disease-pests Harlequin Bugs and Community Garden etiquette.

[Bicycle808]

So, I´m growing some plants at the local Community Garden and I was mortified by something I saw when I was checking my plot earlier today.  A lady is growing Kale in a bed right next to mine, and her kale plants were looking pretty grim, with all sorts of zombie symptoms, such as grey discoloration and wilting.  We´ve all seen the TV programs, right?

So, upon closer inspection, i noticed these shitty tiger-striped bugs all over her kale.  There were probably about a dozen or more within clear view; who knows how many more were lurking among the foliage?  Most of the ones in plain sight were joined at the azz, and were clearly banging one another.  I immediately panicked, and checked my plants for any sign of a similar infestation.  Fortunately, i saw none on my chiles, nor on my wife´s tomatoes...
 
Now, wanting to be neighborly, i went back to the kale thinking i smash those little scumbags for the other gardener, and for the better good of the Community Garden.  My wife said i ought not to; her line of reasoning was that we shouldn´t muss with another grower´s plot, and we might do more harm than good.  I suspect she was more concerned that I was going to plaster myself with bug guts before getting back in her car and heading to the gym, but i acquiesced, vowing to do some more research on the critters and the level of threat they represent.
 
Turns out, the tiger striped bugs are Harlequin Bugs, Murgantia histrionica.  These are a kind of stink bug, and they can be pretty brutal.  Apparently, they prefer to eff with  cruciferous vegetables, which might explain why they were mobbing her kale but leaving our nightshades well enough alone, but my research suggests that they WILL move onto the tomatoes and even the peppers once they´ve exhausted the kale. I´m panicking quite a bit about these things, now.
 
Example pic below; warning:  NSFW.

 
So, what do y´all think?  Should I have crushed the bugs I saw?  Would that be a step across some sort of line; is it a violation of gardening manners?  Personally, I be grateful if someone squished pests on my plants; further, i be thankful of anyone who worked to keep the entire Community safe from these things.  Should i go back and stomp´m tomorrow?  Or should I let the other grower deal with them herself, and worry about my plants if/when they migrate to my beds?
 
Thanks in advance for any advice or perspective. 
 
 

 

[hogleg]

Rather than doing the dirtfloorcracker dance (which we know you are fond of) get some food grade DE and while spreading it amongst your plot as a preventative, you could accidentally throw a few handfuls in the general direction of that kale plot.
 
 jus my 2 bits  

 

[Bicycle808]

Rather than doing the dirtfloorcracker dance (which we know you are fond of) get some food grade DE and while spreading it amongst your plot as a preventative, you could accidentally throw a few handfuls in the general direction of that kale plot.
 
 jus my 2 bits  

 
I can dig it.  I was thinking of smushing them by hand (rather than by stompin´), but I bet the diatomaceous earth would be example of working smarter, not harder.  Is food-grade DE the type of thing i could generally get someplace local (I live in the dense ´burbs of Philadelphia, where things are generally more available than a lot of other areas...) or will i need to wait for shipping from an online source?  B/c i´m itching to gain vengeance on these beasts. . .

 

[BlackFatalii]

 
 Personally, I be grateful if someone squished pests on my plants; further, i be thankful of anyone who worked to keep the entire Community safe from these things.  
 
 

 
 
That would be my perspective as well. However, I have never grown in a community garden, so I have no idea what the guidelines are for that. I can see where messing around with another grower's plants might be frowned upon. At a minimum, I would be thinking about planting some kale or similar plant myself between her kale and the peppers, just as a decoy for when they finish with her kale. Then, if they later migrate to your decoys, you can murder them all with a clear conscience 

 

[hogleg]

 
I can dig it.  I was thinking of smushing them by hand (rather than by stompin´), but I bet the diatomaceous earth would be example of working smarter, not harder.  Is food-grade DE the type of thing i could generally get someplace local (I live in the dense ´burbs of Philadelphia, where things are generally more available than a lot of other areas...) or will i need to wait for shipping from an online source?  B/c i´m itching to gain vengeance on these beasts. . .

 
Home Depot should have it. Should be pretty easy to find locally with a brief search.

 

[BlackFatalii]

 
 I was thinking of smushing them by hand (rather than by stompin

 
 
Nah, stompin works. Nobody really needs kale anyways 

 

[Bicycle808]

 
Home Depot should have it. Should be pretty easy to find locally with a brief search.

 
Good to know.  I´ll pick some up tomorrow, and read about its proper use on the Googler, in the meantime..

 
 
Nah, stompin works. Nobody really needs kale anyways 

I hear ya, generally speaking, but this specific kale is so putrid now, i don´t think that even the most ardent kale enthusiast would touch it, except with his/her (the most ardent kale enthusiast is prolly a ¨her¨) stompin´ boots.  But, you must understand-- the only reason I´d hesitate to stomp that vile & defiled kale is out of respect for the other grower´s plants.  I´ll have you know, Sir, that i´ve studied under Mike Smith (of Tom Smith´s Plants, in Denbighshire); I know quite a lot about chivalry, staring at runty pods, and all manner of feats concerning derring-do.  I´d never stomp a lady´s greens, especially without her consent and explicit permission.  To do so would simply be 

 untoward.
 
In summary, I´m ready to rock the DE tomorrow afternoon.  Afterwards, I´ll just kiss it up to Jah and hope for the best, but I´ll definitely stomp those little bastards if they set their little bug-paws on my peppers. 

 

[catherinew]

I hear your community garden concerns. I have a guy next to me whose plot is a jungle. He also has huge kale, Swiss Chard, and radishes that are blooming throughout his area. What a mess. Weeds everywhere. I just do my best to keep my area clean and pest free. If you can find Surround WP, it's a good preventative for bugs. Luckily we haven't seen your harlequin bugs here - yet.

Good luck w/ your garden. Just keep checking for those pests.

 

[Bicycle808]

I hear your community garden concerns. I have a guy next to me whose plot is a jungle. He also has huge kale, Swiss Chard, and radishes that are blooming throughout his area. What a mess. Weeds everywhere. I just do my best to keep my area clean and pest free. If you can find Surround WP, it's a good preventative for bugs. Luckily we haven't seen your harlequin bugs here - yet.

Good luck w/ your garden. Just keep checking for those pests.

Yeah, i guess the best and worst aspect of a Community Garden is the ¨community¨ component.  You gotta take the good with the bad.  A lot of the other growers at the garden are great--helpful, considerate, neighborly.  Others, not so much. A lot of folks plant the garden out in the spring, and then just ghost on it entirely.  And in years past, they´ve had thievery issues (and someone did steal a pod from me.... see my glog for details LOL...)  The lady with the Harlequin bugs is normally a great grower; she´s just out of town this week so she´s probably not even aware of the problem. 

 

[catherinew]

Community Garden thievery - all too common. I heard one of the visitors say that a community garden was for the community. Gave him the lecture about ownership, fees, etc. I wonder if he's the one who has taken ALL of my zucchini!  All of it!

 

[Sinn]

Community Garden thievery - all too common. I heard one of the visitors say that a community garden was for the community. Gave him the lecture about ownership, fees, etc. I wonder if he's the one who has taken ALL of my zucchini!  All of it!

Wow how greedy [emoji20]


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