they use every means possible, including scent, and color, and also time of the year - most insects have a life [breeding] cycle that matches their preffered hosts occurance - ie: if you plant broccoli things later than usual you'll miss the first flush of cole family pests, and hopefully the plants will be big enuff to withstand later hatchings - some also tend to work at a certain level, and sometimes you can protect the plant simply by putting collars around the stem to keep the things like cutworms away, and a 2' "fence" of clear plastic along your carrot rows will keep out certain carrot root flies garlic, onion, cayenne and other strong scented things are good general protection, and growing those things, as well as things like marigolds, around your crops will help as well as the spraying - lotsa 'companion plant' possibilities, and using the traits of the bugs against them is part of what IPM is about, as well as organic growing Bill

Brendan Had damage from Wilma so last year I "loosened "it up rather than tightened.lol Took everything off the roof except 4 inch vinyl lattice. Going to use vines for shade come summer. The first time I used Zebra finches ,second time orange cheek waxbills.. These didn't work at all for several reasons besides being killed by rats lol The runaway best has been Honeycreepers. No mess of seed eaters and since I water every third day liquid droppings are no problem. They are voracious insect eaters main problem with keeping them in cages.. One small problem they ate EVERY insect so had to supply pinhead crickets. Again no problem as I keep Anoles ,geckoes and two skinks. They ate all the lady bugs as well as the mantis which is why if I try it again thought I'd go up to those tropical GIANTS lol. It's kind of fun to try to get it balanced out but I fear impossible in susch a small area. Warning for those thinking of using Anoles.lol Given good conditions your pair will turn into hundreds lol. Besides what happens when you run out of bugs?? They will starve. I let them come and go as they choose as they are quite common here in florida so if they run out of food they just go outside. Now that the roof is open again I'm attracting wild birds. Which solves some problems creates others. lol Of couse this means I can't keep domestic birds I'm going to try the honeycreepers again not so much for the bug eating but because two clutches would pay for the entire remake of the shadehouse And also they are my favorite bird. Nothing more beautiful than a male in full color. Wilma almost wiped out my bird collection and was thinking of giving them up. except in the dedicated aviary. There are soooooo many problems with keeping birds and I'm getting old lol I added some California and button quail to the aviary as a method of weed control. Too soon for results but they are delightful to watch and they do clean up the floor. Rats and snakes are just minor problems in aviculture unfortuneately . If your thinking of using finches for bug control I could make some suggestions or at leat tell you which ones to avoid lol gary

These do eat plants when their numbers are high. They do. There should be no debating this. If anyone doesn't believe it, they haven't had an infestation of pill bugs and don't really have the experience to help someone regarding. I cannot grow legume or peas without killing these bugs in the area or they will take down every one of the healthy seedlings. I drench the soil in the area with liquid spinosad. Once the plant is established, it's good. I gotta eat, too. I read somewhere that pill bugs remove metals and is likely to remove some toxins in the soil. I'm still trying to figure why I have so many and what purpose they are serving beyond the normal "eat decaying matter".

Thanks Felix and Anna. :-) I had no idea about the electricity issue and red ants - I'll keep an eye out for them. I don't have them in the yard at this point. I've been bitten by them before and they hurt like a beastie. I did see a few mounds this spring but with your explanation Anna I think they were regular non-harmful ants. They are gone now and haven't returned. I'll keep an eye out and watch my ants from now on. Also looks like I've got a bit of research ahead of me. Never thought I'd have to learn about ants. :-p Anna, do you find that the white moth like insects cause any harm? I kind of like how they swirl about when I walk but I don't want to encourage a bad bug or an invasive bug. In Portland I used absolutely no pesticides. I controlled the bug population with plants and natural means. I'm not too keen on chemicals because of how they tend to leech into the water tables and affect things beyond the intended target. For example, I used allium and marigolds to control aphids and ants. I encouraged butterflies by planting liatris. For honey bees, lots of various flowers that they could feed and be happy fat bees. I want to repeat that here if possible. I'm not a big chemical fan. The only time I ever used chemicals in Portland was to kill a hornets nest.