Bad Bugs . . . or Good?

Here are the last of my Disneyland pictures--giant bugs in the garden! These are located in A Bug's Land. They are people-size and look like they could do some garden damage!

The first one looks like a huge caterpillar that is eating giant candy corn.

This second bug looks like he means business. I wouldn't want to find him in my garden!

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Very often when I am working in my garden I see brown or black beetles scurrying here and there. I disturb their lives when I am planting or pulling weeds. Early on I thought they were beneficial, although it took years before I found out they actually are.

Ground Beetles--Good bugs (from Everything About Ground Beetles)

Ground Beetle, common name for swift-running, often carnivorous beetles. More than 20,000 species are known, of which more than 2500 are found in North America. Ground beetles are worldwide in distribution and live under rocks or in moist or sandy soil, from which they get their name. Many ground beetles do not fly. On these forms the hind wings are generally atrophied and the wing covers fused along the midline. The slender legs are well developed for swift running. These beetles are most often unmarked black or brown; several species have wing cases that are striped or bordered with metallic blue, green, or bronze. The head of a ground beetle is narrower than its body; long, thin, threadlike antennae jut out from the sides of the head. The mouthparts are adapted for crushing and eating insects, worms, and snails. The largest ground beetles are 2.5 cm (1 in) or more in length. The larvae of ground beetles have well-developed legs and mouthparts, are carnivorous, and live and pupate underground.

Ground beetles are agriculturally important because they destroy such harmful insects as the potato beetle, browntail moth, gypsy moth, cutworm, cankerworm, June beetle, and plum curculio. Few ground beetles are considered harmful; some species feed on seeds, corn, and strawberries.

Scientific classification--Ground beetles make up the family Carabidae of the order Coleoptera.

You can see pictures of ground beetles here.

Bad Bugs

I found these caterpillars on one of my fruit trees this morning. I scooped them into a small jar so that I could identify them. They are called Redhumped Caterpillars (Schizura concinna). They attack deciduous fruit trees, especially plums, prunes, and walnuts. And, it was my plum tree that they attacked. You can see what type of damage they did, which is typical of these pests. Usually, they go after a single branch near the top of the tree and defoliate it. Young trees can be seriously damaged, but mature trees can tolerate substantial leaf loss without a problem.

The easiest way to get rid of these caterpillars is to just clip off the leaves they are feeding on and drop them into soapy water. There are many natural enemies of these caterpillars, including parasitic wasps. The wasps lay an egg in the caterpillar, where it hatches and feeds on the caterpillar's insides. My thinking is that by the time the wasp larvae kills the caterpillar, the tree's damage is already done. So, I just got rid of them the easy way--into the soapy water they went!

Books and Bugs

Donna in Clovis left me a comment a couple of days ago and I would like to answer her questions in this post, in case others might be interested.

"Thank you for your posts. I was looking for Elinor Teague's columns and found you. What a happy surprise. I wanted to ask her if there was a book to tell Fresno/Clovis gardeners what to do and when. And your column has been what I was looking for. Got my chives today. Could you write a post on what bugs are good and which ones are not, and what can be done about the bad ones? I found lots of ants in my garden; snails and grasshoppers like it too. Thanks, Donna in Clovis."

Yes, there is a book--"A Gardener's Companion for the San Joaquin Valley." I believe it costs $30; it is available at the Garden of the Sun (the Master Gardener's demonstration garden--at the Discovery Center, located at 1944 N. Winery Ave., Fresno, CA), and is also available at the University of California Cooperative Extension (1720 South Maple, Fresno, CA 93702). The Fresno Bee's weekly "Gardener Checklist" comes from that book, although Elinor's column is new each week. There is another book, "The California Master Gardener Handbook," which is used in the class to train the Master Gardeners ($35), available at both places.

Ants, snails and grasshoppers are in abundance this year. Ants are repelled by cinnamon. Ants also may be a sign of aphids, because they "farm" the aphids in exchange for honeydew. A strong stream of water will wash off and kill the aphids.

"Sluggo" is a dry meal that is sprinkled on the ground where snails are located. They eat it, crawl away and die. This product is safe to use around pets and children, and really works--I have used it for years!

Chickens like grasshoppers! If you don't have chickens, go here and scroll down to "Predators," "Barriers," and "Traps and Sprays." These are organic remedies. I have had an abundance of grasshoppers, from tiny to large, in my garden this year. There is some damage to most plants, but it doesn't seem to be detrimental, so I just let it go.

