Beneficial Insects: Ladybugs

Ladybug Eating an Aphid

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3554/3577152765_e15c334b55.jpg

Ladybugs
aka Ladybirds (if you are in most English speaking areas of the world other than the U.S.),
aka Lady Beetles
aka Ladybird Beetles

Latin Name: Coccinellidea species  (Over 5,000 species in the world.  Over 450 in North America)

Why are they beneficial?
Adults and larvae feed on soft-bodied pests, mites, and pest eggs.
They LOVE aphids!
A larvae will eat about 400 aphid prior to pupating.
An Adult can consume over 5,000 aphids in it lifetime.

What is their life cycle?
The female will lay her eggs in a cluster on a plant leaf or stem.
In about a week, the eggs hatch into larvae (they look like little alligators).
The larvae go through four stages (instars) as they mature and grow.
In about a month, the larvae pupate (go into a cocoon-like stage).
In another week, the adults emerge.

What do they look like?
This is important.  Most people only know what the adult looks like.  Here is what to look for in all stages of the life cycle.

Ladybug Laying Eggs

http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/90/91390-050-6E541C9B.jpg

Ladybug Eggs on a Leaf

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UaKUOK9yPi0/TZXh2jMDqnI/AAAAAAAABXg/V7InYQLOsUo/s1600/ladybug+eggs.jpg

Ladybug Eggs and Head of a Match (for size)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Marienk%C3%A4ferEier_03.JPG

Newly Hatched Ladybug Larvae

http://www.botos.com/weekly/imgp9396a_800.jpg

Ladybug Larvae

Note that every species is very similar, but may have slightly different patterns and colors to this one.

http://www.californiagardens.com/images/Asian-Ladybug-Larvae.jpg

Ladybug Pupa

Note that each species has slightly different colors and spot patterns, but they are all basically the same shape.

http://jonskifarms.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/pupate-colorchange.jpg

Adult Ladybug

http://www.whatdotheyeat.info/wp-content/uploads/what-do-ladybugs-eat.jpg

Adult Ladybug

http://www.kewlwallpapers.com/bulkupload/83/Animals/Nine-Spotted%20Ladybug.jpg

Adult Ladybug

Note that colors and spots may be different with different species, but size and shape are about the same.

http://www.hmrprint.com/helensphotos/images/KODAK_05_06/2005_3/YELLOW_LadyBUG2.jpg

This is a great series of images of the life cycle of a Ladybug.

http://www.ijdesign.com/blog/ladybug-larvae.htm

What do they need?
Prey: aphids, mites, soft-bodied insects, and insect eggs
Food: Ladybugs also need nectar and pollen from flowers that have shallow clusters or are umbrella shaped (basket of gold, buckwheat, butterfly weed, carpet bugleweed, chamomile, chervil, chives, clover, cornflower, cosmos, coreopsis, cinquefoil, coriander, dandelion, dill, fennel, four-wing saltbush, golden marguerite, marigold, mustard, parsley, queen anne's lace, scented geraniums, spike speedwell, sunflowers, tansy, vetch, wild carrot, yarrow).
Ladybugs need places to overwinter - loose mulch, leaf litter, under rocks, etc.

NOTE:  The "Asian Lady Beetle", that one that seems to come in swarms inside your house in the fall, is still a beneficial insect for your garden, but it can give a little bite (not poisonous), and can stain skin and other surfaces with its yellowish, foul smelling defense secretion.  Just try to relocate them to your garden.

Check out these other pages on beneficial insects in your garden!
Bees
Lacewings
Ladybugs
Praying Mantis
Trichogramma Wasps

Get Rid of Your Lawn!

Typical American Landscape

http://www.worldchanging.com/suburbs_flickr%20Scorpians%20and%20Centaurs.jpg

Get Rid of Your Lawn!

My thoughts about the typical sprawl of turf around American homes.

Why do we spend so much time and money and space on our yards?

Depending on who you reference, Americans spend $17-$25 Billion Spent on Lawns Annually.  These numbers come from a number of pro-lawn websites as a way of showing how important lawns are to Americans.  

