Rebecca J Hanna

#ThomasSowell

#funny

Credit: Guardians of Nature (Facebook) Those white silk tents in the forks of your cherry and apple trees appeared this week. They're full of caterpillars. And your first instinct is wrong. Eastern Tent Caterpillars are native. They've been in North America for as long as the trees have. They appear every March in silken communal tents built in the crotches of fruit trees — wild cherry, apple, crabapple. The tents are conspicuous and alarming. Dozens of hairy caterpillars streaming out of a white web looks like an infestation. It's not. It's a food delivery system for every nesting bird in your yard. A single tent colony contains forty to three hundred caterpillars. Each one is a calorie-dense, soft-bodied, slow-moving protein packet. Chickadees, titmice, orioles, cuckoos, and at least twenty other species feed on tent caterpillars during the critical nesting period when they need the most protein. Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos are among the few birds that eat hairy caterpillars — and tent caterpillar outbreaks are what trigger cuckoo nesting in an area. No caterpillars, no cuckoos. The trees survive. A healthy cherry or apple tree can lose most of its leaves to tent caterpillars in spring and fully releaf by June. The damage looks dramatic in April and is invisible by July. Spraying kills the caterpillars — and eliminates the primary food source for birds that are feeding nestlings right now. 🌿 This week: - If you see silk tents in cherry, apple, or crabapple trees, leave them alone — the birds will find them within days - If you absolutely must remove a tent, do it by hand at dawn (caterpillars are inside the tent before sunrise) and relocate the branch to a wild area - Do not spray Bt or any pesticide on tent caterpillars — Bt kills all caterpillar species, including monarchs and luna moths - The tents dissolve on their own by mid-May The silky mess in your fruit tree is the grocery delivery your nesting birds ordered. It arrives every March. Let it. 🌿 #TentCaterpillars #NativeCaterpillars #BirdFood

Credit: Gardening Tips and Tricks (Facebook) Hello. I’m the Sapsucker. Sorry for the "drill bit" rows of holes I left in your pine tree. I know it looks like I’m a carpenter with a grudge, but I’m an "ecosystem engineer." I drill those holes to sip sap, but I’m not the only one who's hungry. Over 40 species of birds and insects rely on the 'sap wells' I create in early Spring. Hummingbirds, especially, use my wells as a critical energy source in March before the flowers bloom. Without me, many early migrants would starve during a late spring frost. What to do: Don't wrap the tree or try to stop me. Most healthy trees handle the "sap well" holes easily. I’m just the guy keeping the nectar flowing for the team. I’m sorry I’m a "vandal." But the hummingbirds are alive this March because of me. #Woodpecker #Sapsucker #Hummingbirds #NatureFact #TreeCare

#bugs #gardening

#AlanWatts

Credit : Garden Success Tips (Facebook) The weeds in your garden beds aren't random. Every species thriving right now is a soil report you didn't ask for. Pull them if you want. But read them first. Broadleaf plantain dominates compacted ground where pore space has collapsed. If it's taking over a bed, the soil needs structural loosening before you plant anything else. White clover fixes its own nitrogen, which means it outcompetes everything else only when soil nitrogen is already low — its density maps your deficiency. Dandelion taproots fracture compacted subsoil and mine calcium from depth. A bed full of dandelions is flagging both compaction and mineral depletion at once. Horsetail appears almost exclusively in waterlogged acidic ground with poor drainage — one of the most specific soil diagnoses any weed can give. Lamb's quarters thrive in fertile biologically active soil with high organic matter. They're a competitive nuisance but actually a good sign — your soil biology is working. Chickweed does the same in cool moist conditions. Wood sorrel signals acidic soil below about six pH, especially in beds that have been heavily cropped without amendment. Curly dock is deep-rooted and shows up in wet compacted acidic soil — when dock dominates, the bed usually has multiple overlapping problems. Purslane appears in dry recently disturbed soil with decent fertility but poor water retention. 🌱 What to do with the report: - Plantain and dandelion dominant — the bed needs loosening. A broadfork session before planting opens the structure without destroying soil biology - Clover dominant — add compost or a nitrogen-rich amendment like composted manure before planting. The clover is compensating for what the soil lacks - Horsetail — improve drainage before anything else. Raised beds or heavy compost incorporation lifts the planting zone above the waterlogged layer - Wood sorrel or dock — test pH and add lime if it's below six. These two are the clearest acid indicators in most gardens - Lamb's quarters and chickweed — your soil is already fertile. Pull them and plant directly. No amendment needed The weeds aren't the problem. They're the report. Read them once and every bed tells you what it needs before you spend a cent 🌿 #gardening

Credit:Home and Garden Tips (Facebook) "Hello. I’m the Carpenter Bee. Sorry for the "sawdust" on your patio. I know you think I’m destroying your house, but I’m just drilling a small, perfect 1/2 inch hole for my nest. I don't eat wood; I just move it. I can vibrate my body to "buzz pollinate" flowers that honeybees can't even touch. I am the reason your tomatoes and blueberries are so big. I am a heavy-lifting pollination expert. What to do: Paint or stain your wood—I only like raw wood! Give me a "bee block" (a piece of scrap 4x4 with holes) away from the house, and I’ll move there. I’m sorry for the "drilling." But your berry harvest is huge because of me." #CarpenterBee #Pollinators #BuzzPollination #NatureIsCool #GardenHelpers See less

#MarionWoodman

#gardening #fruittrees

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#gardening #nature #prayingmantis

"The masses are always wrong. Wisdom is doing everything the crowd does not do. All you do is reverse the totality of their learning and you have the heaven they're looking for." - Charles Bukowski

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