Gross Things

“Haircuts and Sphingids”

ESPatch Aug 14, 2010 17 comments

“Look at that probosces…yeah baby, yeah”!

Sphingids are a family of moths, commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms. They have been much studied for their flying ability, especially their ability to move rapidly from side to side while hovering, called ‘swing-hovering.’

It is thought that this evolved to deal with ambush predators that lie in wait in flowers. This bird loves the luminous night blossoms of the Sacred Datura plant, also called “jimsonweed” or “devil’s weed”, the blooms of this plant last only for one summer night and as such must work fast to attract pollinators, and what pollinators it attracts!

The large Manduca sphinx moths are not only essential pollinators of the night-blooming datura plant, but the plant’s surplus foliage supports the developing larvae of these sphingids. It’s called mutualism. The larva develops over twenty days and then molts to the pupa stage. The larva then drops to the ground and burrows into the soil where it constructs a pupal cell immediately before pupating.

The adult moths feed on nectar, this one was in a complete frenzy, it smacked into me twice while ‘swing-hovering’, before it audibly “ka-flumped” as it belly-flopped into this bloom. The body of this moth is about the size of a mouse (with a wingspan brrr) and I have to say it was quite disconcerting as it drunkenly careened into me at full velocity, pausing only for some freaky under-chin fluttering nonsense, every time the camera flash went off.

Needless to say, I only got these two shots in before wildly slapping myself around the neck area and running blindly (the flash had semi blinded me) for the safety of my house. I could hear “fluttering” immediately behind me as I stumbled.

I went out this evening, intending to stay out, to conduct some, temperate midnight mulching (as you do). As the light disappeared in the Patch, I switched on the lamp strapped to my forehead and entered a quiet and relaxed state of maniacal mulching. Mulching is great, it is not loud – no fear of waking the kids or the neighbors like a bobcat has a tendency to do, and applying it offers an instant visual gratification whilst smothering the weeds. At least it does if performed in the daytime…

…the added benefit of midnight mulching is the next morning, when you wake up and get to see your work in its entirety.

Now to the haircuts…

I could stand it no longer, the dreadlocks, the matted island hair, these mounds of straw had to be taken care of immediately…it was time for crew-cuts all round for my Mexican feather grasses.

I could hear them all moaning and complaining as I walked down the pathway to my shed to retrieve my shearing implements and the bib that I will position around each one’s shoulders as I move among them. Now is a good time to trim these grasses a little as a) if you are like me, you are probably completely fed up looking at their teenage mops and b) by cutting them back in August, it allows the plant time to recover and grow back for good winter form.

Ahhh, so much better, I can see their faces again…I must stop brushing up against that Jimsonweed!

You know it is hot when even the amaranth starts to wilt (right).

There was one lucky girl that did escape the barbers wrath…

That was because her hair was adorned with these lacewing jewels, that I just happened to see at the very last minute. Stalked eggs are typical of lacewings. The larvae are so hungry and ferocious, that if the eggs were grouped the first one to hatch would end up devouring its siblings.

I take it your siblings did not have the luxury of stalks FB?

Here are some more hanging from one of my sotols. The theory is that the stalks ensure a higher birth and survival rate, due to the fact that the larvae have to climb down the stalks.

“Facinating ESP”. Zzzz

While I was on my back with my face buried under foliage trying to capture a shot of these minuscule eggs I glanced over and saw this monster looming above me, in fact I only had to shuffle over a few inches to take this shot.

Ahhhh!

Cicada shells are almost as bizarre as the actual insect. Pam over there at Digging recently took a great picture of a cicada, riding it’s trusty steed: http://www.penick.net/digging/?p=8861 I am just glad this one did not decide to dismount as I took this shot, oh yes, I would have been sent running wildly into my house, clawing once again at my neck region…I wonder what my neighbors must think?

Moving on…

Purple heart has responded to our Texas august heat by saturating to even deeper shades of purple.

The foliage on my Madame Ganna Walska tropical waterlily is as interesting as the blooms and like the purple hearts, they are also very saturated at this time of the year.

I found this old tomatillo lantern on the floor underneath the mother plant…

…a plant that is threatening to take over an entire corner of the Patch.

Although quite beautiful, this is now the surface film of the sinking mosquito dunk (I featured a few posts back) that has developed in my “everything but the kitchen sink” rainwater collection “system”. I am not surprised this will kill mosquito larva, but really! I am now fearful of even using this water on my plants, even though the packaging stipulates it is completely safe.

Finally:

After I removed the mesh from my tomato plants a couple of months ago, I rolled it up tightly and stuffed it underneath my shed. Today, walking up to get my shovel to plant a new oleander, I noticed that a corner of it was poking out.

I investigated further and found this:

A Texas spiny lizard.

Sceloporus olivaceus

This poor chap had himself completely entangled. The above picture was taken after about ten minutes of careful snipping with some scissors. The hobbits were very excited to see one of these up close, considering how fast and shy these creatures typically are. The worst part of the snipping I saved till last, the neck and head, he kept attacking the ends of the snippers. A few final tighter snips and he was free, I cannot tell you how fast that creature took off!

I took the mesh immediately indoors.

I will leave you with this…the Gene Simmons of the butterfly world.