Americans spend an average of 30 minutes per week working in their yard...  If you have ever been the one in charge of the yard, then you know you spend more than 30 minutes a week taking care of it.  As Twain said, "There are kinds types of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."  This is an American average - spread between over 300 million people.  Now, how many Americans actually have a yard?  There a millions living in urban cities with no yards.  This should increases the 30 minutes per week to at least 45 minutes (and I am being conservative).  Now, how many people are not the one acutally taking care of the yard (kids, spouses)?  There are roughly 110 million households in America.  Since, there are three times that many Americans, we can triple the time that one peson per household works in the yard... this makes the average closer to over two hours per week spent in the yard.  That is the same as 8 hours per month or 104 hours per year.  If the average work week is 40 hrs, then we are spending 2.5 work weeks per year working on our yard that produces nothing for us... wasting our time!

But why do we do it? 

The brilliant, lush green lawn was not always the Holy Grail it is today.  Pilgrims and Pioneers to the West were not wasting their time on non-productive patches of grass.  So what changed?  There are a lot of history that could be told about this, but I'll summarize here.  At the turn of the last century when wealthy Americans started travelling to Europe more and more, they saw and admired the green lawns of the large estates and castles.  Like this:

Now, where did we get our idea of lawns?

http://visitscotland.ch/wp-content/uploads/balmoral_castle_011.jpg

They came back and, along with some vey influential city planners and government officials, started making changes to their own large homes.  Initially, they used animals to create the close cut plots of grass.   Here is a great photo from the White House Archive showing what the "lawnmower" of the day was:

Even the White House could intelligently manage their lawn... in 1919!

http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/grounds/south-lawn/south-lawn-sheep-c1919.jpg

The issue soon became that many Americans wanted to "look" wealthy, but they didn't have the money to afford the servants to keep the lawn (as the wealthy Americans and Europeans did).  So Americans became their own servants to give the appearance of wealth.  Over time, this became the norm.  It is now expected to keep a lawn.  But few even question why we do it anymore.  This is our goal:

An American "Dream Home" and Yard

http://www.justmowngo.com/images/boom.jpg

In the U.S., there are about 23 Million Acres of Grass in yards throughout the country.  Conservative numbers say that one acre could feed between 3-5 people.  With intensive practices, many more people could be fed, but we will stay with this number.  69-115 million people could be fed if we converted all our yard grass to food producing land. 

Here is a great article written by Michael Pollan (back in 1989!) on getting rid of your lawn.  He is one of my favorite authors.  If you have the time, you will probably enjoy it.
Here are some images of yards that have been converted away from turf.  Seeing the cost (time, water, fuel) it takes on upkeep, many homeowners are converting to turf-free yards.  Not so many are planting food or useful plants, but that is what I would love to see.

A lower maintenance front yard... no turf, but not as useful as it could be.

http://img2.timeinc.net/toh/i/g/1007_turfwar/turf-war-x.jpg

A good looking, yet still very useful (full of food plants), front yard.

http://cdn1.gardenhomeandparty.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Front-yard-no-grass-450x448.jpg

In reality, I am not saying we should get rid of all our turf.  There is something aesthetic about a nice clean-cut yard, but I really do think we need to question why we are doing it and why we are spending so much time and money that gives us almost nothing in return.  Just my thoughts.

What is an Edible Forest Garden?

The Vision of an Edible Forest Garden:
"Picture yourself in a forest where almost everything around you is food. Mature and maturing fruit and nut trees form an open canopy. If you look carefully, you can see fruits swelling on many branches—pears, apples, persimmons, pecans, and chestnuts. Shrubs fill the gaps in the canopy. They bear raspberries, blueberries, currants, hazelnuts, and other lesser-known fruits, flowers, and nuts at different times of the year. Assorted native wildflowers, wild edibles, herbs, and perennial vegetables thickly cover the ground. You use many of these plants for food or medicine. Some attract beneficial insects, birds, and butterflies. Others act as soil builders, or simply help keep out weeds. Here and there vines climb on trees, shrubs, or arbors with fruit hanging through the foliage—hardy kiwis, grapes, and passionflower fruits. In sunnier glades large stands of Jerusalem artichokes grow together with groundnut vines. These plants support one another as they store energy in their roots for later harvest and winter storage. Their bright yellow and deep violet flowers enjoy the radiant warmth from the sky. This is an edible forest garden."

