A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 Uhm, those aint red wigglers

most larva and pupa will move when touched. If anyone wants to mail me a sample i will be glad to ID.

turn what color?

Well, when I see the one type of grub,
that looks like Mary's original picture...
It's brown/rust color, with a hard coating on it..

so, I kinda assumed, that it was the hard shell first and then came out like that one greenish grub, then finally came out looking like the Japanese Beetle...

I'll go see if I can hunt down a picture of what I'm talkin' about...
But those things move, inside the shell... there's no head on it, it's covered in a hard coating and then you can see the body of it..
no legs..

Weezie you're so mean! LOL!

These guys are definitely moving! As soon as I expose them they're all wriggling around - ugh - They look kinda like they're crawling on legs...but not sure. The one we picked up to take a picture of kinda looked up at us (and I think he said 'hey, doya mind?') pointy 'nose' and I think black eyes (?) Too traumatic to hang on to the image LOL So, other than the talking, does the wriggling tell you anything? I also looked at that japanese beetle larva pic. These guys have ridges, kinda like a caterpillar, only not fuzzy. I didn't see ridges on the JB larva pic. Ugh, am I making sense?

How would i send you a sample? I mean, what would I need to send it in? May be an empty aspirin bottle or something? I wish I wasn't so squirmish. Ruins my image

I'll try the pics tomorrow. Camera is very finickey when it comes to closeups, and they are really small (probably the size of a penny, which I'll include) and the camera just doesn't do detail like I want it to most times.

Today seemed like bug day. Looked to me like we had a zillion different bugs flying around that we didn't have yesterday. Of course it's probably all in my head thinking that these lavae hatched or whatever they do I did see a really cool looking rainbow metallic bug on my hosta, which I smashed to the ground. I thought I read that japanese beetles were metallic. Then I saw another freaky red bug - kind of like a cross between a ladybug and a beetle. It was red with black spots, but shaped differently than a ladybug. I left those alone...they were on the mint that's growing like a weed anyway And now I figure those were probably the japanese beetles LOL! Oh well, I'm learning. Helen saw me examining all these bugs today, and wanted to know if I was going to become a "bug-ologist" now Highly unlikely.

This is the clearest pic I could get. I had to really dig to find this guy. Most were gone, buried or camoflauged, I dont know which. I thought he was dead, but he wasn't. Just not quite as active as they were yesterday. Then again yesterday I had just gotten done watering and turning my pile when I looked at em.

1. count legs - too many, looked like cilia more than legs, but they were along each side where legs would be.
2. any antenna? Nope.
3. what do eyes look like? No eyes that I could see. One pointy nose that stuck out in front.
4. Can you take photo next to penny? for size
I took about 15 pics. This was the best I could get. Sorry, I know its not at all close enough. The 'nose' is pointed to the top of the pic.


And just for you Weezie - I guess this means I graduated or something



EWEYYYYY! I did get the heeby geebies from that but I'm really trying to overcome it! LOL!

I think the pointy end is the butt part????

Dunno? But he was 'leading' with his butt then, and sticking it up at me! LOL! May be that's why I couldn't find his eyes ROFLMAO!!!!!

OMG..



Seriously, I'm curious to find out what they are too. Good or bad?

I wish bug lady suzanne could hang out here more often, I'd riddle her with questions & pictures daily! She's so amazing. I'm greatful for when she does have time to pop in. Some day, I hope to catch her at one of the shows she goes to.. just to say I'm from the garden helper forum.

Meg

Sorry i have not been here more... I am in the middle of witting a college course on integrated pest management . It is taking so much time. At the end of the week I am off to Ohio for a greenhouse trade show, then I have a nursery show in PA, then FL then in Aug I will be in Portland, OR for another show.

I wish i could read the boards more but just swamped with witting right now. One of the magazines I write for, the editor is pregnant and asked for a years worth of articles over the next few month, so that is keeping me busy too. I just finished an article a new commercially produced parasite for citrus mealybugs... that was very interesting.

I am always available if you just email me and let me know there is a need. I am always glad to help. I learn from you all too !!

oh also, did you just take some of the pupa and put them in a jar and see what comes out? That's how I find out what things are a lot of the time.

From your new photos i am leaning more towards a fly pupa of some kind.....

