Garden Pests and Diseases: Friend or Foe?, 1 by Night_Bloom

Night_Bloom wrote:
Hee, patischell - that would certainly be user friendly.

critterologist - me get tired of a thread full of bug pictures? Highly unlikely. I do have a great book though - huge, full of pictures, and fairly cheap that I got off the internet for work. Here's the title etc., but I might have to get the site for you guys where I bought it (I have since forgotten).

Garden Insects of North America:
The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs
by Whitney Cranshaw
Princeton University Press
2004
656 pages

It's a soft cover book. Mine was around $25 - $30.

But until then - or for a maybe quicker answer. I'm here to answer your questions when I can. Speaking of which here we go. *Rubs hands together gleefully*


dovey (question #2) - critterologist is correct. The small green guys are aphids. So are the winged critters. That is the aphid form that "migrates" in. What is interesting, however, are the swollen, black aphids without wings. If I am seeing correctly, these aphids are dead, and probably parasitised by a wasp which should eventually pop out of the aphid and kill some more aphids. I think they are dead versions of the green ones beside them. Other types of "mummies" as these dead aphids are called are a tannish color. Most are swollen up like a ballon.

Now I could be wrong about the black ones being "mummies" - I have seen black wingless aphids too, but if you want to check, you could take a pencil and touch them. Dead aphids will be somewhat dried up and won't move away from your prodding.

My suggestion... Keep an eye on your aphids for a bit. In my garden, generally just about the time I think "I better spray those" the lady beetles, lace wing nymphs, and parasitic wasps show up and eat the lot of them in a couple of days. If things start to look grim, pyrtherins or insecticidal soap (like Safer soap) would be more low impact (breakdown quickly) and should do less damage to "good bugs."

a picture of a tan aphid "mummy"...

This message was edited Apr 29, 2005 2:36 AM