Good bug / bad bug

Discussion in 'Garden Pest Management and Identification' started by Chungii V, Dec 7, 2008.

  1. Chungii V

    Chungii V Active Member

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    Here are two ladybirds. Can you tell which is the beneficial insect? The 28 spotted Potato ladybird is having breaky on my tomato plant while the friendly one suns itself on my Holmskioldia hopefully ready to produce some aphid munching larvae!
    I don't use many chemicals at home and find that there's normally a fair balance in my yard. The biggest problem I have are grasshoppers, snails and fruit fly. Carbaryl controls the leaf munchers when they get out of hand. I'll be trailing a couple of newer fruit fly insecticides next year when I let the fruit set on my trees properly for the first time.
     

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  2. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    As odd as this may sound, a chicken or turkey will control your nasty bugs and they generally don't eat beneficial ladybirds (I've seen them distinguish between the good and bad bugs in the garden, which never ceases to amaze me...)
     
  3. Chungii V

    Chungii V Active Member

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    And I always thought chickens were just good for producing eggs and fertiliser :)

    A little less relevant but while on the subject of things eating bugs I thought I'd attach a photo I took a little while back. It's not the best picture but if you look closely you can see a spider taking advantage of it's location... inside one of my young Nepenthes!
     

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  4. Pharmerphil

    Pharmerphil Member

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    here in most of the midwest section of the U.S. , we have been invaded by the
    multi-colored Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis).
    They are beneficial to agriculture, but a menace to your home, they fly into buildings in search of overwintering sites and end up indoors. Once inside they crawl about on windows, walls, attics, etc., often emitting a noxious odor and yellowish staining fluid before dying, or if you crush them.
    Chemicals to kill them are far to toxic for my liking so we are forced to vaccuum them for weeks when they first start coming inside, about the time the soy beans re harvested, and as the weather starts to turn cold.
    The air on a sunny fall day is filled with thousands of them, and they BITE.
    Oddly enough, although they are suppose to benefit crops, I have yet to see any of them on my bean crops, or any crops of mine for that matter.
    Adult Asian lady beetles are oval, convex, and about 1/4-inch long. Their color can vary widely from tan to orange to red. They often have several black spots on the wing covers, although on some beetles the spots may be indistinct or entirely absent. Multi-spotted individuals tend to be females while those with few or no spots tend to be males. Most beetles have a small, dark "M" or "W"-shaped marking on the whitish area behind the head.

    Our chickens would not eat these, nor have I heard of anyones poultry of any type that would.
     

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  5. JanR

    JanR Active Member

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    We had an invasion of those lady bugs a couple of years ago. They were just awful. I kept finding them all winter. Fortunately, they haven't been bad since then.
     
  6. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    I don't have those down here, but the least picky poultry I've got is Guineafowl, and they will eat just about anything. The only bugs they seem to leave alone are the monarch caterpillars, and I'm OK with that.
     
  7. Chungii V

    Chungii V Active Member

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