Suzanne - I appreciate you taking time out to help with my mystery! It sounds like you're extremely busy (understatement!)

I kept 2 in a plastic jug, and sat it aside while I was watering - forgot about them and drowned them!

I've been seeing some really cool bugs. I don't know if they're good or bad, but some are really neat looking LOL It seems like most of the grubs are gone from the pile. I saw something that was rainbow metallic looking - looked it up and it said it was a dung beetle LOL It was on my hosta, so unless it was confused, I think I mis-ID'd it. I also saw a yellow toirtoise beetle, and a gold metallic looking spider(?) I haven't seen any Japanese beetles though, I don't think. I have to get a better camera for closeups - I'm getting into this bug thing! Weird! Well, not for the buglady I dont guess
Thanks again!

well i am happy to see you are taking an interest in the buggies! I love them. I don't like to kill any of them but i realize some have to go. In the garden if you just watch you can figure out who are the bud guys are because they are eating your plants. Only a small percent of insects are pest, most don't hurt anything so just let them live

Suzanne,
Is there a good source of pictures
we can go to to look at somewhere's?
Especially like benifical bugs like the Soldier Bug, etc.

And as a side note, how's your white borage doing?
Did you find the seeds?
And does the white borage attrack as many beneficials as the blue>?

I should start a new thread...

I think the blue is much better for beneficials, the white did self seed this year though, and is still white.

Well if i could ever spend more time working on my website i would say my site... but my site is not where want it to be. I am hoping in a few weeks to get to work in it more...

I still use books for ID, keep a pile on my desk.

oh PS i just did a fact sheet for Borage with my yahoo group on heirloom plants.. here is the link

Yahoo group heirloom plants

Not to side track it, but my blue is almost
like a weed, I am stilllllllllllllllll digging
up babies...

Well, I will be looking forward to all of your bug pictures when you get them done....

I found a bunch today I had been wondering about..
One I believe was the soldier bug..*and there were three of them, and two were doing the "happy~dance" together

And then there was this one that was bright blue/green and lines of magenta...

And a lime green one too...

All were small bugs, not big..

I gotta find out what they are, good or bad..

I also went hunting for Mary's orignial bug I was looking for, but couldn't find a picture...
I'll keep looking for one though...

well if you can send me photos... i will do my best to ID...........

My poor hubby dropped it with his greasy hands...

dropped the bug or camera?

Camera, he was taking pictures of the
lawnmower they were taking apart,
so they could remember the sequence of how
to put it back together....

The one he's wants to buy costs $7oo.oo, YIKES!!!
But takes awesome pictures from what he tells me,
just wish I had a job to give a wee~bit of $$ to
him for that one, so I can take better pictures..
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, to take a close up...
I'd be in heaven...
I had one of a dragonfly, but it came out so
blurry... it was really neat...

Boy, Nothing like going from bugs, to borage, to cameras, to lawnmowers, to getting a job...
I wish there'd be a forum hostess to get over here and tell me to stick to the story line..

P.S. I've gotta go weed the garden!!!

This may not be as serious a problem as mary's grubs, but I have an old concrete yard incinerator in my backyard and thought H-e-l-p!

the white things you see are not eggs but ant pupas just so you know.

I would just put black plastic over to make it so hot the ants will want to move out. Also if the ants are living it is your compost pile might not have the right C-N ratio. The pile should be hot enough itself when composting to keep the insects out. When the C-N ratio gets off it does not heat up and does not compost very fast.

Hi Buglady,

Thanks for that info.

Actually, I wasn't real serious about composting...just thought I'd try putting leaves in there, not expecting much to happen. There isn't any air circulation really. It's got an opening at the bottom where they would remove the ashes when using the incinerator. That's really all. I can't even really stir it, it's so compacted in there. But the leaves did mash down quite a lot and it looks like they have rotted some. It didn't steam at all in the winter.

So what can I add to it to make it cook? Should I start putting kitchen waste in there, even tho it doesn't have air circulation?

I'll try the black plastic and see if it helps.

Thanks,

jmacd

well i think you will get more insects that way. If you want to compost i would get a bin or make a ring of chicken wire to put all your stuff in.

here is a site that might help you

http://www.mggardens.co.uk/compost.htm