I've always been in the habit of finding the right culprit before I take any pest measures. Sometimes you know the problem immediately; sometimes you can't figure it out at all. And that's where I was with my new Black Seeded Simpson and Romaine lettuce crops. Something had been eating it. It wasn't slugs, pill bugs or green caterpillars--the usual suspects with lettuce being eaten away, but I simply couldn't identify what it was.
Yesterday I was having a cup of coffee on the balcony overlooking my back yard, above the lettuce beds. A flock of about 50 sparrows lit on the phone wires above the gardens. They flew down into my yard, and I slowly crept over to see what they were after. The little rascals were taking chunks out of my lettuce leaves and devouring them!
I clapped my hands loudly, which of course interrupted their feast and dispersed them. And I laughed. Over my entire life I've been an observer of sparrows. How could I possibly not know that sparrows eat lettuce! After all this time, that this was the first time I've seen them eat anything green was very amusing to me.
When I was 6-7 yrs. old, it was great fun to trick them in a corner of grandma's hen house and catch them in my hands. They're very cute, innocent little guys, and they eat a lot of usually unwelcome bugs.
I'm not going to go to any big effort to keep them out, but I'll chase them out whenever I see them in my lettuce. They won't eat that much and I like having them around. It's nice to know they appreciate the vitamins and minerals, and the lack of chemicals and dangerous pesticides in my lettuce. In fact I take it as a great compliment.
If you don't know what's eating your lunch, save yourself some brain damage and find out-- before you start solving the problem.
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