Garden Insects In Winter.
 
Many people ask me how do most insects manage to live
 through the winter in cold or freezing sections of the country?
 Since a few garden bugs are able to migrate to warmer climates,
 most of these cold-bloodied creatures must adjust to freezing
 temperatures -or die.
 Specially endowed insects like the cinch bug produce an
 anti-freeze chemical that keeps their insides from turning
to ice.
Others calmly freeze without injury and await the spring
thaw ( who doesn’t!).
 On the other hand, the Cecropia silkworm moth, spins
 a Thermopane-type cocoon that traps air between
double walls for maximum insulation. Some insects dig
down below the frost line and sleep away the winter!
 
Insects sense the approach of winter with a built-in
 ”clock” geared to the seasonal variations in darkness
 and light.
 Known as photoperiodism, the phenomenon serves
 insects as a vital early-warning system.
 Long before winter, for example, the female grasshopper
 buries a mass of eggs wrapped in a gluelike jacket.
Warmth will not hatch the eggs unless they have first
been frozen–nature’s wayof making sure a late warm
spell in autumn won’t bring out baby grasshoppers to starve .
In autumn, winged ants and ladybird beetles in California,
fly up into the mountains to spend the winter huddled
by tens of thousands in wingless aeries.
Many mosquitoes pass the winter as larvae, content to
be frozen in ponds. When spring comes they thaw out and
after metamorphosis, buzz off.
Probably the most coddled of all wintering bugs is the
corn-root aphid.
Its eggs are carefully collected by a species of ant and
carried to nests below the frost line. In spring the eggs
are taken to the roots of early weeds to hatch.
make your garden green.
Leave a Comment