The design is brilliant. Nearly impossible to replicate. And tampering with it, well that’s just plain dangerous. The names have been made up, but the activity goes on and on. In the garden, the greenhouse, the field, everywhere. She’s workin’ hard.
Creeping along silently, the spotted plant bug nymph crept closer to the garden rows. Sensing the air, tasting his way to the goodness of the garden, the plant bug moved in for the kill.
The plants in the garden were healthy for the most part. They were given compost and treated organically at every turn. The caretakers cared and did things the right way. Not every plant in the garden was doing well, though. Some, a few of those in the back, were getting too much water, and were a little weak. It was not really noticeable, but it was those plants the plant bug nymph was looking at.
The Robinsons, Bill and Jenny, the caretakers, tried to get things right, but they knew it was impossible.
“Planting things in rows just isn’t natural,” Jenny told Bill on many occasions. “It’s not that we’re doing anything wrong, it’s just not the way it’s supposed to be.”
Bill, of course, understood, but it didn’t change the disappointment he felt when pests or diseases reared their ugly heads. He wouldn’t, couldn’t spray, yet had little tolerance for pests. His worst fear: Spotted plant bugs.
The nymph kept up its approach. He was skirting the healthy plants in the front and heading towards those in the rear. Somehow he knew those were the plants to take down. The bug acted on its own, instinct prevailing, focusing on the minor cues which signaled to him the plants worth the effort of his pursuit. This is a law of nature. The lion pursues the sick or injured or weak antelope on the Central African plains. The laws are no different here in the garden. Some changes are in effect, though. For one thing the plant cannot run from the approaching plant bug-it normally relies on the camouflage of its being one of a larger, stronger group-a crop-the way small fish school. Moreover, unlike the lion, the plant beetle isn’t the apex predator in this case. In fact, it’s down there a number of rungs.
The plants in the back are unaware that they are being pursued. They don’t have the senses utilized by so many living creatures. Their outlook is one of passivity. Standing, growing, being part of a larger crop. Some of their numbers are always doomed, but again, like it is with the small schooling fish, it’s the law of nature. Plants are meant to die and plant bugs are meant to feed on them, often causing their demise. The plants in the back are being over-watered slightly and don’t have the same “look” or “feel” as the others. They are unhealthy as a result. The plant bug, like the lion, knows this and is being opportunistic.
Bill told Jenny he was going out into the garden to tend to the plants. Jenny had some errands to run, but would be by his side in a hour or two. Today they would probably harvest some beans in addition to their regular chores.
Bill walked into the garden and started his work. Slowly he made his way to the plants in the back row. To him they looked fine, but he did notice he was sinking into the wet ground a bit. He would mention this to Jenny later on; they would have to adjust the amount of irrigation reaching this section. Bill didn’t notice, but immediately behind him a spotted plant bug nymph was moving steadily towards the section he was concerned about. This meant that for Bill and his soggy back-row plants, the proposed irrigation adjustment was going to be too late.
The nymph noticed Bill’s shadow, but he didn’t register it as a threat. And it wasn’t, not really. The plant bug, unconcerned, slipped quietly past the mired heel of Bill’s right boot and crept closer to the back-row plants. He continued on, unnoticed. Or so he thought.
The plants always had bugs on them. It was no big deal. That’s life if you’re a plant. But in the case of the plants in the Robinson’s garden, not all the bugs were there naturally. The Robinsons were experimenting with biological pest control-using good bugs to take down bad ones. Many of the plants in the garden had ladybugs and other “good” bugs lighting and walking on them. The plants in the back row were often visited by the larvae of the shiny-toothed beetles which were introduced by the Robinsons. Today the shiny-toothed beetle larvae were on the potato plants eating a number of newly deposited potato fly eggs. All of them that is except one. One shiny-toothed beetle larva was scouting the back-row plants. The spotted plant bug didn’t notice him, but the beetle larva noticed the plant bug.
Jenny came back while Bill was back at the house eating lunch. He mentioned to her the sogginess of the back-row plants and suggested they stop watering that section for a while. Jenny agreed. She then asked how the rest of the garden was doing. Bill mentioned that he saw some of their shiny-toothed beetle larvae on the potato plants. He said they appeared to be eating some really small specks. Jenny thought about it for a second, grabbed The Garden Tome, Second Edition, and flipped through it. She found what she was looking for and showed Bill the photo. “These specks?” she asked. “Yes. Those.” he replied. Jenny pointed out that the specks were potato fly eggs and that the beetles were doing them some good. Both were pleased that their experiments with biocontrol were panning out. “We should get another batch of those, huh?” Bill asked.
The spotted plant bug was nervous. The man and his shadow was long gone, but something seemed out of kilter. He didn’t have cognizant thought; the feeling went deeper. A fear of the dark contains no reality as what’s there and harmless by day remains the same as night comes, but the fear is real nonetheless. It is that gut feeling, that instinct, which was bothering the spotted plant bug nymph at this very moment. And, in this bug’s case, there were no false alarms sounding.
The soggy, back-row plants remained unaware of the events going on around them. It’s what plants do-or don’t do, rather. Pretty boring from my point of view.
The Robinsons were busy in the house with The Bug People Catalog, preparing to order another batch of shiny-toothed beetle larvae. Bill asked Jenny if she had seen any spotted plant bugs this year and if they should get something special for them while they were putting an order together. She replied that she hadn’t, but it didn’t mean anything as the time was right for them to just start showing themselves. She added that it didn’t really matter, though, as the shiny toothed beetle larvae are known to be aggressive, opportunistic predators, and will attack the spotted plant bugs anyway. Bill was just being the nervous type. A number of years ago, before he married Jenny, he lost almost everything in then-his garden to those spotted pains-in-the-butt. It still seemed like yesterday so he wanted to be ready for them. Had he turned around this morning and spied that lone bug eye-balling his back-row plants, his nervousness gauge would be cranked up to the max.
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