Dear Helen: Clusters of white eggs have appeared on a few of my raspberries. What do you think deposited them?
H.Y.
My first thought was the possibility of the spotted wing Drosophila, but these tiny flies insert their eggs under the skins of ripening berries and stone fruits. The larvae are tiny white maggots.
Once again, I contacted Linda Gilkeson to help me out with an insect issue. Linda is an entomologist, author and teacher based on Salt Spring Island. She pointed out that the eggs were also far too large to be from the spotted wing Drosophila. She agreed that the egg clusters were a bit of a puzzle and suggested leaving them to hatch. The larvae would be easier to identify.
The morning after Linda鈥檚 first email, she sent a second one saying she鈥檇 received another photo of eggs on a raspberry, similar to the photo I鈥檇 forwarded to her.
Linda鈥檚 correspondent had incubated the eggs on the berry until a couple hatched. They developed 鈥渢he little rim of grey that I think makes stinkbug eggs look like miniature beer kegs.鈥� The two larvae that hatched were indeed some species of stinkbug. Many thanks to Linda for her generous help.
Stinkbugs are shield-shaped insects that emit a foul odour when disturbed. The 鈥渟tink鈥� is very noticeable on berries where the insects have been feeding. Adults lay eggs in clusters in early summer, usually on the undersides of leaves.
I always take the precaution of听sniffing raspberries before adding them to a bowl of picked berries. And I avoid holding a bowl of berries under canes being picked. Stinkbugs drop from plants when disturbed, and even one would taint all the berries it dropped onto.
Stinkbugs can also feed on tree fruit, other berries and grapes, but raspberries are a particularly favoured target.
听
Dear Helen: I have dozens of听bearded irises in all flower colours in my garden. For about 24 of their 26 years in the garden they have bloomed well, but this year there was not one bloom. I听haven鈥檛 moved them or added soil. What happened?
H.R.
If you haven鈥檛 renovated any of the clumps in 26听years, they have probably just aged out. Bearded irises usually become congested after four or听five years and need lifting, dividing and replanting, preferably in July or early August.
When a clump has been dug up, discard (compost) the old, worn out centre portion and choose young, plump, healthy rhizomes from around the outside for replanting. Renovate old sites or prepare new ones by digging the soil deeply to aerate it and unearth old plant parts or debris to remove. Mix in a nourishing compost, a little lime and bone meal or rock phosphate.
To prepare a selected rhizome for planting, trim back overlong roots and cut back the foliage fan by half. To plant, form a raised line of soil along the centre of a planting hole. Set the rhizome on the ridge, with the roots descending freely into the soil on either side. Then cover the roots and firm the soil well over them. Adjust the depth as needed to end up with the rhizome鈥檚 upper surface just barely beneath the soil surface.
听
Dear Helen: Every once in a while, I come across a mystery blob-like thing in my garden. It looks as though some animal has wandered through and thrown up. The masses appear to have started out viscous, but when I come across them they have dried enough to peel off the ground.
J.R.
There has been a run of weird mysteries in my recent emails. I听had no idea what your strange formations are, and imposed once again on Linda Gilkeson鈥檚 generosity to see whether she had an听answer. Linda suggested the presence of 鈥渟lime mould鈥� in my correspondent鈥檚 garden.
Research into 鈥渟lime mould鈥� will appeal to those who like horror movies. No longer classed as听fungi, slime moulds are large single cells that aggregate into a听giant swarm, described in one source as 鈥渁 mass of creeping jelly-like protoplasm.鈥�
Another source says slime moulds are 鈥渘aked pieces of protoplasm able to move about in听water or very damp places鈥� to听鈥渃reep slowly over rotten wood and plant debris,鈥� from which the听slime mould 鈥渁bsorbs nourishment.鈥�
Almost all slime moulds live on听decaying matter, but a few are听able to enter living plant tissue to cause disease. An example is clubroot of cabbage family plants.
