Five Inch Insect* Spotted & Photopraphed

Whenever I spend time outside after the sunset, I often turn on my outdoor floodlight. And like clockwork, it attracts all kinds of common night insects. However, last night while grilling pork neckbones and hot Italian sausage, I noticed something a little more unusual -- a huge, long, large-winged insect (with a mantis-like head) resting at the corner of my back garage door: View as seen from a few feet away Apparently attracted by my bright outdoor floodlight, I estimated this creature to be about 5 inches long from the tips of its pincers to the end of its wings. I knew this was a great photo opportunity and a good excuse to write another blog entry, so I grabbed my camera and snapped away. While the top image was taken from a few feet away, the second snapshot was taken closer in macro mode with a full body view: Full body view from top. 5 inches from tip of antennae to end of wing The last image below is a close up of the head region. I wanted to get even closer but could not due to its large protruding antennas: This is a male Dobsonfly. Males have elongated pincers (front) So what was this beast of the night? Upon awakening this morning, I googled my way to an answer within about 10 minutes. Dobsonfly ("The King Bug") This is indeed a dobsonfly, or more specifically the male eastern dobsonfly - perhaps the most well-known of the 220+ species. First & foremost, the good news for gardeners - they are not considered pests. Dobsonfly's are nocturnal aquatic insects, living their short above-ground lives near ponds, lakes, rivers or in my case - streams. Their first few years are spent living in the water as larvae, called hellgrammites. Anglers frequently use them as bait. Eventually, they emerge from water to pupate & stay in a cocoon over the winter. Finally from late spring to mid-summer, adult dobsonflys emerge and live only about one week, with a primary purpose of mating. Though not venomous both male & female have sharp mandibles. While the male's mandibles are too large to gain enough leverage to pierce human skin, the females smaller mandibles may inflict a painful bite capable of drawing blood. When threatened, dobsonfly's will raise their head and attempt to scare away danger by spreading their jaws, and if necessary, emit a foul odor from their anal gland. OK, that's your insect lesson for the day. Next time you spot one of these, you can impress someone by identifying it on the spot. See, aren't you glad you learned something new this weekend? *NOTE: Though the dobsonfly measures about 5 inches from tip of antennae to end of its wings, their actually body is only a few inches long. Further research: Wikipedia Tree of Life Web Project

Look what I found: Giant Leopard Moth Caterpillar

Strange looking critter picked up cautiously with shovel A little while back while moving my firewood pile to a new location, I came upon an initially scary looking furry creature. Balled-up (presumably frightened), I thought this could be a caterpillar but was uncertain. So, after snapping a few pictures, I went inside and googled every descriptive word regarding its appearance, and quickly was able to identify this monster as the Giant Leopard Moth (in caterpillar stage of course). It turns out this caterpillar is not a monster at all. Though many bristled, furry caterpillars are toxic if touched, the Giant Leopard Moth is harmless to humans. In fact, many children adore these critters and keep them as pets. Found mainly in eastern & southern USA from New England to Mexico, this caterpillar has a thick bristly black coat & shows orange and red color bands as it curls into a ball formation when frightened (as seen in my snapshots above). Though craving daylight as a caterpillar, it becomes nocturnal as soon as it transforms into a moth and then sports a 3" wingspan. The Giant Leopard Moth Caterpillar is not considered a pest with the possible exception in pastures. This insect is strikingly beautiful in both caterpillar & moth stage

What is this? There are fruits growing on my potato plants!

Yesterday while propping up some fallen potato stalks, I noticed something peculiar -- two green cherry-tomato-like fruits dangling from one of my bushes. Actually - just weeks earlier - I had read that some potato bushes actually produce these berries, so I kinda knew immediately what these were. So what are these? Anyone who grows potatoes knows that some potato plants produce flowers and some don't. Even more rare (but not unusual) is a potato flower that produces a tiny fruit. Each little fruit (poisonous - do not eat!) are the bearer of several dozen or so tomato-like seeds. They are actually called 'True Potato Seeds' or TPS. These are not the same as "Seed Potatoes," the store-bought (or home prepared) spuds with vines already growing from them - which most people use to grow their own potatoes. Here's the strange part As better explained in these Daughter Of The Soil blog posts (here and here), these seeds are not related to the tuber the flowers grew from. These seeds actually produce a variety of potato all its own: "... TPS is not the tuber, but the actual seeds - which come from the plant's flowers and fruits. As seeds are produced by sexual means, a coming together of egg and pollen from different flowers or different plants, they represent a genetic recombination. In other words, they are not genetically identical to the parent plant. They are newly created individuals ..." If I grow from seed, what should I expect? As for the process, potatoes from TPS are sowed much the same as you would tomatoes or other plants - start growing indoors and transplant them outdoors some time in Spring. To extract the seeds, you would need to mash these little fruits up real good, place them in a glass of water for a few days. Wait until the seeds separate and sink to the bottom, dry out and save for next year. The resulting harvest yield will be minimal, at least during the first year. Your first TPS harvest is likely to yield fewer & smaller potato spuds as opposed to growing by traditional means. However, if you save your best potatoes from your first harvest & plant those the following year, your potato harvest should improve. Repeat for several years and who knows, perhaps you have created your very own prized new potato variety. My Potatoes, 6/15/11 So, what's the verdict on TPS Growing from TPS is not for everyone. However if you have extra garden space, are willing to put forth more effort, you love experimentation, and are willing to spend years crafting your newly created potato variety, this may be a fun endeavor. Personally I have not decided whether to pursue this path -- for now I will extract the seed, preserve them, and decide my course of action later. NEW  LushGreenVA's aStore - powered by Amazon Clutter-free shopping for vegetable gardeners. Every product hand-picked and smartly categorized by me, H. Mikael - many are similar to one's I use myself, including: Composters, Raised beds, Greenhouses/Cold Frames, Rain Barrels, Rear-tine Tillers and Cultivators