Organic Gardening
Insect Glossary E-H

Organic gardening Insectipedia insect glossary E-H is a free resource of garden insects, insect terms, and helpful information.


eliminate

If there are only a few pests present, probe the borehole with wire to kill them. Remove and burn all infested plants and branches in the spring, before the adult emerges to lay more eggs.

Cultivation tends to eliminate over wintering insects and destroys eggs.

Crop rotation and varying the planting dates to offset borer attacks significantly reduces these pests.

If the Borers have infested Vegetable crops, destroy all plants immediately after harvest.

Poisons and repellents are ineffective against borers unless it is applied during the time the adults are laying eggs or when the adults are emerging from the eggs. Prevention is the best solution.


elliptical

An elliptical shape is a uniform oval.

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elytra

The elytra are the anterior or forward most, wings in beetles and other insects that serve as protection for the posterior, or rear most, pair of functional wings.


environmental insecticides

CAUTION: The use of the following natural insecticides should be used only when control tactics have failed.

1. Bacillus thuringiensis
2. Milky Spore Disease
3. Diatomaceous earth
4. Pyrethrum
5. Sabadilla
6. Rotenone
7. Ryania
8. Tobacco dust

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excreta

Excreta is the waste matter from an animal and other living organisms.


fabricated

To fabricate is to make, build or construct something, in this case a trap. In this instance the word fabricate is very appropriate because it can also means to make up for the purpose of deception. That is exactly what we are doing when we are making, or fabricating, a trap for insects.

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femur

The femur houses the powerful tibiae muscles that are used for jumping. It may also be used for locomotion and sound production.


fertile soil


Firefly

A firefly is a nocturnal winged beetle that produces a bright soft intermittent light by oxidizing luciferin for courtship purposes. However, not all species of fireflies have light organs.

The Firefly is a natural predator of Slugs and Snails.

There are some California species where the female glows but the winged males don't. They usually range about 1/4 to 1/2 inches long, males have soft elongated dark wing covers, and the females are flightless. Females are often called glowworms. eggs are laid on the ground and produce larva that prey on snails. The single generation produced each year hibernate and produce the adult in the summer. They can be found throughout the United States and Southern Canada in open meadows and gardens.


Flagellum

The outer most part of the antenna, usually divided into many subsegments. The divided flagellum is joined together by membranes so that it can be flexible.


Fleshy Fruits

Fleshy Fruits (members of the Solanacea)
Eggplant Ground-cherry
Pepper Tomato

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foliage

The decorative parts of plants, such as leaves, flowers, and branches.


forewings

The success of insects as a terrestrial invertebrate is partly due to their flying capability. Generally, adult insects have two pairs of wings articulating with the thorax. The forewings are often hardened and are used to protect the hind wings.

In various insect groups, the wings are modified for sound production even though they are no longer used for flight.


Frons

The central area on the front of the head. Muscles run from this area to the other parts of the head.

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fruit damage

It is important to look for signs of insect attack. The signs may show up as fruit damage.

Types of fruit damage are:

1. Fruit is blemished - beyond recovery

blemished fruit

2. Fruit has residue - sawdust-like or gummy

fruit with residue

3. Fruit is deformed

fruit is deformed

4. Fruit has holes and tunnels inside
fruit tunnel marks

5. Fruit is pitted

fruit with pits

6. Fruit is damaged with mold

fruit is damaged with mold

7. Fruit has puncture marks

fruit with holes

8. Fruit has inflamed areas

fruit with inflamed area

9. Fruit is chewed
fruit chewed


fungus

Fungi is a term for a major group of fungus which is a saprophytic or parasitic lower plant form that lacks chlorophyll and includes mildews, molds, mushrooms, rusts, smuts and yeasts.

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galls

Gall is the swelling of plant tissue, which is usually caused by fungi or insect parasites. Galling sometimes forms an important source of tannin.


Organic Garden Category

Some orderly method of grouping fruits and vegetables is necessary to present the knowledge orderly and eliminate repetition. Fruits and vegetable used throughout the world number in the thousands.

Therefore, some system of classification is essential.

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garlic spray

A garlic spray usually consists of a diluted garlic-clove juice or powdered garlic extracts. Garlic sprays have antibiotic properties that are useful in the fight against bacteria and fungi, such as downy mildew of cucumber, downy mildew of radish, cucumber scab, bean rust, bean anthracnose, and early blight of tomato, brown rot of stone fruits, annular leaf spot of cucumber, and bacterial blight of beans.


Gena

The lateral area (cheek) of the head beneath the eyes is called the gena.


Grains

Barley Millet
Oats Rice
Rye Wheat

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green fruit

Unripened fruit. Usually green in color and smaller than the mature size.


Green Manure Crop

A green manure crop is a cover crop that is planted and grown for tilling under to improve the soil or harvested and used as compost material. For example, winter cover crops of Rye or Vetch are excellent soil builders. Cover crops have many advantages, such as adding nitrogen to the soil, mobilizing minerals and increasing organic matter to improve fertility, conserving the soils nutrients by reducing what is lost during leaching, replacing some of what is lost during erosion, and generally improves the soils physical condition of plant nutrients.

