Treacling for moths and moth books

Why moths fascinate me?

Since I was a little boy and discovered my first caterpillars, and found out how some types turn into moths that were like butterflies but different, I have been fascinated by the insects. It saddens me to know that many species are becoming much less in numbers in the modern world. Many people don't seem to know or care.

But moths are not only amazing creatures to see and study but are an essential part of the eco-system. They are the food of bats and many other nocturnal animals and their caterpillars become the food of countless birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians and other insects. If they are missing from the environment then other creatures go hungry.

The Moths of the British Isles
I recently went to visit my father in Cardiff and picked up some old and treasured books of mine. The Moths of the British Isles (Series I and II) by Richard South F.E.S. are, in my opinion, some of the best reference books on the insects available.

I say this because many a modern book only has a small selection of the more common or large and brightly-coloured species. However, these old books have all the small ones and the dull brown and grey species and even the types that were exceedingly rare many years back. There are quite a good selection of books on moths though.


Moth names
I love the names that moths have. Here is a selection: the Lunar Spotted Pinion, the Old Lady, the Lobster Moth, the Puss Moth, the Hummingbird Hawk Moth, the Chocolate Tip, the Argent and Sable, the Frosted Green, the Wood Tiger, the Vapourer, the Kentish Glory, the Emperor, the Rosy Footman, the Neglected Rustic, the Clifden Nonpareil, the Alchymist, the Rannoch Sprawler, the Brighton Wainscot, the Nonconformist, the Ruddy Highflyer, the Toadflax Pug, the Belted Beauty, the Essex Emerald and the Gold Spot.

They sound more like titles for plays or detective novels, some form of confectionery, public houses or maybe a rock band even! Anything but a flying insect!

Caterpillars
When I was a child and later in life too I used to delight in rearing caterpillars in jars and other containers and make sure they had the leaves they needed of their food plants. When it was time for them to pupate some types needed soil to burrow in and others needed leaves or other material to fashion into cocoons. It was all a part of the learning process for me finding out about all these requirements.

Pale Tussock Moth caterpillar or Hop Dog

Some types of moth only pupate for a few weeks or months but others must go through the whole winter and spring before they emerge. Waiting patiently for the day they hatched out was always worth it when I watched the beautiful creatures drying their wings with all their colours fresh and radiant.

There are many ways of finding caterpillars too. One good way is to beat bushes and overhanging foliage with a stick or to shake it onto a tray of some sort below.

Some caterpillars are very unusual looking creatures and very beautiful in their own way. The caterpillar of the Pale Tussock Moth, or "Hop Dog" as it is also known, is a good example, covered as it is in coloured tufts of hair against a lime green background.

Some types fall off and curl up or start crawling and others like some of the "looper" caterpillars can hang down on threads if they are dislodged.

Hawk Moths
Some caterpillars can be spotted by looking out for the areas of foliage they have eaten. Big caterpillars like those of the Hawk Moths do this.

Finding moths at night is exciting too because you never know what you might discover. There are various ways. You can search around lights in outhouses and buildings where theinsects are attracted, or looking on flowering shrubs like the Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii) is another great way of finding moths as they feed on the nectar.

Speaking of moths that are feeding, a very good way of tempting the insects is by an old-fashioned method known as "sugaring" or "treacling." To do this you make up a mixture of treacle and sugar and maybe a dash of some alcoholic drink and daub it in strips on walls and fences and tree trunks and then come back an hour or so later with a torch to see what is there.

On a good night it will tempt all sorts of species but not only moths. I remember getting the attention of a policeman when I was a boy so, if you try sugaring, be careful where you put your sticky treacle lure because it might not just be moths that it attracts.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Pineapples and Kiwi Fruit from Ely, Cardiff

My pineapple

Years ago when I lived in the Ely council estate in Cardiff, I made the news a few times because of the exotic fruit I had managed to cultivate in my house and garden. The most memorable occasion was when I grew a pineapple in my living room and the story got reported on HTV News at Christmas.

Home-grown Pineapples

It had taken me a few years to get the plant big enough to produce a flower and then a fruit, but I proved it was possible. Amazingly my house had no central heating at the time too so it was growing in a room that was unheated a lot of the time.

