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Clicking in flowerbeds!
Zen Dog
Posts: 51
Sitting in garden late June evening and I can hear a clicking sound in the flowerbed. I know there's a "click beetle" so looked it up and was most alarmed my garden was under attack from yet another pest. I can't see anything when searching through foliage, though its not very light. I've never heard this sound before and sit out a lot so wonder if its a night time "thing." What I've read says the click beetle (if that's what it is), is a menace to veggies but haven't seen any info on flowers. I'm very much a novice so any advice/guidance would be hugely appreciated. I'm sorry if there's already a thread on "clicking borders" but I couldn't find out how to search. Thank you all.
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Do you have broom? In hot weather you can hear the seed pods popping open.
Thank you. I read short article about wire worms and root damage after I'd panicked and posted on here, but still no idea what to do about them. I figured evicting the adults would mean fewer worms but if I can't find them that's not going to work! I'll keep searching here for wire worm info. Nematodes seem their only nemasis (attempt at humor), but rather pricey for me. Thanks again for your swift reply
Relax, just another creature of the garden.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I know, I'm very much a nature lover, but since I'm on a very tight budget I'm not keen on my plants being destroyed. My garden is very "informal" wildlife friendly but despite frogs and newts etc i'm still over run with slugs and snails. I won't kill them, so I'm slowly learning which plants suffer least. An additional "threat" means more pricey trial and error, haha. I try not to stress too much but its sad to see the demise of plants I've watched "grow up." I'm afraid I'm not a true gardener in any sense. I'm not "professional" enough to put my plants first and kill pests but not brave enough to leave them to their fate. I "relocate" what I can. Would love more natural predators. Thanks for your reply
It's not 'professional' to kill species you don't personally value, It's short-sighted and self-centred (aka human
). Natural predators move in gradually once you let the balance establish. This won't happen while parts of the system are being removed/destroyed.
In the sticks near Peterborough
It would be a shame to wage war on the entirety of nature. Especially as 'big business' is already progressing nicely with its own. Why not just enjoy the clicking sound rather than trying to silence it? I imagine it would have to explode to an infestation to actually destroy your plant entirely. I keep making the error of putting Dahlias in the ground, same spot every year, and every year they get stripped by slugs. I'm never going to kill all the slugs in my garden and I have no desire to either, so I'll just have to learn to grow something else there and put my Dahlias in a pot.