permaculture

[blissv@nmhu.campus.mci.net]

Here in northern New Mexico highlands we did NOT have a mild winter and yet
the insect population is astoundingly high. I have seen more beetle
varieties (some that I have never seen before here) and am witnessing
serious damage to plants that generally do very well. Even the inocuous sow
bugs (roly-polys that the kids play with) are in major quantities (maybe my
heavy mulch WASN'T such a great idea since they stayed under it to keep cool
and moist during the drought and proliferated madly! I must say, though,
that the earthworm population has strongly surged forward, also attributed
to the moist conditions the mulch has created..whadya gonna do?!) and doing
damage I had not realized they could do!

Even in the house, there are more insect visitors than most summers.

When, in spring, I also was seeing more birds than usual, numbers and
species, I took it to mean the migratory patterns had shifted due to weather
patterns shifting (El Nino perhaps..this seems a pat answer these days).
Unfortunately, they didn't do much towards shrinking the insect numbers (or
if they did ..thanks winged ones..could you eat some more, please?) 

With the higher than usual cicada and cricket numbers in some parts of the
country,  there is explanation in the patterns of the cycles of years
coinciding. Otherwise, it is left to us to ponder what all the conditions
are that have brought the hoards and what it may be indicating. 

Going on the assumption that the insects will attack the weaker plants in a
garden due to some imbalance, I am trying to find what in my own little
environment is out of balance that is allowing for such anomolies as one
broccoli being healthy and untouched and the one next to it, riddled with
holes and weakening. Can I extend this hypothesis one step further and allow
that the 'world out-of-balance' (komaquatsu...remember a movie by that name
some years back? I think I have spelled it wrong) has many repercussions,
certainly including high numbers of insects?


At 06:42 PM 7/10/98 EDT, you wrote:
>Aren't we just experienceing an overall high level of insect life this year
>due to the unusually mild winter caused by El Nino?
>
>Sherry <FionaNyx@aol.com>
>
>