Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Harlequin bugs!

I've been feeling really lazy these past two weeks and been avoiding doing any garden chores. There is a lot of cleaning to do both on my balcony garden and community garden. I haven't gone to the community garden for some time...fortunately it has been raining on and off so the remaining plants are doing quite well. I planted some kale and bak choy - I will be posting updates later on.

This post is about bugs...and lots of them. I thought I would have problems with the brown stink bugs this year but in fact the little buggers that decided to hang out on my balcony is it's close cousin: the harlequin bugs. I've been noticing these creatures earlier in the season but they exploded in numbers about 3 weeks ago. There were consistently clusters of 4-5 pairs of harlequins bug couples on each of my three collard plant. There were also hanging out on my lone bok choy plant. My combat strategy was to shake them into a container filled with water, but for a while it seemed like it was not worth the fight.
The harlequin bug couples on collard are little camera shy
Harlequin bug in bok choy
The eggs of the harlequin bugs are absolutely beautiful and also easy to spot. So I've been checking the leaves frequently and scraping them off.
Eggs are pretty but must be destroyed!
At this point I feel that I may have won the war since I have not seen any harlequin honeymooners the past 2-3 days. You can clearly see the damage on the collard and bok choy. Fortunately, the damage was not too detrimental to the plant. The diversity of the insects in the garden never fails to surprise me.
Spots where harlequin feasted on collard juice
little damage on bok choy

6 comments:

  1. I almost that problem but i saw the eggs before in destroyed so i planted Nasturtiums(Edible Flowers that taste like arugula) with my broccoli they grew well together and go 4 pounds of broccoli ad greens form the plant in the container

    Jose

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    1. I have one lone nasturtium in the kitchen. Maybe I will bring it outside.

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  2. Can make more videos they give so many ideas, Thnnks

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    1. I will try...but I am a little lazy! Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. I just happened upon your blog while visiting another. I just left the MD area and moved to Tx. It was such a joy to find a garden blog based back near my old home.

    The eggs are beautiful! But I know exactly how you feel. I planted Collards here in Tx. and they grew beautifully for 4 months and then one day I came out and the worms had turned them into lace! :( I am investing in a row cover this year!

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    1. You will probably have a longer growing season in Texas? Hope your row cover will protect the Collards.

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