Pest identification / help

[Morethanonebridge]

Hi everyone,

I have a small container garden on my patio which is 10 stories high. I was surprised to find something was eating my kale. I found a pretty big bug on the kale about a week later after some more significant loss.

Can anyone help ID this critter and tell me if it would be the culprit, if I should be worried about more and what I can do to prevent it?

Here are some pics.
Thanks!

[Morethanonebridge]

I should say I am in Vancouver area, bc, Canada

[ElizabethB]

Morethanonebridge - even after zooming in on your picture this is just guess - stink bug. A close up would result in a positive identification.

Do you see your bug in any of these images?

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/ ... =stink+bug

I would not want to use chemicals. Let me find some info on traps. Be back.

Ok - you can get traps just about anywhere - WalMart, Lowe's, Home Depot, on line.

I found this site for homemade traps.

https://www.buzzle.com/articles/homemade ... -trap.html

Good luck

[rainbowgardener]

Doesn't look exactly like a stinkbug, but could be some relative.

But if so, stinkbugs are not leaf chewers, they suck plant juices and just leave little dots where they were. Your leaves look chewed. I would look for caterpillars or snails/slugs. You might have to come out late at night with a flashlight to look.

And yes you could have those pests in a 10th floor garden. The caterpillar eggs are laid by butterflies, which fly. And potting soil often comes complete with eggs of slugs/ snails. Oh well....

[imafan26]

It looks like snail damage to me. Snails will hide in the bottom of the pot and come up at night. It could be stink bugs too, I usually don't see such large chunks taken out by stink bugs unless there are a horde of them.

[Morethanonebridge]

Thanks for the suggestions and help. I've checked at night a few times and haven't seen any snails or other bugs around.

Here is a close up of the bug I found, doesn't look like a stink bug in any of the photos in the link.

[applestar]

How strange! I thought I posted that it looks like a leaf footed bug, but it's not here. I must have previewed it, but forgot to submit it.

[Morethanonebridge]

How strange! I thought I posted that it looks like a leaf footed bug, but it's not here. I must have previewed it, but forgot to submit it.

That's exactly what it looks like. Thanks!

I'll monitor it and hopefully it's the only one I got!

[catgrass]

Stink bugs and their like are sucking insects-Chewing damage comes from worms, beetles or slugs/snails, grasshoppers. Check your underside for tiny worms. Is that maybe a harlequin bug? I am repeating what someone else has already said, but that's what I think, too.

[GEOSAN]

looks like an Assassin Bug to me

[rainbowgardener]

They are somewhat similar, but important to distinguish. Assassin bugs eat other insects and are beneficial in the garden. Leaf footed bugs (like stink bugs and squash bugs) are leaf eaters and are garden pests.

Here's how to distinguish them:

assassin-bug.jpg (40.93 KiB) Viewed 2484 times

assassin bug

leaf-footed-bug-nymph.jpg (26.01 KiB) Viewed 2484 times

leaf footed bug

Two things to note: leaf shaped swelling on hind legs that gives the leaf-foot its name and the fact that the leaf foot as a plant sucker has a very long "beak." The carnivorous assassin bug has a short one as well as straight rear legs. The pictures are from https://6legs2many.wordpress.com/tag/assassin-bugs/ which has more information.

I believe the OP has a leaf foot.

[catgrass]

I have never seen an assasin bug with a hard shell. Interesting! The ones here are orange & black and look like leaf-footed bugs nymphs.

[rainbowgardener]

that's because you are looking at the assassin bug nymphs which are even more similar to the leaf bug nymphs (than the adults are to each other)


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... s_2899.JPG

assassin bug nymphs

[imafan26]

I think it is a leaf footed bug. They usually come as a horde and will chew up plants in no time. If you squish one they do smell like stink bugs.

[Morethanonebridge]

Thanks for all the help. After I killed that little guy I haven't had any troubles with the kale being eaten (other than by us). I guess I got lucky I only got the one!

[Morethanonebridge]

I spoke too soon! Something is eating my lettuce which is just coming up(maybe 8" tall romaine now), also something is sucking which looks similar to when my last batch got aphids.

The picture above is the best I could get of the bugs I found, exact colour of the lettuce and they were deep in where the new leaves grow (sorry I'm new don't know the term for that).

I sprayed the lettuce with dish soap diluted in water as I read that helps for aphids. Any suggestions on what to do or ideas what these critters are? Maybe I have two bugs?

Bugs are really cramping my style right now eating what little I can grow on my patio. Thanks everyone!