Today's shots: hot, hot summer days

I wanted to remember how dry and dead the property gets after a hot couple of weeks.  It's the middle of August.  Tomorrow and the next day has a forcast of temperature over 100 deg F.  My soil still has almost no fungi and no protozoa nor nematodes.  It is still succesptible to drought.  Hopefully, next year we'll see a drastic change for the better at this time of year.

Slug ideas

From Mike Hoag (Lillie House Zoo) on Facebook.  I wonder if I can order firefly larva online.

I saw a slug a few days ago! Don’t think I saw one last year. That was my first of the year. I got firefly slug crew keeping them in check for reals. And that’s in a deep mulch chop and drop garden with LOTS of tender greens.

BUT, that means keeping some long unmown grasses near the vegetable beds or in them, because that’s where fireflies complete their lifecycle. Gotta tolerate some nature, and if that looks “messy,” no slug patrol for u.

Biodiversity resiliency principle FTW.

Mike Hoag

Year 1, slugs weren’t BAD. Year 2, slugs were starting to kick in but so were vespids and fireflies. Year 3 was probably peak slug, and they almost required management, but I didn’t actually do anything. Year 4 they were in decline. Since then, they haven’t been a noticeable problem.

Mike Hoag

When we moved in fireflies were rare, so there was a slug problem. Luckily, the yard was so dead that slug populations were low, too. But now we’ve got lots of fireflies and no slug problem. NATURE. WHOA.

Mike Hoag

It takes time for ecosystems to come into balance. Also, the adult fireflies may live in an area, but it is in the larval and pupal stages that they eat slugs, and these stages require long unmown grasses and undisturbed soil. So there may be lots of fireflies hovering around the garden, but if the garden is being dug and there aren’t some long grassy areas very near the beds, or if there are barriers like raised beds between them, then the fireflies can’t get to the slug buffet.

Mmmm mmmm sluggy sluggy goodness for firefly larva. Image: backyardsforwildlife Dot org.

Mike Hoag

Notice this fella doesn’t have wings. And it hatched from an egg laid at the base of a long grass plant. If there are barriers or raised beds between him and the slug buffet, he’s not going to be able to get there.