INSECTS IN THE NETTLE WORLD
"This might look a little strange," I said to the elderly couple. The man didn't try to hide the disgust he probably felt when he replied, "What are you doing???" I promise, there was no empathy or humor in his voice. And it was actually strange, because it's not often you see a 57-year-old woman lying injured inside a trash can. But what aren't you willing to do for insects and nettles?
Although this incident is a bit of an aside, I think it has to be included. Because if you try to reconstruct it, it's unlikely you'll be able to, unless you're Mr. Bean! A piece of advice: DO NOT DO THIS ALONE AT HOME OR WITH AN ADULT PRESENT!
In recent years I have become very fond of insects, and since I don't know much about either gardening or insects, I had ordered an issue of a special garden magazine to read about the role of nettles for insects. On this particular day I was driving home in the rain. For once I stopped by the mailbox and brought a load of unaddressed advertising that went straight into the wastepaper basket outside. Once home, washing gloves and a scrubbing bucket appeared and in the middle of cleaning I remembered the magazine I had ordered. With the washing gloves still on and my fathers rubber boots in size 48, I ran out into the rain to save the magazine that had perhaps been thrown away. But when long-sleeved rubber boots come up in size 48, they change product category and become something completely impassable and impossible to steer. I splashed around with two ships on my feet. As usual, the renovation workers had put the garbage cans back and forth. So to open the lid I had to reach over the entire garbage can so that the lid fell down on the back facing me. Then I bent down deep into the bin to look through the paper waste. But my big boots made me lose my balance, and inexplicably the whole bin tipped over with the lid on the ground, me on top of the lid and the rest of the bin…. like a big jaw slamming shut over my back! I felt like an insect caught by a huge frog. And just then, as I was struggling my way out of the paper waste, the elderly couple came by. Neither of them offered help. It’s brutal to be an insect!
THE WORLD OF INSECTS
The nettle is not only man’s best friend, it is also a whole world for a number of insects. An army of workers working together for nature’s great puzzle. If you want to protect flowers or vegetables in your garden, it is a good idea to plant nettles nearby so that the aphids can stay there. There are many insects that thrive on nettles. These do an important pollination job for the rest of the garden, whether it's vegetables or flowers![1]
The Thistle butterfly (Vanessa cardui), the Nettle-tree butterfly (Libythea celtis), the Red admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) and the Peacock butterfly (Aglais io) have their larvae on the Great Nettle. The Nettle butterfly lays 100 – 200 eggs on the underside of the leaves. After hatching, they live in a nursery made of a large web. In this white cloud they live together until they become larvae. But then they are so bored that they break out and live separately.[2]
But snails also thrive on nettles. Although many people dislike these creatures, they are still important workers in the decomposition process of plant material, which benefits the garden.[3]
They are also food for birds, voles and hedgehogs - animals that are nice to have in the garden and that help to keep the brown snail away. All snails with shells should be left alone. Research has shown that a certain type of small snail eats the eggs of the brown forest snail, but who these little snails were was not mentioned in the article. [4]
ADVENTUROUS
Two years ago I experienced something strange. I thought I saw a gold ornament among the nettles I had harvested. Upon closer inspection I realized that it must be a pupa, but to this day I still do not know who this little prince or princess was that lay wrapped in the golden cocoon. I have never seen anything like it since.
Recently I have been collecting nettles in a meadow that the owner is going to mow anyway. There I found these nice little things:
One was a compact "ball of cotton" wrapped in a green leaf like a cross between a cede cell and a fairy bed.
In the same area I found this ghost. I don't usually harvest nettles until late autumn. But when an entire meadow is going to be mowed anyway, I take the opportunity, but try to avoid plants with caterpillars and pupae. And if I find these fairy-tale characters, I take them back to a safe corner with plants on the roots.
U-hu!
[2] Norsk Hagetidend nr 9, 2020
[3] https://www.plantevernleksikonet.no/l/oppslag/83/
[4] https://www.klikk.no/bolig/hage/snegler-i-hagen-2348679
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