I started the pineapple off by taking the green spiky rosette off a pineapple I bought in a local shop, and after tearing off the bottom leaves, planting it in a pot full of garden soil. It soon took root and started to get bigger and I re-potted it into larger pots as it continued to grow larger.  I remember how exciting it was seeing the flower developing in the centre.

Pineapple flower

I let it develop into a small pineapple fruit before I sent my proposal in to the local television station.  I wrote a script too saying that in the cold and dark days on winter a Cardiff man was dreaming of a much warmer climate and holidays abroad. To help him get that tropical touch to his home in Ely he had grown his own pineapple.

They obviously liked my idea and soon got back to me and arranged to send a reporter called Victoria Pearce and a cameraman around to see me.  I was shown pouring some water into the pineapple’s pot out of a milk bottle and I explained that I just used earth from the garden and water that came out of the tap. There were no secrets to my success but the report said that I had "green fingers". The news story ended with me saying that I hoped the pineapple would be big enough and ripe enough to eat for Christmas.

HTV added some footage of a tropical beach with palm trees and appropriate music for the introduction to the report. An expert from the Welsh National Botanical Centre explained that it was most unusual for anyone to grow a pineapple at home like this. A caption read: “Welsh pineapple grower Steve Andrews”.

Welsh Pineapple Grower Steve Andrews

South Wales Echo

I also sent the story into the South Wales Echo and grew a second pineapple a couple of years later.

My next horticultural success at growing exotic fruit was when I succeeded in growing several kiwi fruit on vines in my back garden. I had grown the plants from seed and had them twining up and around my washing-line pole.

I had a great story for the media about this too. My friend Ayla the Witch had been visiting and we had been sitting on the grass out the back garden on an early summer’s day. I had told my friend about how although I was really pleased with my kiwi fruit vines and the lovely flowers they produced each year, for some reason they never produced any fruit. She said she thought that this summer my luck would change and I would get a crop on my vines. I told Ayla that I hoped she was right and didn’t think any more about it.

But then just a few weeks later, after it had been flowering I noticed a fruit forming, and then another and another. What was really magical about this was that the kiwi fruit were growing on the part of the vines above where Ayla had been sitting. 

Kiwi fruit

I sent the story into the South Wales Echo and the newspaper sent out a cameraman and a reporter. The story got published with a photo of me with kiwi fruit on each side of my face. So that was how I got known in the Cardiff news media as being the gardener who managed to grow pineapples and kiwi fruit at his home.

Passion for fruit

That was all back before I moved to Tenerife in 2004. Some years later I went back on a holiday visit to Cardiff and went back to Ely to see some friends. I was amazed to see large banana plants growing in a garden in Wroughton Place in the estate. Someone there was following in my footsteps I thought, and with yet another exotic fruit.

Bananas in Ely

If Climate Change continues perhaps it will become normal for fruit normally grown in subtropical and tropical countries to being grown in Wales.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Earthstars are very strange fungi

Earthstar

When I lived in Ely in Cardiff I had a number of strange plants and mushrooms that came up in my garden and one of the most curious of all was a fungus that is known as the Earthstar. They suddenly arrived one autumn amongst the dead leaves under the bushes and trees at the bottom of my garden. It was almost like a peaceful invasion of some very small alien beings

It seemed a very suitable place to find them, but a real mystery because they are said to grow most frequently under Beech trees in woods, and there were none anywhere near my house. In fact the nearest forest was about a mile away. Not only that but they are not a common fungus in any case. Why had they picked my garden as a home?

Earthstars are in the family Geastraceae, which translates as "stars of Ge/Gaia" (the Earth). The species that was growing in my garden was Geastrum triplex. Although none of these weird fungi can be described as “common” this species is probably the one that is most often seen. They are always included in books about British, European and North American fungi.

Earthstars are unmistakable. There is nothing else quite like them.They have a body like a puffball with a hole right in the middle that will puff out millions of spores, and around it is a formation of arms that makes it look like a star. It looks more like some weird sea creature than a fungus. Like a starfish living on the land perhaps?

Dry Earthstars

The arms peel back and can crack or they can curl up when the weather is very dry. The whole fungus can break off from its base in the ground and get moved about like fungus tumbleweed. The Earthstar fungus is the only fungus I know of that can actively move around, although all species move very slowly as they grow bigger.

