Q: We recently noticed some unusual bugs in the garden. They are just under about half-inch in length. The small ones are solid red but the big ones have backs with red and black markings that look somewhat like African masks. They’re really interesting, but they didn’t stay very long. Let me know what you think.
A: I’m pretty sure that what you encountered is a bug that’s relatively new to North America. It’s native to the eastern Mediterranean, and its scientific name is Scantius aegyptius, but it has the logical common name of Red Bug. The first ones were documented in June 2009 in Orange County, and since then, they’ve been found in adjacent counties too.
Red Bug is ground dwelling and feed on seeds and stems of weeds in open areas, but as you’ve discovered, they may visit gardens too. At this time they are not considered to have an economic impact. If you would like to know more about them you can go to the University of California, Riverside Center for Invasive Species website: cisr.ucr.edu/red_bug.html. There are excellent pictures of Red Bug at various life stages. Remember, there is always species variability within an organism, just as all humans don’t look exactly alike. The same can be true of bugs, but Red Bug certainly is distinctive.
Q: My neighbors and I were wondering if we can use fresh lawn clippings as a mulch in our gardens instead of throwing it away? None of us are interested in maintaining a compost pile at this time.
A: Green waste is really a waste when it goes to the landfill. Fresh lawn clippings can be used as mulch in your garden as long as several precautions are observed.
The lawn should contain no weeds with seed heads or you will be introducing those weeds into your garden. There should be no Bermuda grass present in the lawn because the Bermuda grass clippings may root and invade the garden. The lawn must not have been treated with herbicides such as those commonly used to control broadleaf weeds in the landscape or your garden plants may be damaged. Finally, the clippings should be spread only in a thin layer so they have a chance to dry.
Additional thin layers can be applied in succeeding weeks to build up the thickness. When too thick a layer of fresh grass clippings is applied, the clippings become a foul-smelling mass of rotting material that can even retard the penetration of oxygen into the soil.
At the end of the year, those dry clippings that remain on the soil surface can be incorporated into the soil, and the process resumed when the grass begins growing again in the spring.
Ottillia “Toots” Bier has been a UC Cooperative Extension master gardener since 1980. Send comments and questions to features@pressenterprise.com.
