Hannah Nathe: A Garden Bug’s Life
As I walked out into the garden, I got a sense of pride because I could already see how much needed to be harvested that day. I had decided first that I would pick everything that was ready and then water the garden. I started with the herbs, squash, zucchini, eggplants, onions, and then, something stopped me dead in my tracks.
When I made my way over to the tomato plants, I could see something covering almost every single tomato. As I crept closer, I could see they were bugs. Creepy-looking, brown insects with a fat body and long legs, sort of like a stink bug.
“There’s bugs all over the tomatoes; what do should I do?”, I said to my boss, Alison.
“Just spray them off and pick them; it’ll be fine.”
“No, you don’t understand. Come see.”
As she came out to look, she was beginning to understand what I meant. There were at least 5-7 bugs covering and eating each and every tomato. I had picked what I could, but as for the rest of them, they looked brown and saggy, like they were rotting on the plant.
Since this garden is on-site at a farm-to-table restaurant, the tomatoes as ingredients in dinner almost every night. That particular week, we had caprese salad on special using, you guessed it, our very own tomatoes and herbs picked fresh from our on-site, organic, pesticide-free garden that morning. So there I was, looking at the bugs (and the bugs looking back at me), trying to figure out how I was going to save the tomatoes.
Caprese salad with community-grown tomato and basil
First, I had to do some research and figure out what these bugs were so I could ultimately get rid of them. These are called leaf-footed bugs, and they are in the same family as stink bugs. As I continued reading about them, I found out that they cling to nightshades, like tomatoes or eggplants, and suck the juices out of them leaving behind bacteria filled pouches. That’s why the tomatoes were rotting with dark, watery spots on them.
I found that the most effective way of getting rid of these bugs in the meantime, unfortunately for me, was to physically remove them from the plants. Removing them was time-consuming and by no means something I found relaxing or easy. I generally hate bugs, especially ones that can fly, but I had no other choice because the hose was just not working. Instead of squashing them (remember they are related to stink bugs), I used gloves to remove them and put them in a mixture of dish soap and water. This was a good temporary fix, but it didn’t keep them away, and I had to do this every day I harvested tomatoes. I kept researching ways to prevent their arrival instead of continuing to deal with them after the fact because I started to dread coming in for harvest.
One of the challenges I faced while thinking of methods to rid these bugs, besides having to touch them, was that our garden was pesticide-free and completely organic. Typical methods to get rid of these bugs are insecticides like permethrin. Permethrin is the most effective way to quickly get rid of leaf-footed bugs and keep them away. Unfortunately, the use of synthetic chemicals would not suffice, so I scrapped the idea. The next thing I researched was neem oil. Neem is biodegradable and organic, so in theory, it was perfect for the job. The only problem was the unforgiving heat which would most likely cause the neem oil to suffocate the bugs and plants basically making it ineffective.
That’s when I found a method called diatomaceous earth. It’s an organic powder made from dried silica diatoms that are found in sedimentary rock. It was easy to find at Lowe’s, and I all I had to do was apply a small amount to the soil and ensure that there was still enough there even after it rained.
During this time, Alison had just left to go out of town on private business, so it was up to me to manage the garden. I was very nervous about this because I had not overseen anything alone and she wasn’t even going to be in the state if I needed assistance. I was also not able to contact her because of what she had going on and her reason for leaving, so I was left to my own devices. The circumstances of the environment were against me because it had not rained in over a week, and the temperature was in the high 90’s, so not exactly optimal growing weather. I was going to have to come to the garden every single day (maybe even twice a day) to water and pick off the leaf-footed bugs, all while working a job in Charlotte 45 minutes away. I wasn’t even sure the diatomaceous earth would even work, and I had never even heard of it before I started researching. It might not sound like that big of a deal, but we were in the middle of a tomato emergency, and I didn’t want Alison to come back to a dead garden. With time and weather against me, all these thoughts started running through my mind and were making me more and more disinclined to do it alone, but, before Alison left, I cleared the idea of using diatomaceous earth with her, and I planned to begin the treatment the next day.
Applying it felt like it took forever in the heat, and I had to wear a mask when I applied it because the powder kept floating in the air with the wind. By the end of it, I was tired and sweating, but I felt proud and hopeful that this would be the cure for our tomatoes. Then, all I had to do was wait about 5 days for it start working. So that meant more hand-picking bugs off until there were no more coming back. I will say, as squeamish as I started, I got used to picking them off, although it was still terrifying when they flew at me.
By the time Alison had returned, most of the bugs had left, and there were only a couple still clinging to the tomatoes. It only took two days for the leaf-footed bugs to start noticeably clearing up. Looking back, it seems I was nervous for no reason, but nevertheless, I am proud of myself for pushing through and finding a solution on my own. It was my research and willingness to get down and dirty that impacted the health of the garden. It was me that came in every day to pick bugs off tomatoes that made it possible for us to keep using them in the restaurant. It was me getting past my, irrational, but real anxiety of messing everything up that allowed me to persevere through that week. Upon reflecting, this was the turning point that made me realize I should be more confident in my abilities and that even when anxiety feels like it is taking over, things work out best when you slow down and set a plan to put into action.
A tomato bloom from Clover Harvest's community garden
Hannah did her Breakaway at a farm to table restaurant called Clover Harvest where she shadowed under the business owners and visited many of their partnered farms. She is a biology major expected to graduate in Spring of 2024, and plans to dedicate her work to increasing the health of the environment.