What is an Edible Forest Garden:
"Edible forest gardening is the art and science of putting plants together in woodlandlike patterns that forge mutually beneficial relationships, creating a garden ecosystem that is more than the sum of its parts. You can grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, other useful plants, and animals in a way that mimics natural ecosystems. You can create a beautiful, diverse, high-yield garden. If designed with care and deep understanding of ecosystem function, you can also design a garden that is largely self-maintaining. In many of the world's temperate-climate regions, your garden would soon start reverting to forest if you were to stop managing it. We humans work hard to hold back succession—mowing, weeding, plowing, and spraying. If the successional process were the wind, we would be constantly motoring against it. Why not put up a sail and glide along with the land's natural tendency to grow trees? By mimicking the structure and function of forest ecosystems we can gain a number of benefits."
Dave Jacke (author of Edible Forest Gardens)http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/about_gardening

In any person's interest in an activity or hobby or vocation, there is usally that one "hook" that captures their attention and is the one main area of passion in that interest.  The idea of a forest garden is the "hook" of Permaculture to me.  Forest gardening was one of the first exposures I had to Permaculture, and it has still been a bit of an obsession to me.  I love the entire idea of it.  Recreating a sustainable Garden of Eden is a goal of mine on which I cannot wait to begin.

The Seven Layers of a Forest Garden

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Forgard2-003.gif

A very detailed and structured Forest Garden.

http://www.newforestgardendesign.co.uk/images/large-garden.jpg

A less structured, but still very manageable Forest Garden.

http://www.livingmandala.com/Living_Mandala/Berkeley_Food_Forest_09.html

Here are a great video on Forest Gardening with Martin Crawford author of Creating a Forest Garden:

Finally, to show the amazing sustainability of a Forest Garden, take a look at this 300 year old forest garden!

What is a Temperate Climate?

A Temperate Climate is often difficult to define, and then by default it is defined by what it is not.  It is not tropical.  It is not polar.  It is just in between.  It is a place where there are typically four well defined seasons.

Scientifically, temperate climates fall in the range of latitudes between 23.5 degrees and 66.5 degrees. The north temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Cancer to the Arctic Circle, and the south temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Antarctic Circle.

Within the temperate latitudes are six general categories of climate types:

1. Oceanic (Maritime)
2. Continental
3. Mediterranean
4. Humid Subtropic
5. Semi-Arid
6. Arid

Most people, myself included, do not really consider half of this area to be Temperate even though it is by strict definition.

The layperson typically considers Temperate Climates to include:

1. Oceanic (Maritime)
2. Continental
3. Parts of the Mediterranean

This blog is truly focusing on Permaculture in the layperson's understanding of Temperate Climate, and is therefore going to focus on the non-arid and non-semi-arid climates of North America (any other areas of the world with similar climates should find good information here as well).

Permaculture Projects: Herb Spiral

The Herb Spiral

http://www.gardeningtipsnideas.com/2007/05/how_to_make_a_herb_spiral.html

An herb spiral is a classic, quintessential Permaculture project.  It puts all your most common kitchen herbs in one, easy to reach location.  It ensures ideal growing conditions (with correct design) for these plants.  Imagine the top 20-30 herbs you would like to grow in your garden.  Each plant will need 8-12 inches of growing space minimum.  That is a good 20-25 feet of garden length to place along a path.

Now imagine rolling that path into a spiral.  Next lets mound up the center of the spiral.  We now have a path spiraling from the top center, around the mound, back to the ground.  We've only used up about a 5-6 foot circle of space.  We can reach all the herbs easily (the ones in the center are raised up making it easier to reach).

We can plant our herbs needing the most sun on the "sun side" (that is going to be the southern side if you are in the northern hemisphere) of the mound.  Plants that need more shade can be placed on the "shade side" (north side in the northern hemisphere) of the mound.  Water will drain quickly from the top of the mound and the soil will stay moister for longer towards the bottom of the mound, so we can place our more moisture loving herbs towards the bottom.

An irrigation tube/hose can be run up through the middle of the herb spiral to make watering easier.  A small sprinkler top can be attached as well.

In the end, we have a large variety of plants in a smaller place which means weed suppression, pest confusion (pests can't find the one plant they are looking for), and variety for us.  It means watering and harvesting are easier for us.  It means each plant is given its own ideal microclimate to grow and be happy.  This is classic Permaculture!

Here are a few design diagrams for those who like diagrams:

Bill Mollison's Herb Spiral

http://welcometovoluntarysimplicity.wordpress.com/how-to-build-a-herb-spiral/

An amazingly detailed and organized Permaculturist's Herb Spiral!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Herb_spiral.svg

Another example of an Herb Spiral

http://gardeninggrrl.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/update-the-herb-spiral/

And for those who want a video... here you go!

