Friend or Foe #4

We found a bunch of cylinders made of leaves. Perfect cylinders with round inserts capping off the top - looks like it was made by a machine! They are about 1/2 inch long and look like little plugs. After all the layers there is a small layer of what looks like crumbly cork and then a brown/black pellet.

Is this a wasp of some sort?

-Kim

i think i know what that is, saw some at the class, but the name escapes me, oh, some type of bagworm maybe, try squeezing one end & see if a head pops out...

Tamara!! You try first! I unrolled a couple, amazed at the precision of the tube/rolled leaves and the cut leaves that capped them off. The look like something out of a hole punch! Nature.

Maybe Chuckie will pop out and scare the living daylights outta me!

Woodchuck yes, strange bug, no. Tomatoes - PRICELESS!

-Kim

well fine then i already did that at the class :-) but now your description is sounding less like a bag worm, could this be a meticulous caterpillar that will become a butterfly with OCD?

Try for the life of me I can't conjure up what an OCD butterfly might be doing besides the obvious nectar procuring.

Now I am more than curious about this bullet shaped case - but with flat ends. I have a couple here in a plastic bag....help me...it's escaping...

i'm on my way, just gotta stop at the phone booth for a wardrobe change :-)

Could those little casings be made by the leaf cutter bee?

If not a wasp - which is a possibility - my guess would be a leaf-roller beetle of some kind. I believe that some kinds of leaf-roling weevils (family Curculionidae) make those very precise leaf packages. The "pellet" inside might be its pupa.

Suddenly I have millions of this guy in the garden and never seen him before. I did searches to try & find it before posting here. I'm sure it's something super common and I'm about to waste y'all's time. What is he? I'm afraid to ask!

"All right, Mr.DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"

AAAAAHHHHHHHHH...Cockroach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, maybe not, but it sure looks like one!
Pati

oh please dont tell me that!!!!

omg. I think you're right. On the phone with the exterminator now.

RachaelBee - it sure looks like a cockroach, but the question is, which one? It looks like a German cockroach (which would be bad news), but they do not live outside, so that might mean that it's either an Asian cockroach or what's called a Field cockroach (Blatella vega) or something like that. The last two species wouldn't really be much threat as they don't generally come inside homes. They just eat fallen leaves and stuff like that in your garden. They might also be tasty snacks for any toads and birds you have in the area, so you might want to get them identified for sure before having the exterminator kill them off. I know cockroaches are a bit yucky, but they really are good meals for a lot of critters and most are harmless.

Since there are a lot in your garden though, you might want to ask your local extension office if whatever kind these are are known to eat plants in the area. Here, for example, earwigs are beneficial insect predators, but in other areas of the country, the species eat plants and make a pest of themselves.

Thanks, N_B! Doing more research, I think it is a German Cockroach, much my chagrin. I am in shock because I am obsessive about keeping a clean house. I blend kitchen scraps to pour in my garden, and I'm thinking that might have been the attraction. Pest control is coming today to do an inspection. I'm just worried about the process because I really dont want to kill all the other bugs in the yard. What a catch 22.

Hi NB and all. Two questions NB, first, back to grasshoppers and their breeding time, yesterday I saw the tiniest little green grasshopper in my garden, it was about 1/4 of an inch, bright green. I was wondering, would this be a baby grasshopper, hence leading me to the conclusion that this is their breeding season, or is there a species of grasshopper that is tiny and green like that? Second question, this one identification. I see these creatures mostly inside, clinging to the walls up by the ceiling. They look like dirt specs, but on closer inspection, they have two tiny white antennas on one end, and an amber colored device on the other. They seem to just sit there (for days!), but they do move very slowly. Do you have any idea what these are, what they do, and are they harmful? This one was a big one, about 1/2 inch long. Hope this pic is viewable....

RachelBee - I'll be interetsed to see what the exterminators say your cockroach is.


margu: Grasshoppers are definitely not one of my specialties. There are small species. Generally a grasshopper is an adult when it has its full set of wings. You might try looking at some of the grasshoppers on bugguide to see if you can see yours.

