Heavy rainfall and higher than average humidity has led the city to become the perfect breeding ground for bugs, and it's taking its toll on Wagga's gardens.
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Demonstration garden co-ordinator Jim Rees has noticed an increase in certain species, including harlequin bugs, green vegetable bugs, white cabbage butterflies and Heliothis grubs.
Excess groundwater following the heavy falls lately has led to an increase in slugs and snails as well.
"The rain and the high humidity means everything is growing better and that means there's more food for the bugs," Mr Rees said.
Last month, the famed Bidgee Strawberries and Cream farm in Wagga fell victim to an insect attack, which forced its gates to temporarily close.
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Charles Sturt University entomologist Dr Paul Weston said it was the critters that are stealthy and unseen, that are most often the culprits of much damage.
"Native budworm in its caterpillar stage can attack developing fruit and that can be pretty devastating," Dr Weston said.
"They can be a real worry because they're not predictable. There's no indication they're there until it's too late."
Often times, Dr Weston said, a gardener will cut into what looks like a healthy, juicy, freshly-grown fruit then the grubs will reveal themselves inside.
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To avoid the particular pest getting any purchase on the garden, Dr Weston recommends investing in a tightly-knit netting to cover the growing fruit and vegetables.
In some cases, however, he does recommend going a little harder with the attempts to the thwart the bug.
"It depends on people's tolerance to chemicals, [but] pyrethrum is a good option," he said.
"The thing to remember is that even natural insecticides are still toxic."
Having managed the Shaw Street gardens for a few years, Mr Rees is opposed to any sort of chemical-control of bugs.
Instead, he recommends redirecting the bugs' attention.
"You might get 50 per cent loss, that can be pretty discouraging," Mr Rees said.
"If one plant gets badly attacked, we'll leave it. You'll often find the ones around it won't get attacked at least not as much as the weakened plant. The bugs will keep going back to that one."
Good varieties, soil strength and a mix of strong-smelling and flowering plants, Mr Rees said will keep the promoting a healthy balance of bugs and bug predators.
"We like to confuse them by mixing up the plants next to each other, so they're not so much in rows," he said.
"We don't like spraying, so we work on the soils. When the soils are strong, plants are strong, and when plants are strong they manage their own defence."