John Jeavons/Alan Chadwick way. It works better for me than anything else I've ever done. You have to work with what you've got, and we've all got different challenges. And, in case you're thinking it is easy out here in the country, let me tell you.....I have ranching neighbors who spray large amounts of chemicals and it sometimes causes me problems. You just have to deal with the hand you're dealt. I get very frustrated when their herbicide drift kills or damages plants in my garden, but there's really nothing I can do to prevent it. I don't think pesticides are used as much as they used to be out here, but they're still used at a level that makes me uncomfortable. In one very, very bad grasshopper year, so much junk was sprayed to kill grasshoppers (and it didn't kill them!) that many songbirds died. We didn't see a single bluebird for over three years. During the last decade, I've seen a big shift in attitudes here...even the diehard chemical-using farmers and ranchers are trying really hard to do things in a much more sustainable way, and that gives me hope. They used to laugh at me, the organic nut, and now some of them ask me "What would you do for....." and I try to give them the best organic answers I know. Being more sustainable and 'green' is in, and that's a really good thing. Still, even though I prefer to garden as naturally as possible, I would defend anyone's right to use a chemical product if that is what they believe is best. I just think there's a better way. I don't even like using pyrethrins/permethrins because of their toxicity, and I would never use Rotenone. Neem is OK, but I only use it as an absolute last resort...so maybe one time every three or four years. I avoid most soaps and horticultural oils because they can burn foliage in hot weather. I guess, when it comes right down to it, that's not much I use other than hand-picking, squishing, or drowning pests. I do like Spinosad and love iron phosphate/Spinosad for the sowbugs and pill bugs. I use Nolo Bait every few years for hoppers (this probably will be that year....based on what I'm seeing in terms of how large the current nymph hatch is). I use more companion planting than anyone I know, and I use the companion plants either to attract beneficials and pollinators or to repel unwanted pests. I always describe my beds as a crazy quilt, because each bed is a blend of veggies, flowers and herbs. Some of the 'old farmer' types here refer to my companion plants as 'your weeds' but I just laugh it off. In case you think I don't get that little panicky 'oh no' feeling when I see a sudden influx of pests, you're wrong. I get it too. Then, instead of reaching for a chemical solution, I work on using a natural one. There have been a couple of times that I panicked and bought a chemical pesticide, and then couldn't force myself to use it. lol Guess what? The pest issue resolved itself and I didn't lose my crop or even a significant portion of it. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing, but it has taken me my entire life to arrive at the point that I understand that. When we moved here, we had lots of pest insects, and seemingly few beneficial insects. I worked really hard for 4 or 5 years to control the bad guys and attract the good guys, and finally had one of those years where the good guys showed up and took care of the bad guys. There were a couple of years like that, and then one year, the good guys didn't come. Do you know why? Because our population of pest insects was too low to support the good bugs. It took me a while to understand that, but then it was an 'aha' moment and I finally got "it". Laura, I loved your description of your ecosystem and all the wild critters in it. I think it is simply wonderful that your daughter is learning so much at such a young age. Debra addressed the lady bug issue....all shapes, sizes, colors, including solid black ones. I've even seen pink ones here. They're pretty cute. Jleroi, Some of the most fierce battles I've ever seen are between praying mantids....but there's all kinds of life-and-death-drama between the various wild things every day. It is fascinating! Tigerdawn, This wasn't aimed at you. lol You're going to be fine. Trust me. I have a gardening friend who used to reach for the pesticide every time he saw a bug and has just decided to wait until a certain level of damage is being seen. Guess what? He rarely sees the damage rise to the level he thinks is 'too much' and now he realizes that the insects are not nearly as damaging as he thought they were. Glenda, My friend, Fred, is a big Sevin user, but he's really backed off in the last few years, and I can't tell his garden has any more pest issues than it did before. I think that after years of giving me a hard time about 'hogging all the bees', he finally decided to stop spraying so much and see if his bees would come back....and they did. He proudly stopped by one day recently while I was working outside to announce that the bees were working his fruit trees like crazy. I was excited for him. Dorothy, I think I'll look and see if Rodale has a bug guide somewhere online. You'd think they would. I used to have a great insect book, but I must have loaned it out or something because I can't find it now. All of you might get a big kick out of this: one year when our son was in high school, they had to do an Insect Collection, which of course was not high on any teenager's priority list. Once our son's classmates realized we had every bug in the world here at our place, some of them came by to 'catch bugs'. I wasn't sure if they thought it was great that we had so many bugs, or maybe terrible that we had so many, but they were able to catch all the different kinds of bugs they needed in just a couple of hours! Then they all worked together to identify them, and that helped me learn the names of some of the more obscure bugs, like Southern robber flies. After that, we were the 'go-to guys' for anyone doing a bug collection...nieces and nephews who lived in 'nuked' neighborhoods in Texas, DH's co-workers kids from Texas, etc. Need a bug? We've got 'em here. : ) And, once they came here to collect bugs, they learned we had lots of wildflowers.....which then gave them an idea where to come when it was time for the Texas kids to do a wildflower collection. Dawn...See More'Renovating' my terr.