As for your picture, I'm not sure about the "antennae", likely that is someething else, because I think the "amber colored device" is the head. I believe that this is most likely a case-making clothes moth which don't necessarily only eat "clothes" per se. The "case" materials vary depending on what materials are around for the caterpillars to make it out of. Generally if you find what they are eating (check wool sweaters and wool rugs) and either "mothball" it or put it in the freezer for a while, there won't be any more problems. General spraying won't do much good usually. They are often well hidden and protected until they get big enough to move out ("wander") in preparation for becoming a moth.

Here's a case from a garage in Florida. This caterpillar used mostly sand to make its case. The brown "skin" sticking out the end is most likely what remained of the pupa after the moth emerged from the case.

Thanks NB, that's pretty fascinating. Fortunately, being in southern California, I don't have many clothes made out of wool! I guess the "antennae" are more likely it's "tail". I guess they don't have impact on outdoor plants then, good! And I'll see what I can find out about the hoppers and let you know.

I think it was probably a cricket nymph I saw the other day: http://www.alrfoto.com/gal03/gale06.htm I can't find any info on whether they eat the plants or not. Re; grasshoppers, for those of you who live in the hotter climates and have the same problem. Most of my plants are being munched on, and since I rarely find bugs, I believe it's the hoppers dining on my garden. In trying to figure out their breeding cycle, I found this page: http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/differential_grasshopper.htm, at least this variety breeds in the spring. I'm going to try spraying my garden with Neem next year early spring, as it's a natural substance, and is supposed to deter the grasshopper population. Also, I hadn't thought of the birds, I forgot that they love to feed on hoppers. Great reason to add more bird feeders!

yes, the g-hoppers are really bad here this year!

i am going to use semaspore early next spring, i think i mentioned it in another thread, from www.planetnatural.com

URGENT QUESTION FOR N-B:
the other day i saw a bunch of nymphs, built very miuch like squash bug nymphs, only 8 times the size and with bright orange bodies and marks behind their head & on abdomen. at first i thought, yeah! assassin bug babies!!! today i see some in their next stage, and they have the huge leaf-footed back legs, dark bodies with the more colrful part where the wings meet. so.... while i still have the oppotunity to squish the things, which are they? & if "foe", should i leave them for something to eat? they are mostly still congegated in one spot... HELP!!!!

pls forgive 1-handed typing...

margu - good luck with your grasshoppers.

Tamara - It sounds like they could be squash bugs or some other kind of leaf-footed bug (family Coreidae).

Go here and browse for which genus and/or species, then it might be easier to search on the web for how bad they are to your plants... http://bugguide.net/node/view/93/bgpage?from=0 .

OH NO! I'M on my way...

yep, it's them...

http://bugguide.net/node/view/7218/bgpage
&
http://bugguide.net/node/view/4713/bgpage

they'd better not find my tomato plants!

do you think the assassin bugs will eat them?

This message was edited Jul 24, 2005 12:05 PM

This message was edited Jul 24, 2005 5:27 PM

Hey Tamara, did they look like this? I thought about coming in last night and posting about this experience. I have Leaf-footed bugs, and the only times I've seen these orange things were on plants that I've seen the LF bugs on. At first (last year) I didn't know if they were related, but because I didn't know what these were I squished them. Then I saw them again a few months ago alone on a plant. The next day I saw the big LF bugs. 2+2.... There was heavy rain that night and I didn't find them the next day. Last night I found more of these orange things, again on a plant where I saw the LF bugs....so I squished them all again. I have never been able to find a picture of a LF nymph, but I'm fairly certain these are them.

no, those are not leaf-footed, but i saw a pic @ bugguide & so i believe they are milkweed bugs. they can change their color within an hour!

the LK don't like moisture, & after a rain, would be on leaf tops to sun-dry

look at the links above for LF nymphs (or NBs l;ink), & on one of them, it shows the milkweed bug for comparison (sfter you click on the photo for details)

just keep squishing :-)

After looking at pics and rereading a few times, I looked at my picture again. That's not the same bug that I saw last night! But you are right, those ARE milkweed bug nymphs, and it's on a milkweed. Go figure! lol I'm glad to know what they look like tho because I do have adult ones now, unfortunately.

