I was sent home from work early today (guess I'm still not well!), so there's been time to check the earwig traps and see what came of them. The results are.... moderate.
Each bowl looks a lot like this. A few earwigs, a few roly-polys (I didn't intend to kill them, and I'm sorry about it), a couple of baby slugs, and quite a few of these grubby/wormy things too. I'm not sure what they are, but I have almost as many of them as earwigs. Anyone have an idea?
It's not the earwig armageddon I was hoping for. But I did find this huge dude in one of the bowls, and this might also provide a clue to the holey lettuce.
I do believe this is a cutworm. If I have these, it's no wonder my leaves are full of holes. The most common type of cutworm cuts the seedlings down completely, but there are types that eat holes in vegetable leaves.
Now I'm wondering if the tiny wormy/grubby things are just small cutworms? Or some other kind of damaging worm? Sigh.
I decided to fill the bowls up even higher and see if I get more creatures tonight. I think because the bowls aren't full, the baddies can simply check out the deadly liquid without getting trapped. I'll let you know what happens.
While I was outside, I noticed the clematis blooming, which led me to to start a whole research thing about what kind of clematis I planted 12 years ago because of course I didn't make a note of it. Turns out I've been pruning these wrong each year. This type of clematis is a 'Montana' variety called 'Mayleen.' It's an early-bloomer, which means it apparently blooms on older wood. Well, every winter I cut this thing back to about four feet tall, because it's grown all the way up the side of our house in two places and it looks terrible when it's dead. That means it has to put out new vines and bloom, all in a season, which is I suppose stresses the plant. So this spring I'll prune it back after it blooms (six months earlier than I usually do it), hopefully it will have time to grow new wood before winter, and it will bloom even more prolifically next spring.
I have to say, it's bloomed beautifully every year even with my pruning hack job. But the point is, don't be like me and plant things without making a record. I do it all the time, completely confident that I will remember. Unfortunately I am deep in to middle age, which means I remember almost nothing these days.