Small creatures rule
Saturday, 5 September 2009
The pumpkin vine that’s been creeping across our driveway has withdrawn, apparently from various maladies. This leaf is weighed down with many bugs, including what looks like a variety of ladybug and a yellow-green, spiny-looking insect. I think part of the rest of the plant was laid low by some kind of wilt, which I guess could be caused by either a bacteria or a fungi. Sadly, this plant never set any fruit (i.e., pumpkins), and we don’t really know why.
We’re left with the typical farmer response: try again next year.
The Botanist observed that if you are working in your garden, particularly when the plants are still moist in the morning, you can transfer infection from one plant to another down the rows. This was a single plant, however, and how it became infected will remain a mystery.