vines

The Virginia creepers and other vines are growing rapidly and the gardening is kicking into early picking season.

Grapes and apples are coming into season. The cold mornings will very soon require a jacket.

Some trees are already getting started with their preparations for fall.

There are a lot of people starting to spray. Homeowners spray for house pests, like ants. Gardeners are spraying for aphids. Some people are using dish soap spray, others prefer industrial strength, still others prefer imported insects like ladybugs, which seem like they are everywhere this year.

Of course, there are many pests around. Including this indestructible, dreaded squash bug. And the Harrisina americana. Moth. Known to its opponents as "the grape skeletonizer" but it mostly attacks virginia creeper. Which is pretty abundant in the thick woods. Unfortunately, that pesticide can have far reaching effects.

A few people can remember Rachel Carson's "Silent spring", where the pieces fit together linking DDT to loss of birds because of weakened egg shells.

A recent trip to Santa Fe's national forest highlighted the lack of any elevation in the Rio Grande river valley. The numerous gullies and peaks give many small shaded areas where aspens and meadow flowers can thrive. Many of these areas have thriving, interlinked ecosystems of pollinators, or other types of relationships.

Wasps can have many connections to plants. SOme are pollinators, others use hormones injected into the plant to produce safe nesting areas, called galls. These are well seen in the scrub oaks that abound in human disturbed areas of the mountains. This wasp has a long ovipositor that has been adapted to be a plant tissue injector. Many other relationships, are at this time, unknown.

This insect has not been identified by me yet. Anyone else care to take a stab at it? (Comments at the bottom)