I have posted about some bugs on this blog, and have labeled them "good bugs" and "bad bugs." You can do a blog search by putting those labels in the search box at the top, left-hand side of the blog. If there are any specific bugs you are interested in, please let me know, and I will post about them!

The Master Gardeners offer classes on various gardening topics, usually for a small fee. They have a website; and a hotline (559-456-7563) where you can call and ask questions.

Bad Bugs

Whiteflies can be a real problem. They live 5-8 days and lay eggs, which hatch in only a day or two. The eggs and nymphs are nearly invisible to the eye and live on the underside of leaves. The nymphs and adults flies suck the juice from the leaves and can do considerable damage if left unchecked. When an infestation of the tiny whiteflies is disturbed, they fly out like a cloud.

The remedy is fairly simple, and can be used as a prevention, too. Take one teaspoon of dish soap or a gentle soap like Woollite and add it to a pint of water. Spray this soapy water on the underside of the leaves. Repeat this once or twice a week to kill newly hatched nymphs. Before you spray the whole garden with this mixture, be sure to try it on a leaf first, to make sure it won't be too strong and kill your plants. Perhaps half of a teaspoon of dish soap to a pint of water would do the trick as sometimes it can be fairly strong. Give it a try and let me know!

One year I had whiteflies and tried using a yellow sticky card placed next to the infected plant (another common remedy). I caught the whiteflies all right, and I caught the beneficial wasps, too (which were there to eat the whiteflies---remember, nature has a little lag-time when there are problem bugs). I'd go with the soapy water spray!

NOTE: This would work on aphids, too.

Bad Bugs

This is a picture of a sowbug, also known as a pill bug, or roly poly bug. They are a common garden bug that may eat your plants. Children love to play with them as they don't bite and will roll into a little ball when picked up. They are of the order of isopoda (which means "balanced foot"), and the family of Oniscida (I just knew you'd want to know that!). Over the years I have cut garden articles and hints out of newspapers and magazines, keeping them in a file (OK, several files!) and I go through them every so often. I came across a garden hint about getting rid of sowbugs and decided I will try it this week, and let you know if it works in my garden. It is simple and organic, and supposedly get rid of ants, too. The magic potion is to sprinkle the plants and soil with bonemeal. That's it! Bonemeal also slowly releases nutrients into the soil, which benefits the plants. If you try this, please let me know how it works for you.

Bad Bugs . . .

Back in my April 30th post, I mentioned the Hoplia Beetle attacking light-colored flowers, especially roses. I thought I would show you what they look like (see below). According to UC Davis, the hoplia beetles particularly like "white, yellow, apricot, and pink roses. Early buds and flowers of roses may be destroyed by chewing. The beetles do not feed on leaves. Hoplia beetles also feed on the flowers of calla, citrus, irises, lilies, magnolia, olive, peonies, poppies, and strawberries, and on the young leaves and fruit of grapes, peaches, and almonds. . . They develop slowly, remaining in the larval or pupal stage throughout the winter. In early spring they complete development and adult beetles emerge from the soil." Hand-picking (or knocking them off of the flowers into a container of soapy water) will reduce their numbers.


Another bug that I am trying to eradicate from my garden is the Harlequin Bug (see picture below). They were all over my Brussels sprouts. They are a sucking bug and damage mature plants, but may kill new or small plants by sucking them to death. The young bugs are more black and orange, and as they molt (five or six times during their lives), the orange color turns more red.
They lay their egg cases on the leaves, which I have found on both the tops and undersides of leaves. I couldn't find a picture of the type of egg cases I have found and I have destroyed all that I have found in my garden, so no pictures there. The egg cases I have found are laid in a bundle of long, thin tubes that are placed on top of each other like cord-wood. They have been white, and a few were yellow. Depending on the weather, they can hatch anywhere from four to twenty-nine days, and can mature and mate from four to nine weeks. They can also live year-round in our gardens because of our mild weather. "Plants commonly attacked by the harlequin bug include such crucifers as horseradish, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, mustard, Brussels sprouts, turnip, kohlrabi and radish. In the absence of these favorite hosts, tomato, potato, eggplant, okra, bean, asparagus, beet, weeds, fruit trees and field crops may be eaten" (from the University of Florida). They like a lot of different vegetables, so it is imperative to control them when you see them.