Rain also helps the fungi disperse their spores that get puffed out of the central sack in heavy showers as the raindrops hit the Earthstar. I can only assume they arrived in my garden carried as spores on the wind. The Earthstars were growing under a rescued Christmas tree and under a very large Privet bush and by a small Yew Tree. Every autumn they appeared for several years in a row and were still there right through the winter. They tolerated very cold spells and drying up too. Rain revived them but eventually they got eaten away by snails and woodlice. They might still be growing there if the new people living there haven't destroyed the end of the garden.

I made a point of puffing out millions and millions of spores and like to think that I was helping the Earthstar fungus colonise somewhere else on the planet. I watched them blowing away in the breeze. And they do appear to be a colony, a colony of weird alien creatures. They not only look like stars but look as if they have come from the stars! 

Bard of Ely with some of the Earthstars

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Grow your own Cotton

Cotton flower

We all wear cotton clothes and we know about cotton fields, and there are even old songs that talk about picking a "bale of cotton," but what a lot of people don't realise is that the plant the fibre comes from has an attractive flower and leaves and makes a very unusual ornamental plant to grow as a houseplant or in your garden.

Cotton species
Species of the Cotton Plant grown and harvested commercially are Gossypium hirsutum (90% of world production), G. barbadense (8%), G. arboreum and G. herbaceum and they are all in the Mallow family or Malvaceae.

Cotton described

The Cotton Plant is a shrub or bush and can grow to as high as 3 metres, depending on the species and the growing conditions. Cotton species are subtropical or tropical plants but can be grown indoors as houseplants in colder climates.

Cotton comes originally from Africa, India and the Americas. The plants need a fairly good soil and plenty of water to grow well. Cotton plants start off with two fairly large seed-leaves and then start to develop the proper leaves, which are palmate in form. The plants can grow fast and will eventually produce pretty flowers in shades of yellow or pale orange and these are followed by the bolls, which contain hard seeds covered in the fluffy cotton fibre.

Parts of the Cotton plant

Pests

Cotton plants can be attacked by several insect pests including thrips, whiteflies and caterpillars. There is a species of moth caterpillar known as the "bollworm." Surely the best way of dealing with pests is the old-fashioned way or by using biological controls?

Monsanto

Genetically modified cotton has been produced by the bioengineering global company Monsanto. This form is known as BT Cotton and contains a pesticide from a gene in its artificially manipulated DNA.

It is successful in combating some insect pests but not all and in India has caused terrible problems for farmers there who bought the seeds from Monsanto. Faced with failed crops, a need for irrigation, herbicides, and buying new seed from the company, many farmers have found themselves unable to afford the costs and have actually committed suicide. This is yet another tragedy brought to the world by this powerful global company that has also given us Agent Orange, a dangerous defoliant used in the Vietnam War, and Aspartame, the toxic artificial sweetener that is found in a disturbing amount of food and drink products today.

Organic Cotton
There has also been a move towards growing organically-produced cotton and plenty of such products on sale. Many people prefer to have cotton clothes as a natural product as opposed to artificial fibres but they would also prefer a natural product free of pesticides and herbicide residues.

Cotton growing in a  flower border

Tenerife
I first came upon a Cotton Plant growing as a bush in a shrub border here on Tenerife. I picked a boll off the plant and found that the seeds it contained germinated very easily. I have also seen plants of cotton in a row on a shrub border in the village I live in where I assume they have been planted by a member of the local community.

Cotton bolls

If you have enough land and live in a warm enough part of the world you could grow your own field of cotton but I grow my Cotton Plants on the balcony. Cotton makes a very unusual and attractive plant to grow and I can certainly recommend it.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Hot stuff – growing Capsicum Peppers

Green Bell Pepper

Many people enjoy eating hot spicy dishes such as curries, and also like growing their own plants, and this is where the many species of Peppers (Capsicum) are ideal for both purposes. Chilli Peppers and Sweet Peppers are very easy to grow and you can use their fruits too.

There are so many to choose from. There are the very hot Chilli, Cherry and Cayenne Peppers, and many varieties and cultivars available within these groups, and there are the much larger Bell or Sweet Peppers that are not hot to taste and are eaten in many ways.