Comments (67)Thanks, Mr. B! I was wondering when you would dare to show your face here again! =) Joking aside, there are two paphs with mottled leaves in there, and neither one is new. The one in flower in the pics is the oldest, and there is also one behind it, on the higher level. That one is Paph. Dellaina, and it has not flowered yet. bada has the same one, and his hasn't flowered yet, either. You may remember us lamenting together on the orchids forum a few months ago. =) It has six leaves now, one has died in the past (lower one), and it is just now starting a new one. Very slow-growing, and I'm starting to wonder what the problem is, because it is blooming size (I would think). And it's getting enough light, because the other one is blooming just fine! That's it's third blooming, second time in the tank, and the flower is lasting a very long time this time, which makes me happy. =) To answer your other Q's, no, I didn't have a false bottom before, and I do now, which is why the waterfall works. I also put in a stronger pump for the waterfall (next size up), so that it is a stronger flow, which I wanted, and I also built it a little higher. I replaced the potting soil substrate with cedar bark mulch, which I think is working very well (though some of the selaginella had difficulty adjusting), and I built it up in the corners for a more interesting landscape. I'm going to get a crypt this Christmas when I'm down in Georgia, because they are ridiculously expensive here. Try $13. . . I think Black Jungle has them for $5, and I'll be ordering a couple other things from them too, because they don't ship to Canada. I won't be putting it by the stream though, I'll put it on the driftwood on the right side, by the T. cyanea, in between the fern and the fittonia. I took the persian shield away, remember? So now it's just all green on that side, and it needs some red or pink or purple. =) Still need to buy some driftwood for the back wall of the tank, and then I'll be able to order some mini orchids from Andy's (which I also hope to do this Christmas), and mount them back there. so it's really taking shape! I hope to get some PDFs next summer, but we'll see. I may be pregnant again by then and feeling too crappy to take care of some new pets, especially since it involves culturing the food myself. =P And yeah, I'm very pleased with the placement of the nep. I just kind of stuck it there, and then I realized, Hey, that looks really good! I love the way the pitchers can hang nicely, and of course it stays nice and moist and humid right next to the waterfall. BTW, I AM old enough to drive! You can get your licence when you're 16 here, so I could have been driving for YEARS by now. No interest in it though. My learner's expires next spring, and I don't even think I'll renew it until I actually start learning to drive. I find it far too involved. I prefer to just sit and look out the window. =) More pics will be forthcoming! I'm having my parents over this Friday, so I'll take a couple more then, showing what it looks like now (with the new plants and the bridge and all)....See MoreLooking for ideas for something new
Comments (14)I also think that Mr. B has a cool idea there. Or you might want to try kind of a reverse hang-on overflow. Saltwater tanks often use this system of filtration when they use a sump but the tank isn't pre-drilled with an overflow box inside. Do you know what I'm talking about? If not, talk to the people at your local saltwater fish store. Normally the water is flowing INTO the overflow from the tank and then going down into the sump, but you could just reverse the flow, without needing a sump, so that the water is coming up from the false bottom (would require the right plumbing, which would probably also involve drilling the tank) and then flowing into the tank, so that it appears the water is flowing out of the aquarium and down the waterfall. Another animal suggestion I forgot about is a Fire-Belly Toad. They are really a frog, and have very attractive colours. You do need to keep them in small groups (just like PDFs), but they are better swimmers, and are semi-aquatic, so they actually require a larger water area than PDFs. I don't think they're excellent swimmers, so 12" might be a bit deep, but it might be okay if you have some emergent aquatics, like a large Amazon Sword. Actually, I just realized that if you make the pool 12" deep, it will visually divide the height of your tank exactly in half, and that is generally considered to be UNaesthetic. Thirds are more attractive, so you should actually make the pool only 8-10" deep. I think that large schools of neons are absolutely stunning! They seem to be the perfect fish for planted aquariums. If you want things to look larger than they are though (the 'bonsai' fish idea), then cat sharks are a good choice. They will eventually grow huge, and I don't know if they're plant safe, but they really do look like mini sharks! They even have the smooth skin, unlike those so called 'Bala sharks'. Their scales are so big they look like normal fish, not sharks. Cat sharks are brackish when very young though, so that might not work. Perhaps a figure-eight puffer, which would also eat any snails that appear? I don't know, but cory cats are also great. Aren't they cute? =) Oh yeah, if your entire false bottom is 12" high, then you are taking away lots of your wonderful height for the land part! You have the option for some nice taller plants if you keep the land level lower. Also, you will need to hide that false bottom, so then the terrarium tank will appear much smaller than the aquarium tank, and I don't know if you want that with them right beside each other. I have seen water dished for cats and dogs that have a small jug of water attached to the bowl. The jug can be full of water but it doesn't overflow into the dish. Perhaps you could do something like that, with the same principle? (whatever it is, I'm sure Nathan knows). =) Nathan: I have a Mac. I would use Safari, which is better, but I don't like the way the bookmarks work, so I use Internet Explorer. I'll deal with it. =)...See Moresahoyaref
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