I will have to look again for the orange things that I have seen with the Leaf-footed bugs. I know it's their nymph because it's always on the same plant as the adults. And I always see them mating! btw, that's a good time to put your gloves on and smack them from both sides. They don't get away near as fast. LOL

I found it! Not real clear, but you can see them.

yes, those are them.... i didn't want to point out tat they were on milkweed :-)

can you see why i first thought they were assassin bug nyphms? they are so BIG!

hope to have some SMACKIN' time in the AM... though i haven't figured out how to do that with one hand, hmm, better resort to knocking them off in a bag, then stomping them!

Oh yes, they do look like they would be assassin bugs. I thought that at first, but then thought that this many bugs in one place is not usually a good thing. I can't stand the LF bugs! They fly and are always scaring me with their loud buzz.

These little ones run quick, but you can use that one arm to knock them on the ground and both feet (both working ok?) to stomp on them! :)

i'm on it! oh-yeah-my two left feet work great, how do you think i fell & hurt my hand :-O so maybe will do the bag thing, that is how i one-handedly destroyed hundreds of harlequ9in bugs two weeks ago!

NB --- a freind came to me today with 2 caterpillers (green ones) and they had white egg sacks all over them. I told her I thought they we a paracidic wasp egg and that they were a freind... was I even close to right???

Heather

OH!!! Edited to say I found it! In the first thread-- it is a tomato hornworm that has seen better days!! LOL! YAY!

This message was edited Jul 26, 2005 10:38 PM

Hi everyone,
I found this guy on my hardy fuschia this morning, eating away. He was quite colorful so I put him in a jar with more leaves and a misting of water to see what he is. After spending an hour searching a variety of places on the internet, I have come up with nothing! Learned a lot about other caterpillars, though -LOL. Sorry for the blurry photo.

He is about 2 inches long, bright green, and has a single orange horn. He has parallel dashes of color running longitudinally. The bottom dashes are smaller - black with a tiny orange dot in the middle, and the upper dashes/dots are black with a yellow stripe inside. There are two solid black stripes running the length of the back on the inside of the upper row of dash lines. Three pair of front legs, four pair of mid legs, and then the "grabby thing" at the end, below where the pointed orange horn sticks up. Excuse my lack of proper scientific vocabulary.

Thanks for any help! I posted this over on the butterflies and hummers board too, but maybe someone here will recognize it as a pest? I was hoping for a butterfly. -G

same as heathers friends'. that is a hornworm. becomes a beautiful shpinx moth, but not in my garden LOL

mysticwill - yay for your friend, and yesparasitic wasps are a good thing to have.

galega - I think that TamaraFaye is probably correct, but the picture isn't clear enough to be positive. When I get to work tomorrow I will post a link to a caterpillar site. The one I have is a link to caterpillars of eastern forests, so I'll try to see if there is a link to a Western one there too. If not the Eastern one may at least help you a bit to narrow it down or to be sure that it is a hornworm.

Thanks for steering me in the right direction. I am keeping him off of my fuschia for now since he's a voracious eater. I think the kids may enjoy watching him develop in his glass jar, and later release him far away from our garden. LOL!

Good Morning,

I've been saving a couple photos up to ask about, and have finally gotten around to posting them. This first one was in my garage. He was about 4" long and didn't move around a lot. My husband says he used to see them a lot in New Mexico, where he grew up, but never here in San Diego. Any clues?

Thanks!

Hi Again,

These were a whole colony of tiny green grasshoppers that were hanging out on the side of seat wall that borders the garden. They were so cute! I also saw a bunch of them on plants, which made me worried. Is this something that eats the plants or that eats the bugs on the plants?

Thanks!

Grasshoppers -- definitely "foe" in my book! The cute baby grasshoppers I started seeing a couple of weeks ago have become a ravening hoard!

Hi - Last One,

This next one was a giant green grasshopper that was on a hardy hibiscus. I couldn't tell if he was eating it or just resting. Is he a friend or foe? He was in a totally different area of the garden than the tiny ones, or I'd say he was the parent. He looked the same color, just 10 times bigger.

Thanks so very much. This is a great thread!

Christina :)

Oh no, say it isn't so! What should I do? ravening hoard?!

cnswift - your first picture looks like a potato bug, here is a funny website that was posted here somewhere.
http://www.potatobugs.com/

-Kim