The Gnawing Locust has Eaten!

This year's vegetable, fruit and berry crop has been superb.  We have canned more, frozen more, dried more than most prior years.  We've been blessed by rains when we need them and apart from a few exceptions, no real crop failures.  We're at the very tail end of the season and I'm getting ready to plant my seeds for the fall garden within the next week or so.  Although the harvest is slacking off, I'm still harvesting something every day.  At least I was... until yesterday.

I walked out to the garden and picked some cucumbers the other day and noticed a green worm or two munching on a few of the leaves.  They were small worms.  Not a big deal, I thought, as I squeezed them between my thumb and index finger, feeling a pop and watching green goo splatter on the leaves.  I made a mental note to mix up some more lye soap spray to spray on them in the event that I missed some.

The next afternoon when I returned home...  Wow!  There was basically nothing left. All I could think about was the verse from the Book of Joel where the prophet said:

That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.  Joel 1:4 KJV


Israel had been blessed with prosperity and bumper crops, but Joel prophesied a day coming that would bring desolation and ruin.  In fact, he said in verse 10:

The field is ruined, 
The land mourns, 
For the grain is ruined, 
The new wine dries up, 
Fresh oil fails.  
Be ashamed, O Farmers, 
Wail, O vinedressers!

The palmerworm's handiwork

Be ashamed, O Farmers indeed!

It doesn't take long at all for the worms and the locusts and the caterpillar or any other pest to do their work. As if to add insult to injury, they'll eat the top leaves and then poop all over the leaves beneath it.  These little worms must eat their body weight overnight.  I did actually make it out there to the garden and I sprayed all the plants, but the old adage, "Closing the barn door after the horse is gone" came to mind as the damage was done.  I'm doubtful that they'll recover although there are still blooms and small leaves.  We'll just have to wait and see.

"Locust" poop

Growing crops in the deep south is a blessing in some ways because you really can grow something all 12 months in the year.  People in the north certainly don't have that luxury.  They are sitting indoors on grey, snowy, frigid days looking at seed catalogues in front of the fireplace while we're planting crops.  On the other hand, we fight with pests.  If you are trying to grow without using pesticides, well, it's tough. Real tough.  The worms are relentless and they don't sleep.  While you're sleeping, they are eating, and pooping, and eating some more.

The 'cankerworm' must be full after they've made a lace doily with this cucumber leaf. 

You know what is odd?  I never see any damage from worms on the weeds in my garden.  Hmmmm.  After they finished my cucumbers, they moved to the zucchini, stripping it bare.

Only a little bit for the caterpillar to finish up

This last booger feeding on one of the final holdovers from the tomato crop reminds me of the plagues of locusts from Biblical times.  You can see two of them feeding on the tomato below.  I call them stink bugs because they do really stink if you squash them, but their official name is coreids, or leaf footed bugs.  They make an odd noise when they fly and are kind of scary in their own way.

Huge stinkbugs feasting on one of the last tomatoes

As with everything, perspective is important.  We had a great harvest this year.  It is crucial to plant as early as you can in the Spring and harvest as much as you can before July and the onslaught of the intense heat and bug pressure.  Fall is on its way and we'll have an opportunity to harvest more this fall, if we can keep the bugs at bay.

There is hope on the horizon - for the gardener and for the person that turns to the LORD.  In the Book of Joel, the prophet warned the Israelites of coming destruction, but he left them with a call to repentance.  He told them what would happen if they would return to the LORD.  They are timely words for us today as well. If we turn back to Him, he will bring restoration!:

Joel 2:25-26New American Standard Bible (NASB)

25 “Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
26 “You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied
And praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
Then My people will never be put to shame.