PHOTO PROMPT © Miles Rost
Vert prided herself on growing enough fruits and vegetables to sustain her family year-round. She used only organic cultivation methods: deploying companion plantings, diatomaceous earth, ladybugs, and sprays from bottles with neem oil, cayenne pepper, and water to deter even the most persistent pest.
Yet none of it deterred the asparagus beetles, an invasive species, from decimating her juicy Mary Washingtons. Threatening her success and ego, she faced a dilemma of giving up on asparagus or upgrading her arsenal. Choosing Roundup she blasted those effers to oblivion.
Pregnant Hortense, a safe distance away, rubbed her antennae together and waited.
[102 words]
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is the steady host of Friday Fictioneers.
Tao Talk 
It seems her circle values the wrong things
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It’s a mixed bag. Thank you, Neil.
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One pest’s loss is another’s gain. Nice story
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Thank you, Neel!
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Ah, I see some interesting drama among these ‘neighbors’ in the near future … 😉
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I keep snapping the asparagus off and throwing it in the watery ditch to kill them but a few always jump off before it gets there 😦 Aggravating to say the least!
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They is gotta live, too, ya know. … 😉
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I should leave them on and consider them a garnish 😉
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Extra protein. 😉
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I find that very fine mesh will stop all but the most determined. Another strategy is to plant a few fall guys to attract 99 out of a 100 pests
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Michael do you wrap the mesh around each one or over the whole patch? It’s just a 10×2 ft area. Don’t they crawl up from the ground? How do you keep them from getting under the mesh? And how do you direct them to the fall guy plants and away from the rest?
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I Hortense about to eat her fill of her Rounded Up fellow pests? She may need a lawyer when she develops cancer.
Do bugs have lawyers?
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She nibbles on flowers until the poison washes into the groundwater. This is a fictional use of Roundup so the water is safe 🙂
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Dear Lisa,
This sounds like the verge of all out war. Love it.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Rochelle, thank you. I go ballistic when I see my beautiful asparagus dotted with bugs 😦
Shalom,
Lisa
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I love ‘pregnant Hortense’ rubbing her antennae together. So even Bugs get cravings while waiting to produce more…and more…and more of the beetles! I learned a thing or two about organic gardening and I’m definitely going to try to drop ‘Mary Washingtons’ into a conversation next asparagus season. Great story!
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Jenne, so glad you enjoyed the story. Thank you 🙂
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We have that issue with red ants in the yard. We’re hesitant to use poison because of the dogs, but they’re taking over the entire yard. The natural stuff isn’t working.
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Have you tried borax (found in laundry aisle of the store in big boxes)? There are several recipes on the net to get rid of them with it.
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Hmm… I’ve had a box of that in my laundry room so long it’s become a rock. I’ll have to look into that.
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she must be so desperate to use roundup as it’s been proven to cause cancer. but it’s her life i guess. she can do whatever she wants. 🙂
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I love your comment. As you can see, she will still have the pests and now have cancer as well!
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Those nasty little buggers always find a way to decimate your crop dont they. Good story.
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Yes! I’d never make it as a farmer! Thank you, Mason.
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I bet you’d do well as a farmer and you’d take care of all the creatures too.
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🙂 Thank you
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A story I can identify with. This year’s Asparagus crop has been a nightmare, a stunted, deformed and slow-growing nightmare.
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Since writing the story I did some research and it says if they are bent or have brown lines running up the stalk they’ve been tampered with by asparagus beetles. Their suggestion is to pick them off by hand and put in soapy water. Clearly not the choice for me as I hate beetles, ants, etc. and would never pick one up, let alone transport it! Sorry they are getting to your crop also, Sandra.
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Uhm, roundup is a herbicide… (unless they sell it as a mixture under that name, too).
The story is hilarious, the never ending battle of a well-meaning gardener.
If you need advice on organic pest control, try pyrethrum (not pyrethroids). That kills most insects (the beneficial ones, too) but, if properly diluted, is gone in two days and you need not worry about residues. Take care to not get it into your blood stream or inhale it. Toxic plant extracts can be just as poisonous as the stuff from the lab.
I treat my house plants (outside) with pyrethrum when pregnant aphids rub their antennae. Sometimes spraying with soapy water already helps, depending on the insects and severeness of infestation.
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Thank you for all of that good advice, Gah. And thanks for the correction on roundup, as you can see I don’t use any of those chemicals in the yard. I have heard of pyrethrum (and BT) and may need to try it. I think these beetles winter over from season to season as every year there are more 😦
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I’m sorry for the lecture. You’re probably right with the over-wintering.
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No worries on the lecture, I welcome the info.
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I was curious to see if they are the same as ours here, so I looked around a bit. This site: https://www.epicgardening.com/asparagus-beetle/ gives a great overview over their life cycle and organic control methods.
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Thank you for the link, Gah. (Sorry for the delay in response, I found your comment in my spam folder.)
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No problem. 🙂
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Good story, Jade/Li. I like where you took the prompt. Very creative!
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Thanks much, Susan!
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I just had to cut back both my lemon trees because of mealy bugs. What’s left has been thoroughly washed and neem oiled. I hope they will come back. It’s a constant battle. (K)
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A great tale of the ertenal war between man and those pesky wee beasties.
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Thanks James!
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What do ladybugs do Lisa? I like the story don’t get me wrong…but what do they do?
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ladybugs eat pests in the garden. I think they are also non-indigenous, but they have adapted well to this environment without becoming invasive (afaik!)
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I didn’t know that…thank you!
I love ladybugs. I remember one year for a week span we had a lady bug invasion in our old house…they stayed mostly on the ceiling and waited a week and they were gone after that.
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You’re welcome. They do that here too. They will group up on the side of the house and often get inside where it’s warm. Then, like you said, they just disappear.
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Man versus beast, albethey little beasts! I guess they get pretty angry too when deprived of their asparagus!
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🙂 I bet they do!
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Hortense at the end had me cracking up! Great work!
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Thanks much, Mae, and happy to make you laugh.
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I really like the organic arsenal of pest control, and the witty last line – nicely done.
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Thank you 🙂
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I see you are dealing with the same issues I have. My entire kale crop is decimated. I think I should stick to pan roasted grasshoppers as revenge.
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LOL I like that idea of revenge.
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Lol! those bugs are real pests! ❤
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Yes they are!
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It’s a losing battle!
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Ooooooo another invasion! Nicely done!
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Thanks much, Laurie!
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Desperate times call for desperate measures. As someone on constant war with the outdoors (especially bamboo my arch-nemesis in lawn maintenance), I feel her pain.
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You must live in a southern climate where bamboo can survive? Here, grass is my nemesis! I can’t keep it out of my flower and vegetable beds and it grows a dense mat of inpenetrable roots.
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