That's kind of disappointing to read. I live in Florida, where there is an OVERABUNDANCE of bugs. The good kinds, and also the not so good kinds.

The butterflies this year have been amazing, but no Red Admirals :'(

That is sad news. So far with my habitat garden blooming like paradise, I've seen few butterflies and hoped they just hadn't arrived yet.

However the snail population here is doing very well

Penny

This absolutely true! Add to this spraying for gypsy moths and any other broadcast spraying for insect pests (remember med flies?) and it leads to devestation for the lep populations. Jaret Daniels was talking about this when he was here in Ohio a couple months ago. In fact he said he was running in to problems releasing the miami blue because local health departments were filing injunctions against it because then they couldn't spray for mosquitos. Can't kill an endangered butterfly see...I get to meet with Dr. Daniels next week again so I will ask him about it again.
-Elisabeth

Hmm...Let's see. How do we all manage to quietly establish endangered species in our areas? :) :) :)

Seriously, I went to the local vector control folks and raised Cain about being sprayed. They said they'd do their very best not to but air moves, see, and ....

Argh. I truly think that this is a HUGE part of the bee decline as well....

Let's not forget all our neighbors who spray their own yards for mosquitos...Thinking about this, I am going to add a piece in my talks about spraying for insects. I talk about it in relation to say, roses, or lawn care, but I didn't think about it in relation to mosquitos. We have a long way to go when people don't care for any kind of bug out there, including caterpillars.
-Elisabeth

It is frustrating; I wish that some butterfly organizations could be more vocal. There are other ways to control mosquitoes at their root source. Why don' t they focus on reducing the larvae?

I cringed the other day when I overheard someone talking to the clerk at the garden store and he wanted to get rid of some bugs. I don't even think he knew what he wanted to kill, but the clerk was too happy to give him something that would kill anything on his plant.

People at garden stores need to be educated about the poisons they are supplying the public. There should be some kind of required training before selling such stuff. And I am sure that most people don't even bother to read the label and the warnings. grrr...

That is a good point too bernergirl. We need NABA or Xerces and others to start some sort of campaign targeted toward Home Depot. Those types of stores are really sensitive to bad publicity. Hmmm...I feel an email coming.
-Elisabeth

I also think that all of the companies that use bugs and especially butterflies ought to help support the very bugs they use to market their wares.

Think of all of the clothes that kids wear that have butterflies on them. Bought by parents who could give a woo-hoo about the real deal and think that having a lawn as pictured on a bag is what beauty is.

Those companies should pay reparation damages :) And all of the pesticide companies...

Hmmm...maybe I should go back to school and become an eco-lawyer....

OT--but I do think local non-game divisions of wildlife services need to be more vocal about what they want to see happen. For instance, in NH, turtles get run over (like everywhere else) but all that gets done is an article on the site that only the choir is going to read or in a newspaper and hope that the word gets spread.

Just so fruitless. Why not seasonally for a couple of days use those big signs that tell you to buckle up or that tell you about a construction site that's not happening??

So simple and so many people would see it. But I'm sure that it's not the point of them and there is some safety hazard.

Hello everyone,
I am totally with you'll on this one, BUT!!!! please don't write PEOPLE AT GARDENSTORES in general..
I am a Nursery Consultant and also Plant Specialist at Home Depot here in Alabama and I am not one of the BAD GUYS.. I have a Wildlife Habitat and also a Certified Butterfly-Garden etc..
All the original posters know me..
I tell my customers about all the negative consequences if they spray their entire yard..We have bad flea-& tick problems up here, so it is kinda hard to convince them not to spray..
I myself live on 5 acres and my backyard is fenced in ..I have a bunch of chickens free-roaming the backyard and I dont have ticks etc..
My Butterfly-Gardens are outside of the Backyard on almost 2 acres, the rest is pasture..
I don't spray anything and I have Butterflies everywhere, also a Beehive in my old Wateroak..
Country -people aint that bad, b/c they really dont care as much of a wonderful lawn etc like people in Suburban areas, like we had in Florida..So, why they spray up here is to get rid of bugs that eat their crops...not for mosquitos..
Please understand that I had to put my 5 cents in on that one!!!
Butterfly-Greetings
Susanne(SUE)

Actually, I just had an encouraging conversation with a regional plant manager for Lowe's. According to her, Lowe's is beginning to focus on "Area plants" -- that is, natives.

I mentioned that it would be really helpful for shoppers if they could slap a "Native" tag on plants, and she was quite receptive to the idea.

Progress....

Jeff

You're right Sue about generalizing, sorry. I still think that there is way too much indiscriminate spraying and that butterflies and other creatures are suffering for it.

No spraying so far in Madison. We have gypsy moth caterpillars in some of the trees, and there was some sort of virus spray that was used to keep these down a few years ago. I'm not sure how many other insects were affected. Due to cool and wet weather in May, our spring has been a few weeks late, but the fireflies finally showed up, and I have seen both tiger swallowtail and black swallowtail butterflies. On a walk today, I saw two monarchs flying about, so I am starting to feel hopeful. But they sure seem scarce this year.

WOW! I didn't realize what can'o'worms I was gonna open up here! ;P

Hey Suzy! Glad you came back and said your piece. :) Woooo-hooo! So glad you are at Home Depot and can share your expertise!

I was just at the local Armstrong Nursery/Garden Center today with Chelsea (had my butterfly parasol out and open for her since the sun as quite bright and I didn't want her getting too much sun/heat from being out with 'mama'). People were looking at me with smiles (and some with looks akin to "Look at that crazy lady!" Hey, at least my dog was able to enjoy her time out with me as I was out searching out to rescue caterpillars!). They had loads of Rue (whoa!) and even Asclepias (Milkweed) although the Milkweed was loaded down with Aphids. The good thing is that they don't use pesticides. I didn't find a single caterpillar/egg but that was okay. I did find that they had a lot more of the 'organic' variety of pesticides as opposed to the more 'bad' chemical stuff. People were looking to find things that would target specific things like powdery mildew and sawflies, leaving the 'good guys' alone. Loads of Ladybugs were on sale as well. Now THIS is what I liked seeing and hearing.

Sure, having pesticides and whatnot are going to be a given, right? But, there are ways to help rid your gardens of certain pests (I haven't had to do a thing about fleas because I give my dog a supplement made from simple ingredients and she's had nary a flea on her, much to my groomer's and my delight!). I made my usual 'spider spray' concoction this morning and it is now steeping and fermenting in the backyard. It serves a dual purpose because it also kills and keeps away the ants. :) Yay!

Sure, we have to keep things in balance, right? All things in balance...zen, after all...