Declaring war on flying bugs - with lizards

[Junebug]

Hi Utah,

It sounds like your doing a great job of using nature as a natural pesticide. Do any tree frogs live in your neck of the woods? We have an abundance of them in Florida and they do a killer job on snails, roaches, mosquitos, and other flying insects.

Without intent, I established a small frog breeding station near my front door in the form of a small, poorly drained metal planter hanging on the wall. There are a couple of individually potted philodendrons that I stationed in the metal planter and every few days the plants get spritzed with water from a hose. The metal planter with debris in the bottom holds a reservoir of water to the depth of about 5".

At nightfall, a few weeks after installing the planter, I began hearing thumps on a nearby window and discovered the noise was coming from hungry frogs landing on the glass panes. Shortly thereafter, while in the process of spritzing my plants I noticed a few pair of eyes staring back at me between the leaves of the plant. One day curiosity got the best of me so I climbed on a chair, removed the potted Phils, and looked down into the planter. This is what I saw.

Insects thrive in our environment and Florida residents would benefit by encouraging the population of frogs and lizards. They do a fantastic job of keeping the bugs in check.

June