In fact there are over 1,000 cultivars grown in the world with a very wide range of colours, shapes and degree of pungency. Most cultivated Peppers are either of the C. annuum var. annuum or C. frutescens species.

Pepper groups

Peppers can loosely be included in five separate groups. There is the Cerasiforme Group (Cherry Peppers), with small and very hot fruit, the Conoides Group (Cone Peppers) with erect and cone-shaped fruit, the Fasiculatum Group (Red Cone Peppers) with thin red and very hot fruit, the Grossum Group (Bell Peppers, Sweet Peppers and Pimientos), with large sweet fruit that are green and ripen to red or yellow, and finally the Longum Group (Cayenne and Chilli Peppers) with drooping, very hot-tasting fruit that are the source of Chilli Powder, Cayenne Pepper and Tabasco Sauce. There are books about Peppers such as The Whole Chile Pepper Book that comes with over 180 hot and spicy recipes using them.

Growing Peppers

The Peppers are all annuals or short-lived perennials and grow easily from seed. They are all frost-tender so need to be grown in greenhouses or indoors in temperate zones and countries like the UK. They grow fine outdoors in subtropical and tropical areas of the world as long as they have enough water.

I have personally grown them well in pots on a balcony in Tenerife and in my house when I lived in Britain.  My good friend Chris Fowler, who lives in Cardiff, became so involved in his hobby of growing Peppers that he has been successfully cultivating many different varieties, and set up a small business selling his produce. He has posted lots of photos of his Peppers at his Facebook site.

The plants do best in well-drained nutrient-rich soil and germinate easily enough. I have grown Peppers from seeds I have taken from fruit I have bought or been given but you can, of course, buy named varieties in packets of seed commercially available. Most Peppers form bushy plants with small white flowers that turn into green fruit that change colour as they ripen and grow larger.

Cherry Peppers

History of Capsicum Peppers

Capsicums were first introduced to Europe and the Western world after being brough from Mexico following Columbus’s voyage of 1942. A doctor who had sailed with him and noticed how the Native Americans used the fruit for flavouring food and as medicines, such as toothache remedies and pain relievers. It is said that the Portuguese then took Peppers to Africa and India.

Medicinal uses and properties

The bitter alkaloid Capsaicin has been established as a pain-killer.  Peppers are also antibacterial and contain vitamins A and C, as well as minerals. Hot varieties increase blood flow, stimulate sweating and are good for the digestion. Capsaicin can be made into an analgesic cream used to treat rheumatism, arthritis and aching joints.

Culinary uses

Sweet Peppers can be eaten raw in salads or cooked as vegetables. They can be stuffed or added as ingredients to other mixed dishes such as sauces for pasta, for pizzas and in soups and stews. Hot Chilli and other very pungent Peppers are added to pickles and chutneys, as well as providing their hot spiciness for Indian, Thai, Mexican and other cuisines of the world.

Chilli Pepper

And finally...

From this short introduction to Capsicum Peppers I am sure you will see many reasons why they make excellent plants to grow, but a word of warning: the hot Peppers can cause painful inflammation if they are brought into contact with mucous membranes. So if you have been handling Chilli Peppers do not touch your eyes or other sensitive parts of the body or you will regret not washing your hands first!


Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Basil is an easy herb to grow

Flowering Basil

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a very popular herb used in Mediterranean cuisine. Although it originates in India and needs a subtropical or tropical climate to grow outdoors, it can, nevertheless, be grown in the UK in the summer and as a potted plant or under glass.

Pesto Sauce

Basil is a very aromatic herb and is best used fresh but the leaves can also be dried for storage. It goes very well with tomato dishes of any type and is excellent as a herb used to add flavour to pizzas and the sauces for pasta. It is the main ingredient for Pesto sauce. This popular sauce used to be made with a pestle and mortar to grind up the ingredients but today a blender or food processor makes the job much easier.

Growing Basil

Basil grows well enough in pots and window boxes and can be bought as small plants or started from seed. It will reach as much as 2 ft under ideal conditions but is usually a lot shorter. Basil is a half-hardy annual. It produces spikes of small white flowers that are carried in whirls. The leaves of basil are bright green and release their perfume if lightly brushed. There are plenty of great books available about growing herbs.

