freshare.net
SEARCY, Ark. - Not all bugs are bad bugs, said Sherri Sanders, White County extension agent with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
“Large spider webs appear nightly outside around our homes now, and while we may not want them indoors with us, they do eat a lot of pesky insects outside,” she said. “Garden spiders don’t harm our plants, so you may want to encourage them, or at least leave them alone, as long as they stay outdoors!”
Fall is the time to catch walking sticks.
“As their name aptly describes them, they look like sticks with legs,” Sanders said. “While they feed on vegetation, they are rarely harmful - more a fascinating sight.”
Katydids are another fascinating insect with good camouflage.
“These music makers in the garden are also rarely harmful, and they can sing louder than the crickets,” she said. “Their cousins, the grasshoppers, are another story and are often quite large and destructive this late in the year.”
Fall is also the time to clean, especially if garden plants were hit by powdery mildew this year.
When cleaning the fallen leaves from the garden bed, “don’t add them to the compost pile, since you may not generate enough heat to kill the disease organisms,” Sanders said. “If you are seeing signs of leaf spots or other diseases now, starting a fungicide spray program this late in the season really isn’t advisable.”
For gardeners with ongoing fungicide programs, there is time for a few more applications, but starting a program from scratch in October isn’t advisable, she said.
October is a good time to divide spring and summer blooming perennials.
“If the plant is firmly entrenched, you may need to dig the whole plant up to divide it, unless you can easily cut off offshoots or side plants,” Sanders said. “If you don’t have room for all the plants you end up with, share with your friends.”
Now is not the time to prune evergreens.
“It can either spur them on to tender new growth, or leave you with gaping holes,” she said. “Either way, you may make your plants more tender to winter weather. Light shaping is not a problem, unless they are plants that bloom in the spring.”
For spring blooming plants that have set buds, only watering is needed now, Sanders said.
For additional information, contact your county extension office or visit the Web site at http://www.uaex.edu/. The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.