Need help identifying this bug

[Tom McLemore]

Does any body know what the name of this bug is? I find them on my cucumbers quite often. They don't seem to hurt the plant but I can't seem to figure out what they are doing. Any help would be useful...kind of cute actually.

[TCLynx]

They look sort of like the nymph stage of leaf footed bugs.  If so,  They are plant juice suckers and they can take a toll on the plants as well as render some fruit less than marketable.

 

Unfortunately they are a member of the stink bug family (along with stink bugs and squash bugs) so few predators like eating them.  They are hard to control with pesticides and the only ways I've really done anything about them (not in Aquaponics, I used neem oil which keeps them from maturing properly) or knocking them into a bucket of water or trying to suck them up with a dust buster.  Nothing I've tried has been terribly effective.

[Tom McLemore]

I have seen adult stink bugs on the plants.  must be what they are. your right nothing seems to kill them except my fingers or shoe.  Hard to step that high sometimes.  I have tried some organic pesticides that don't seem to bother them. I guess I'll jut keep trying to step on them. The dust buster idea seems promising though.

[Tom McLemore]

BTW if you look in the picture there is an adult stink bug lurking in the background

[Tom McLemore]

Oh yea why can't I use neem oil if I keep it out of the water?

[TCLynx]

Just be very very careful with the Neem around aquaponics (by the way it can affect beneficial insects too so don't spray it when bees are active.

I've never used any oil products around Aquaponics including Neem oil.  Now for using it away from the Aquaponics it seems like fairly safe stuff to use, heck they use it in cosmetics so it's safe for humans.  As far as any soap or oil spray, I've always just said not near the aquaponics.  (Actually part of it is I'm Lazy and I've just not sprayed anything for about two and a half years and figure I'm just providing a food supply for the beneficial insects.  I might be through strange but I try not to kill wasp nests because they are predatory insects and I've watched them inspecting plants looking for bugs to eat.)

[Tom McLemore]

Thanks TCLynx. I feel the same about spiders. I never kill them. The webs get a little annoying at night but once you get over the initial scare its not too bad.  I have to admit though that I don't like wasps because they make me swell up like a balloon when they sting.

[TCLynx]

I take them down when they are too near human activity, as in where a person could actually bump into them.  Or when they actually build their nest on plants that I have to handle.  The hope is that I will see them before I disturb them enough to get stung.  Luckily for me it just hurts and I don't seem to be allergic.  I keep some plantain (the lawn weed not the banana like fruit) leaves in the freezer so I have a ready made poultice for the stings. 

 

Only kind of spiders I tend to kill regularly are the widows, we have both black widows and brown widows here and I want to avoid any of us getting bit by picking up a bucket or bin or anything like that.  The rest of the spiders, well I'm sure I upset them often by walking into their webs but I try not to.  I've got a great big on right by the front door the yellow black and white ones that make the big web with the zig zag in the middle.

 

I just love nature, except when I'm being bit by mosquito or having gnats fly into my eyes.

[George]

A good thump, possibly a shop vac.  I'm a big fan of hard water sprays.  Good luck.

Tom McLemore said:

I have seen adult stink bugs on the plants.  must be what they are. your right nothing seems to kill them except my fingers or shoe.

[David Waite]

Botanigard ES will kill them. I used it on squash bugs and it wacked them.

[TCLynx]

Are there any dangers or risks to using Botanigard ES around a fish system?????  What is the active ingredient or how does it work?

[David Waite]

TC botanigard is the only pesticide certified organic other than BT. It is used by friendlys. I have been spraying it all year on rafts and gravels beds and have had great success. It is a virus that kills most insects on contact. I am not sure as to which virus or bacteria it uses to accomplish this. This is my first year using it and I have been very impressed with aphid , squash bug and beetle control. It seems to have no residual effect. I only say this due to I see ladys and mantis on my plants after I spray the day after and the dont seem to be affected if not sprayed. I use BT for catapillers for the other side of pest control. I have won the battle this year using these two products exclusively. Meaning I got to eat more than they did. hehe.

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi TC,

Looks safe to use. Its a fungus and is similar to BT's effect on insects. Quote:

• Description of the Active Ingredient

Many strains of Beauveria bassiana are found worldwide in the soil. They control insects by growing on them, secreting enzymes that weaken the insect's outer coat, and then getting inside the insect and continuing to grow, eventually killing the infected pest.