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Ground Beetles

Ground Beetles belong to the Coleoptera order. All for the most part are beneficial insects. Mainly black in color, though many are brilliantly colored or enhanced by iridescent hues. They have long legs and with Tibia spurs, and can run rapidly. They are flattened in shape with a distinguished thorax, usually narrower than the abdomen. The eyes are large (except for a few cave species). The eggs are normally laid in the soil. When full grown the larvae pupate in the soil.

Mostly nocturnal, they may be found under rocks or debris in the daytime. They fiercely feed on Slugs,
Snails, Cutworms, Caterpillars, and larvae of Beetle pests.

Mostly 20,000 Ground Beetles have been identified. Their identification is hard, because they so closely resemble each other.

The Ground Beetles found in this knowledge base are:
Fiery Hunter
Fiery Searcher
Ground Beetle
Tiger Beetle
Rove Beetle


grub

A grub is a soft-bodied worm-like larva of an insect, usually Beetles.

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handpick

To handpick is to physically pick by hand as opposed to using machinery. When handpicking insects, be sure to wear gloves.

Where most insects are harmless to humans, there are some that can irritate the skin.

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Hand picking and destroying them

Hand picking and destroying them whenever they are found. For at least two weeks, spend each night with a flashlight and a bucket of diluted soapy water, handpicking the Slugs and Snails and dropping them into the bucket. Children love this activity.

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Harvestmen

Predaceous and Scavengers. May sometimes be beneficial, feeding on Mites and small insects.

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healthy soil

Normally about 90% of the time insects will only attack unhealthy plants. Just as humans who are healthy are less susceptible to disease, so are healthy plants that are on a good diet less susceptible to disease and insect attack. The first step in insect control is to provide your plants with a healthy soil. Your organic garden soil needs your energy. We must attack the problem not the symptom (insects).

Here are some elements to consider in establishing a healthy soil:

1. Are the proper plant nutrients available in the soil? Are you putting back that which you are taking out?

2. Use only organic fertilizers instead of chemical or petroleum based fertilizers.

3. Is the soil pH within the limits of the crops being grown?

4. Is the soil being dug and cultivated properly? Rototilling compacts the soil six to eight inches below the surface, which stresses many crops.

5. How are you watering the crops? Too much? Too Little?

6. Is weeding being maintained effectively?

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heavy feeders

Those crops that extract large amount of nutrients from the soil such as nitrogen.

Examples of heavy feeders:

Corn Fruit trees Melons Parsley Pumpkins Tomatoes

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heavy givers

Those crops that fix nitrogen back into the soil.

Examples of heavy givers:

Acacias
Alders
Alfalfa
Beans
Black
Locust
Ceanothus
Peas
Soybeans
Vetch

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hemiptera

Members of the Hemiptera are distinguished from all other insects by both adults and nymphs having a proboscis that includes a salivary channel as well as a food channel. The proboscis is usually specialized to suck the juices from various parts of plants, including seeds, although some species are predatory (on arthropods and sometimes small animals), and a few are adapted to suck blood from mammals. - Wikipedia.com

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hibernate

Hibernation refers to the passing of winter in a torpid or resting state, or to become dormant or inactive.

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Homoptera/Heteroptera

Homoptera

Members of the "Heteroptera" are typically called "true bugs". The name heteroptera comes from their forewings having both membranous and hard portions. It is also essentially this same feature which gives the order its name, hemiptera, coming from the Greek for half-wing. Members of the Hemiptera are distinguished from all other insects by both adults and nymphs having a proboscis that includes a salivary channel as well as a food channel. The proboscis is usually specialized to suck the juices from various parts of plants, including seeds, although some species are predatory (on arthropods and sometimes small animals), and a few are adapted to suck blood from mammals. In addition, the space between the overlapping wings in the members of this order forms a triangular shape near the head which is commonly used to identify a true bug. -Wikipedia.com

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honeydew

Anal secretions of Aphids and other Homoptera consisting largely of water and sugars.

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holometebolous

One of the two major types of development where the larvae do not resemble the adults and a pupal stage occurs.

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hopper burn

When Leafhoppers feed on plants by inserting their piercing mouthparts into leaves to suck out the nutritious leaf sap, they can damage the leaf by interfering with the fluid conduction within the leaf causing a browned area called hopper burn.

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host plant

A host plant is a plant that provides lodgment (shelter or accommodations) to an insect.

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Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera is one of the larger orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. The name refers to the membranous wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek. The hindwings are connected to the forewings by a series of hooks called hamuli. Females typically have a special ovipositor for inserting eggs into hosts or otherwise inaccessible places, often modified into a stinger. The young develop through complete metamorphosis - that is, they have a worm-like larval stage and an inactive pupal stage before they mature. -Wikipedia

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