A culinary and medicinal herb

Basil is one of many culinary and medicinal herbs from the Sage and Mint family or Lamiaceae.  Indeed, besides being a valuable herb for using in the kitchen it also has its uses in herbal medicine because it has antidepressant, antiseptic and soothing properties. The fresh leaves are said to be a remedy for insect bites and stings too. An infusion of the plant taken with honey is a treatment for colds. The essential oil of Basil is used in perfumery and in aromatherapy.

Vishnu and Lakshmi on Garuda

Lord Vishnu

Coming from India, it is perhaps not surprising to find that Basil is regarded as sacred to Lord Vishnu in the Hindu religion. It is often planted in temple gardens and offered at holy shrines to the god. Basil is also used in funerals when a leaf is placed on the chest of a corpse after the head of the dead body has been washed in Basil water. In Asian countries it is often planted and scattered on graves.

Basil varieties

There are many varieties of Basil, such as Dark Opal with purple leaves and cerise-pink flowers, and Purple Ruffles with purplish leaves with crinkly leaves. Bush Basil (O. b. Var minimum) is also known as Greek Basil. It is a short and bushy plant not growing higher than 12 inches in height but it has very aromatic foliage and tiny white flowers. These varieties hybridise readily if not kept apart.

Basil was first brought to Britain in the 16th century and it was used then as a strewing herb, due to its strong aromatic properties. Today Basil is one of the most commonly grown herbs and is very easy to grow from seed. It is a great choice for a kitchen herb garden. If you are thinking of growing your own herbs then Basil should definitely be on your list.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Exotic pets in captivity – the good and bad side

Panther Chameleon male

There is a definite attraction in keeping exotic pets but whilst there is a booming trade supplying these animals there is both a good and a very bad side to the business. What is positive about this is that many people really do love and care for the creatures they have in captivity, but this comes at the expense of all those millions that die after being captured in the wild and are kept and transported in very bad conditions. The ones that end up on sale are often a minority that survived, although many are captive bred which is fair enough.

The appeal of tropical and exotic animals is often because they are very colourful, unusual or just plain cute to look at. Chameleons come into all these categories. The number of people interested in these strange reptiles can be seen by the millions of views videos on Youtube get for the creatures. The Panther Chameleon (Furcifer pardalis) from Madagascar is one of the most popular species, coming as it does in dazzling shades of vibrant blue, brilliant red and vivid green. These strange reptiles have become so popular there is a range of books about them.

It is all well and good if people look after their exotic pets but so often this is not done. Even with the best intentions many tropical animals are very hard to keep in captivity and many grow very large.  Some reptiles such as alligators, iguanas and snakes, such as pythons, end up getting released into the wild. In some cases non-native animals set up breeding colonies and become invasive species at the expense of creatures that are already living there. There are many examples of this. The American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) is a notable one because it eats smaller creatures including endemic species of frog and other amphibians.

Slow Loris female

Some species of exotic animal are actually being brought close to extinction due to the demand for them. The Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang) is one such creature, and it is usually subjected to horrific cruelty too. The animal has a venomous bite and so to make them safe collectors and dealers pull out or clip out their teeth using no anaesthetic and leaving the terrified animals bleeding badly and subject to infections. All of this, just because they look ‘cute,’ and can make some money for some poor villager in Indonesia or other part of Asia where they live.

Many species owe their survival to being kept in captivity where they are successfully bred. Such is the insanity of the modern world that it really is true that some types of animal are safer in the care of humans than living in the wild.

Zebra Pleco. Photo by Birger A

Habitat destruction is a major threat to so many animals and plants today. The black and white Zebra Pleco (Hypancistrus Zebra) catfish from Brazil is one fish that may end up surviving only because of its looks that have made it popular with tropical fish-keepers. It lives only in a limited area of the Xingu River and if the Belo Monte Dam is built the conditions this fish needs will be destroyed.

Père David's Deer (Elaphurus davidianus) is a deer from China that only survived because of a captive herd that all living animals of this species are descended from. It is extinct in the wild.

It is very easy to say that all wild animals belong back in the wild but it is not that simple. In some cases, such as the deer mentioned above, the species would no longer be alive if they had not been kept by humans. 


Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.