Stay Tuned (once again) for:

“Wilson”

All material © 2010 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Nose Boulder”

ESPatch Jul 24, 2010 18 comments

“Gross Alert”…”Gross Alert…Condition Red”… Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

The other day we were having a late lunch / early dinner accompanied by our hobbits. We had the usual “musical chairs” kerfuffle as we always do facing the simple, but apparently daunting entity…a rectangular table with four chairs surrounding it! It is like we all have to subliminally agree who sits where like a family of dogs battling to get pole position in the basket. The despair on our twenty-something waiter’s face was tangible, I was him in another life. Once finally settled, the same waiter came back to take our food order, as he approached the table, I noticed him, noticing my youngest, extracting a rather stubborn… (I had no idea mining had prematurely started…it wasn’t scheduled) “nose boulder”, a boulder that, if frosted, would not have looked out of place on the North face of K2, oh yes, it cast a sinister dark shadow over the table on its rather ungainly and secretive birth. My appetite receded.

With the substantial “ore” now presenting itself proudly on his unsanitary stalagmite finger, my wife was on it before I even had chance to move in slow motion toward it, moaning a long drawn-out Hollywood “Nooooooooo!”

As fast as the unmentionable was was smothered by a napkin, a reaction ensued that nobody, including the restaurant kitchen staff, waiters, front of house, could ever of anticipated…we had apparently unleashed the…

with our nasal-prospecting denial…with one final desperate lunge across the table he tried to re-obtain his “precious”, out of nowhere he screamed out…

“Hey!…I was gonna’ eat dat!”

A silence fell over the establishment.

Moving quickly on…

I walked around to my stock tank early this morning, optimistically hoping that perhaps it may have showered during the night. Not yet quite awake, (pre-coffee), I walked up to the tank to take a look.

As I peered inside, this fledgling blue jay erupted with a horrific scream that could have woken the

I was amazed how such a small bird could deliver such a decibel level. I scooped it up into a bucket and quickly released it before it could gather itself and emit the ear bleeding racket once again. The bird’s parents immediately flew into a nearby tree and started to call for it.

After my shattered morning nerves had returned to normal, I wandered to my papyrus stock tank. I had recently added a couple of canna lily transplants and wanted to check in on them.

This worm has a winter tree-lined avenue scene on the side of it, complete with white fluffy clouds.

Canna lilies are mostly pest-free, but like these recent transplants they sometimes fall victim to the Canna Leaf Roller, a particularly disturbing and destructive olive worm. This is the larva of the Brazilian skipper butterfly

Photo by the Massachusetts Butterfly Club

Calpodes ethlius

also known at the Larger Canna Leaf Roller. The worms cut the canna leaves and roll them over to live inside the cozy domicile while pupating and scoffing down on the leaf, and can they scoff! Look at my new cannas!

It has been a week of finding new insects in the Patch, three to be precise, the next one was waiting for me as I turned over one of my rotating compost bins…

Perhaps a long horned beetle of some sort? Check out those front feet.

And finally…

A Squash Vine Borer,

Melittia cucurbitae

found where else, but on one of my squash plants. The adult squash vine borer are active during the daytime and rest on the leaves in the evening, different from most moths that are active at night. The borer is a caterpillar as a nymph and a moth as an adult.

The moth is often mistaken for a bee or wasp because of its movements, and the bright orange hindleg scales. The females typically lay their eggs at the base of leaf stalks, and the caterpillars develop and feed inside the stalk, eventually killing the leaf. They soon migrate to the main stem, where they will reap complete havoc on the plant, eventually killing it.

World Exclusive…

A Naboo tribesman has been captured on camera, and you will not believe who captured this never before seen tribal member. On a recent visit to the ESPatch, Ivette Soler… http://thegerminatrix.com/ took this spectacular photograph, a photograph that will go down in the horticultural historical records as the first ever glimpse of this reclusive, sometimes cannibalistic tribe member.

You have to zoom in on this infamous discovery…I could not believe it myself…a warrior peeking out of the amaranth stems, is that a tribal headdress on the right?

You didn’t really think I was making them up did you?

After all of my moaning about my tomatillo plants, getting huge and just sitting there…doing basically nothing. Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by this scene today! It seemed like this happened over night, small lanterns were hanging all over the plants, and there were lots of them, all different sizes.

And to think I almost pulled them out. With the now forming tomatillos has come another curious creature that apparently likes to eat them…

…and quite aesthetically apt for this post title.

This is either the larvae of the Three Lined Lema Beetle, or the Three Lined Potato Beetle, it is really hard to tell unless you can find the eggs and so far I haven’t.

Yes folks, you guessed it, these tiny slugs with their swollen bodies and black heads have an annoying habit of piling their own excrement on their backs…they really do. What an extreme defensive measure (involuntary gag reflex).

Note to self: Must never try mimicking this larvae, no matter how threatened I ever feel.

Other exciting news on the vegetable front:

I have a pole bean, I have a pole bean!

And a few egg plants.

And one or two caterpillars! Annie, they love your sunflower!…I have never seen such a hairy congregation, any guesses as to what they are? I did try to pick the brain…

of this dragonfly, but he appeared to have already had his brain removed? Brrr.

My pokeweed fruit has matured to indigo, the stems turning quickly from green to this crazy pink. It appears the birds have already found them.

And Finally…

I have a new resident in one of my water lilies, sporting a sort of full-face, Hitler-esk mustache. Some unsuspecting insect is in for a bit of a scare, when alighting on this bloom. Oh yes, this image did make it to my “Looks like” page:

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/visual-comparativies/

Stay Tuned for:

“On the Chain Gang”