By: Justin Butts
Toads are not pretty. In fact, they’ve have been downrightbrdisliked since the day a sassy princess was ordered to pucker up and kiss onebron the lips. But don’t let their frowning faces fool you – toads are a powerfulbrally in the garden.
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A toad can eat hundreds of insects and other pests in abrsingle night: caterpillars, slugs, beetles, ants, mosquitos, flies, and more.brToads capture these nasties by snatching them with their long, sticky tonguesbrand using their front feet to shovel bugs into their mouths.
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Cutaneous Absorption
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Toads eat with their mouths, but they drink water throughbrtheir skin. This process, called cutaneous absorption, is the reason you seebrtoads sitting in pools of water but never see them drink.
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Toads have pockets of glandular toxins on their skin thatbrlook like warts. These toxins are a self- defense mechanism against predators –brthey can be fatal to coyotes, foxes, and raccoons. Because of this amazingbrskin, toads are tough and extremely resilient. But there is one thing thatbrabsolutely will kill a toad: chemical pesticides. Because of cutaneousbrabsorption, toads are forced to drink chemicals through every pore of theirbrskin. Even a drop can be fatal.
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When toads are killed, it takes a long time, sometimesbryears, for their offspring to be able to help in the garden. Unfortunately, thebrinsects that toads would have eaten reproduce in a matter of weeks, or evenbrdays, and quickly grow out of control. That is why pest problems tend to returnbrafter a spray of chemicals and become worse than before.
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The Welcome Wagon
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To attract toads to your garden, plant your vegetablesbrintensively so the leaves grow together to form a thick canopy over the soil.brThis canopy provides cover and protection for toads and other beneficialbrpredators. A dense planting of flowers or shrubs nearby also provides anbrexcellent sanctuary when the vegetable garden is bare.
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Additionally, place a few shallow pans of water in yourbrgarden, flush with the level of the soil, so toads can easily climb in and outbrto drink. Refill the pan every few days. In the burning heat of summer, yourbrgarden pans will invite toads from far and wide to cleanse your garden ofbrpests. Protecting toads is simply a matter of economics: A single Coastal Bendbrtoad can eat 10,000 bugs or more during the long summer. A few toads in yourbrvegetable garden will eradicate swarms of pests that you will never have tobrcombat with pesticides. And that saves you a lot of time, money,brlabor, and produce.
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Toads work at night, so you never have to see their unprettybrfaces. So, unless you are a sassy princess in search of husband, you will neverbrneed to touch a toad, much less kiss one. But if you offer them a cool drink ofbrwater and decline to spray them with chemicals, you can count on your friendlybrtoads to cleanse your garden of pests all summer long.
