Serves me right!!!

17 years ago

This is a whimpering rant...

For too long now I've been, well, let's say, relieved that I don't have voles, moles, racoons and other northern wildlife prancing through my garden. (Yes. You could say 'smug'. It's deserved.)

So, today, there's a break in the rain and I'm out nattering to the spring things making their appearances. And I come to the pot of Tulip sylvestris. (Now, I've been cosseting this single bulb for about three years. I dreamed of flowers this year...)

It came as an infant. I've done all the Happy Bulbs Prefer things and it was bulking up nicely. It ought to be showing signs of life I thought. I shall Check.

Hubris, pure and simple. A dose of Gardener's Humility was heading my way.

Something else has been watching and it has 24/7 to plot and scheme and twiddle its wretched mandibles. A fat over-indulged pot-camping native cricket. A weta.

Munch. Crunch. Leaving nothing but a discarded brown tunic and the shell of a once-proud sylvestris.

(Breaks down into sobs of wild grief and fury.)

Screen door mesh at the bottom of every pot of my Preciouses from now on! It has to be!

(Trails off, sniffing. Humility, and deep sympathy for anyone who loses a Precious to marauding invertebrates - or even fellow mammals.)

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Comments (6)

Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
17 years ago
Vet, you certainly have my sympathy. I'm so sorry for you and your poor Tulip sylvestris.

I had never heard of a bulb eating cricket, nor had I heard of a weta. YIKES!

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Weta
vetivert8
Original Author
17 years ago
Yup. That's them. In pots. Under pots. Always good for a 'Yeeek!' And they climb... And hiss...

Thanks for the kind words. Appreciated. :-D.
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Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
17 years ago
Screen door mesh at the bottom of every pot of my Preciouses from now on! It has to be!

Do they bother things that are planted in the ground?

When is your main daff and spring bulb season? I need a daff pic fix.

Sue
katob Z6ish, NE Pa
17 years ago
!Hello!
That's one scary insect!

I've heard of them but never even considered that they could be a garden pest.... they always struck me as some prehistoric endangered species that only shows up in the undisturbed forest.... not at the bottom of a tulip pot!

Still I could see me talking to them and leaving an apple out every once in a while... kind of like a funny looking pet turtle or hedgehog.

Good luck with the screens.
Frank
organic_kitten
17 years ago
What a enormous scary insect! Bless your heart! The stuff of nightmares. Good luck with your screens.
kay
vetivert8
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks everyone!

Sue, the 'what's up' includes Galanthus and Crocus with the Irisi reticulata very forward and the Iris bucharica very (gulp) quiet. The Division 8's are out and about. The species tulips are well along and the 'regular' ones are above the ground.

Everything was very late into the ground this year. Mild chaos, in fact, so I shall be deeply interested to see just what I planted just where!

PS wetas are more indignant than nasty. You'd get a worse peck from a budgie than the weta, but they do pinch. They're not poisonous at all.