Hummingbird Feeders

Question: 

When should I remove or take down my hummingbird feeders. I still have several birds feeding but it is fall and I do not want to keep the hummingbirds here with the cold coming and flowers blooming are gone.

Donna – Lea County

Answer:

That’s a great question Donna. Let me correct a misconception about keeping the hummingbirds around too long. In my recent newspaper garden articles, I keep stating keep your hummingbird up and replenished with fresh sugar water. September to the end of October are the annual fall migration times for hummingbirds coming through New Mexico from northern States to Canada as they wing their way back to Mexico and Central America for their wintering ranges. Even last year I had straggler ‘Hummers’ at my feeders during the first two weeks of November.

Leaving your feeders out will not delay or cause the hummingbirds to stay around and be caught by cold temperatures. That does not happen!

The lack of food sources whether flowering plants and the hummingbird feeders has nothing to do with keeping the birds from migrating South. It is all about this tiny bird’s internal biological controls, scientifically the circannual rhythms in the brain of that bird. As migration times approach, the hummingbirds start to put on body-fat, which fuels its journey south. The fat, and the bio-rhythms create the overwhelming urge to migrate, this is fine-tuned within the bird by the changing day length of fall.

The amount of food in their environments does not affect the migratory instinct. ‘Hummers’ leave their summer ranges while food is still plentiful. Within these confines, nature has provided food sources all along the entire migration route until these uniquely different little birds reach their wintering grounds

Thanks, Donna for this timely question.

PS: Send gardening and nature question to Dr. Dirt. He will answer you by a phone call, email, answers in his newspaper column or our Newsletter.

Giant Millipedes

 Juvenile Giant Millipede

Adult Giant Millipede in Defensive Position

Adult Giant Millipede over 4 inches Long

Subject: Lea County’s Giant Millipedes Are On the Move

With the recent heavy rains and higher humidity levels a nocturnal creature is crawling about and seen on many of the roadways in the late evenings into the darkness although totally unseen by most of Lea County’s population. It is the Giant Millipede, (Orthoporus ornatus),a 1,000 legged worm called by some folks.

There are many species of millipedes but this insect is one of the largest ones and ranges in New Mexico, Texas and into Arizona. It inhabits the sand dunes and brush country of Lea County. Periods of rainfall bring the millipedes up from the depths of their underground burrows and tunnels were they spend most of their life.

Millipedes are detritivores; animal that feeds on dead organic matter, decomposing plants and animal parts. Some detritivores are the common earthworm and the dung beetles found readily in Lea County.

Did You Know…

The millipede name comes the Latin mille for “thousand”and ped for “foot”.Hence the name 1,000 legged worm, but it is NOTa worm at all.

There are 10, 000 speciesof millipedes around the world.

Their colors depend on their habitat environment but varies from gold, yellow, orange, red to black.

The largest United States millipede attains an overall length of 4 inches to 6 inches.

Millipedes have a cylindrical body that is segmented with each segment having two pairs of jointed legs; each shedding of its exoskeleton produces another new legged segment.

They have unique sensory organsat the base of the antennae that can detect vibrations, humidity andlight.The vibration in close proximity will cause the millipede to go into a defensive mode by curling up tightly. They have a defense measure by exuding a chemical at the base legs in each segment of a foul smelling odor and a nasty acrid taste to would be predators.

Millipedes can live to be 7-10 years old.

Night Melodies

As we move into the ‘dog days’ of summer I am always amazed at the night sounds when sitting on the patio or walking in my gardens—No, I am not referring to vehicles, sirens or people. My ears are focused in on the serenading sounds of the ‘crickets’ and ‘katydids’ their cousins. They are singing and harmonizing their songs, to find a mate, love is in the air.

Folklore abounds with crickets in world history. Crickets resembled intelligence and good fortune, were to be revered. Harming a cricket would bring misfortune to that person.

They were “caged”for singing and respected during the Tang Dynasty from 500 B.C. to 618 A.D. Then a new sport arose in the Song Dynasty from 960 to 278 A.D. “cricket fighting.”Cricket fights became so important that China actually created a governmental position, Cricket Minister, Jia Shi-Dao held the first office. Economies flourished with the importance of crickets.

The lowly cricket was even utilized to tell farmers when it was time to prep fields for spring harvest.

The endeared and reverenced quality was the cricket’s ability to sing, more correctly chirp, it’s ability, strength and vitality, and life cycles are what make this a creature of appreciation through history, cultures and customs of the world.

Did You Know:

Crickets can predict the temperature also? Yes, with chirping, they can give you the temperature.

You count the chirps from one cricket. The ambient air temperature varies the chirping with the crickets.

How is this done?For the Fahrenheit temperature, you count the number of chirps in 14 seconds, then add 40 to get the temperature at your location, it is an approximation. Example:  30 chirps in 14 seconds add the  40 = 70 degrees F. There is a formula for the Celsius temperature readings.

Why do crickets chirp?

This is how they communicate. Male crickets use chirping to attract females, scare off other males, or warn of danger.

Many of us think the cricket rubs his legs together to produce chirp. This is NOT true. The male actually rubs scraper ridges of his wing against a series of wrinkles, or “files”, on the other wing. The tone of the chirping depends upon the distance between the wrinkles. 

Nature, sings to us every night, listen to the melodies. Hummmh, I wonder if there is a sound in our ‘wrinkles’, just a thought to ponder.

Borer

Question:   What is this? I found it on my grapevine.

Answer:  You have a “borer” working in the grape stem. The frass is the borer’s excrement mixed with the sap rising in the canes as the borer is tunneling inside and eating the soft tissues.

Usually, you do not see this in grapes. I have only seen it a few times myself. Just always work back into the mature grapevine – pruning out 2 or 3 feet and you should be able to remove the borer. You cannot use any borer treating insecticides, as the chemical will be in your grapes to eat.

These borer adults will be a hard-shelled insects, not miller moth or butterfly. There are several species some with color and others brown or black, but they will have long antennae. They will become more active as our weather warms up.