Last year, I thought enemy #1 was that white butterfly. This year, I have only seen a few - so far. Maybe, they are just waiting for me to get Over my euphoria - so early. However, so far, the only critter in any large number, has been aphis on my cabbage. Granted with all of the rain and cool weather, the cabbage crop has been phenomenal. The aphis were late in coming, so the cabbages had a chance to head up before their arrival in great numbers. I stripped a lot of the lower leaves from the cabbages, mostly with aphis infestation, and fed them to the chickens. They loved the extra protein, and perhaps my actions helped control the problem as well. I used to have a lot of problem with pill/sow bugs, but once I started leaving my sifted compost to air after screening and adding to my planting boxes, it seemed to control that problem. The birds feasted on the pill bugs while it was "resting" after being screened out of the compost pile. I may regret my comment about the cabbage worm in a few months, but I really think that one bird in my backyard has made a big difference. It is a phoebe. A few years back, I kept bees - actually they "kept" me, because our back yard was adopted by bees that were orphaned when the back country was devastated by wild fires. Anyway, phoebe appeared at about that time and liked catching bees on the fly. Now the bee population had dwindled, and phoebe is catching other "flyers" I see. So - yes, this organic philosphy seems to be working - sometimes takes awhile, but I see daylight. Bejay

I did have some insect damage last year (first year completely organic which means no MG). I've never sprayed poisons. I had bean plants, corn, tomatoes, herbs, cukes, watermelons. The damage was very minimal...the worst was the worms that ate through my tomatoes, and even that wasn't bad, just frustrating. However, since last fall I do have a garden enemy that is making me rethink my all natural approach: VOLES. They've eaten several plant roots and some plants. I think I'll have to set out mousetraps....which goes against my whole philosphy. However, after the damage they have inflicted in my beds around the house, I can't have them eating the food for my family. A flea beetle? Nothing. These guys are relentless and breeding like crazy.

So even though this is turning into more of a blog than a forum discussion, I thought I'd provide some updates. I was searching the internet for American Hornbeam pests when I found a forum discussion about Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs on another website. Suddenly I remembered that I have had dozens of them over-wintering in my bonsai room, though until recently I haven't gone to much trouble to get rid of them because they didn't appear to be doing any harm to my resident tropicals. Over the past few months though I have reduced their numbers to the point that I only see 1 every other day or so, so there are very few (if any) left at this point. Here is a dead one that I fished out of my humidity tray just a few minutes ago. These insects have antennas, but this one soaked in the water long enough that they have folded down to where you cannot see them. Has anyone had trouble with these insects eating or damaging bonsai leaves in the past? Does anyone know if they are potential bonsai pests? I read online that they could potentially cause damage to houseplants, but no specifics were provided. Also, while searching the tree again for pests, I stumbled upon what looks to be a scale infestation of the bark (only at canopy height, none found lower). I have dealt with scale on Ficus leaves before, but have never seen scale on bark/hardwood. Is this possible? I have posted pictures of what I believe to be scale below, as well as videos of me removing the scale (in hopes that someone can view them and confirm that this is indeed scale). I've also posted pictures of the marking left on the bark following scale removal, and some close ups of the scales following removal. The last picture is a close up (via microscope) of the yellow puss-looking inhabitant found under these shells. Though I am pretty sure that this is scale, I'd really appreciate if someone could confirm! Also, what pesticides are safe to use on Hornbeams? I realize that the safest thing to do is to scrape them all off, but I have little confidence that I can find them all (there are A LOT).

There's a good chance instead of butterfly, you had a sawfly larvae infestation. They can strip the foliage in very little time and since the same color as the leaf and very small, can go unnoticed until too late. My neighbor and I have both lost foliage so quickly (almost overnight) she was blaming deer - it was sawfly larvae. http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppdl/weeklypics/weekly_picture5-6-02-1.html