Garden guardians, toads can be princes of pest control
A gardener has many decisions to make when it comes to creating and maintaining a landscape. What do you want to plant? When and where should you plant it? Do you want to create a feast for the tastebuds or a feast for the eyes as well? A successful garden is a series of choices and a never-ending process.
Practically speaking, we humans are not the only beings that benefit from an abundant garden. Both vertebrate and non-vertebrate creatures will damage, or even consume, your plants at all phases of growth. A gardener must be constantly vigilant, although even attentive caretakers will rarely be as successful as they might wish.
The hands-off non-chemical approach to pest damage is to encourage predator bugs such as lady beetles, soldier beetles and parasitic wasps. Sadly, I have not seen multitudes of any of those creatures in my garden. However, I do get excited when I see some. The reality, to my chagrin, is that the bad bugs outnumber the good ones.
One creature that I do see more regularly in the garden is the Western fence lizard (known as the blue belly lizard to most of us in California). It will scurry around doing what it can to reduce the damage from unwanted bugs by eating them. Unfortunately, I see fewer of these lizards as the cat population in my neighborhood grows.
Another line of defense in the garden, although not as pretty as predator bugs nor as fast as lizards, is the humble toad.
Although low on the cute scale, the toad is a good friend of the garden and of us. Not only does this curious inhabitant of the garden eat any insect that gets within tongue range, but it is also a fan of mosquitos and their larvae. And toads can eat a lot of them.
The toad is a land creature unlike his frog cousin. The toad absorbs water through its skin as it hunkers down in soft, moist soil. It will lay its eggs in water, but it likes dark, damp places the rest of the time, just like many of the pests it feeds on. Toads tend to burrow into moist ground and come out at night to feed. I bet you have heard them croaking in your yard in the evening.
The toad can hunt during the day, but does most of its work at night when many of its prey are active. With its quick tongue a toad snags slugs and snails, its favorite meal. In the big picture, if it crawls, flies or stops too close to a toad, it’s a goner.
If their food supply becomes scarce, toads will travel. They will wander the garden looking for a dark, moist area and then sit and wait. They need patience as they can’t count on their looks to attract anything except other toads. During breeding season, they seek still water to lay their eggs, which hatch and become tadpoles.
Forget the old wives’ tales. You do not get warts from handling toads. However, if your cat or dog decides that a toad is a good snack, your pet may be in trouble. If it is bitten, ingested or just held in the mouth, a toad can cause toxicosis or poisoning. Luckily this is only true for the much larger toads that are not as common in a backyard garden.
Symptoms of toxicosis include hypersalivation, gagging or retching, cyanosis (skin looks blue) and even seizures. Veterinarians have an antidote, so seek help if you suspect your pet has had this unfortunate encounter.
Despite the serious problem some toads may present to pets, the only “croaking” you should experience in your garden is the sound of a toad announcing its presence to assist you with pest control.
Native Plant Sale: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County at the St. Helena Native Plant Sale and Resource Fair on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church, 1314 Spring St., St. Helena. Choose from a wide variety of beautiful plants and consult with local gardening and ecological organizations, including the UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Library Talk: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County and Napa Public Library for a free talk on “Fruit Tree Fundamentals” on Thursday, Jan. 7, from 7 to 8 p.m. via Zoom. Get tips for choosing, planting and maintaining home fruit trees. We will be covering best practices and solutions to some common issues. Register to receive the Zoom link.
Help Desk: The Master Gardener Help Desk is available to answer your garden questions. Use our online Plant Problem Help Form or email us at mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. Include your name, address, phone number and a brief description of the problem. You can also visit us in person on Mondays and Fridays from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the University of California Cooperative Extension Office, 1710 Soscol Ave., Suite 4, Napa.