A better definition of Permaculture...

In a previous post, I used a quote from David Holmgren describing Permaculture.  I then linked to some lengthy articles defining Permaculture.  I realized I kind of skipped a definition of Permaculture that was somewhere between concise (and vague) and detailed (and overwhelming).  So here is my attempt at better defining Permaculture:

Permaculture was first a portmanteau (or blending) of two words: Permanent + Agriculture.
Since its inception, it has come to also be a portmanteau of Permanent + Culture.

The basic idea, and it is indeed basic, is to create a system of agriculture that is self sufficient, requires little to no work (by humans) to maintain, improves the land, and produces a product (food, wood, fiber, animals) that humans can use.  When I first heard of this concept, I pictured a Garden of Eden.  I thought it was a bit too ambitious.  Raising food = work, and hard work at that.  But the more I read and learned, I realized that this ideal was very attainable.

The two main differences I can see between Permaculture and traditional agriculture (in reality there are a lot more than two) are in design and in succession.

Design:  Traditional agriculture involves 10% planning and 90% work.  Permaculture involves 90% planning with intelligent design and 10% work to implement the design and then much less work in maintanence.  An example I used in a previous post can again be used here:

Traditional way: Put all the cattle in one large field. Have another field where hay is raised with chemical fertilizers and weed killers. Harvest the hay. Bring the hay to the cattle. Give all the cattle antibiotics, growth hormones, and anti-parasitic drugs to prevent illness and push growth. At some point there is the need to go through and collect/spread the manure around the field with a machine. The end results are stressed, unhappy cattle with questionable chemicals within meat and milk, farmers who are amateur industrial chemists and struggling to make ends meet, and land that is losing fertility every year and is basically barren and void of biodiversity.

Permaculture way: Place the cattle in a much smaller field. Every few days, the cattle are moved to a new field with fresh, healthy, grasses and forbs to eat. A few days after the cattle leave the field, chickens are allowed in. The chickens scratch through the cow patties and eat the bugs and worms (negating the need to use poisons to kill the parasites that would re-infect the cattle), they spread the manure around (negating the need for people to do the work), they fertilize the fields with their own droppings (negating the work and cost and chemicals needed to fertilize), and they create their own products (eggs and meat) with minimal extra expense or work from the farmer. The end results are happy cattle with superior meat and milk products with minimal or no chemical additives, famers who make a profit due to extra product lines with minimal expenditure of time or money, and land that is gaining fertility and biodiversity. Brilliant!

Succession: This is a bit more involved idea, but it is the idea that nothing in agriculture is permanent.  Everything is always in some sort of change or process from changing from one thing to another.  A tradional farmer may say that he or she wants chickens, so she creates a large chicken run, and makes it a permanent structure on the farm.  In Permaculture, we may use chickens in a temprary pen in one area that has a lot of weeds or bugs, and once it is cleared, we can move the chickens to a completely different area of the farm as needed.  We can still harvest the eggs and meat as needed, but we don't lock ourselves into any one design. 

Another example would be planting fruit trees.  The traditional way is to plant an orchard of fruit trees, all the same species (lets say apple), and often the same type (lets say red delicious).  To maintain this, you have to fertilize like crazy, irrigate like crazy, and spray chemicals very often to prevent the fruit from being eaten by bugs or killed by disease.  In Permaculture,  one apple tree is planted with one plum, and one pear, and one hazelnut, and one peach, and five gooseberries, and ten blackberries, and ten blueberries, and dozens of non-fruit plants that return nitrogen and minerals and mulch to the soil and produce flowers and nectar that attract beneficial predatory insects and birds that eat the bugs that prey on our fruit.  Irrigation and chemicals and work is greatly reduced.  Again... Brilliant!

I hope to expand on all this again, but I'll stop here for now.  Hope this helps!

Permaculture Videos: Temperate Permaculture Strategies

The following video is a bit old but still educational.  It features Bill Mollison (the "father" of Permaculture).  In this video is Joe Bullock, a former student of Mollison's and one of the featured permaculturists in Gaia's Garden.  Also in this video is Robert Hart  (author of Forest Gardening), the first known modern person to create a Temperate Climate Forest Garden.  This is one of the few videos focusing on Temperate Climate Permaculture.  Be sure to watch all four segments.