I have been gardening for 20+ years. Last year I started using raised garden beds. This year I have cucumber beetles (first time) and had to pull all my cukes up - all the plants died. Local Extension service was of no help.
While planting companion flowers I just found these insects - please help ID them. #1: two pupa of some sort both white, one larger than the other. #2: grub - found 15-20 of these in unplanted spaces. Are all grubs japanese beetles or could they be other insects? #3: tiny (1/8" maybe?) beetle like insect, black and shiny, found in the dirt, there were lots together, moves very quickly, trapped between tweezers in photo. #4: strange (and ugly) insect, almost didnt see it, about 1/4" big.
Photo #5: I brought these actual worms to the extension service. I just received their answer in the mail - the master gardener said they are wire worms. I am no expert on bugs, but I know what a wire worm looks like - at least I think I do - are they correct??
I have additional photos if necessary - Please Help!!! Thanks!
Help me ID insects from raised veggie beds
The white creature in the first image is a fly maggot, likely that of a muscoid fly; I do not see any pupae.
The second image and fourth images are of a scarab beetle larva (grub), but I cannot tell what species they might be.
I cannot see enough detail in the third image to tell whether it is a true bug (order Hemiptera) or a very small beetle.
The fifth image is of immature earthworms. Whoever told you they were wireworms needs to go back to school…
the third 'bug' was very hard to get a photo of because it kept moving so fast. It finally died so I can get a better picture - see if these help you tell what it is.
the second and forth - are they the same thing, just in differnt stages? Do you think they are any connection to the cucumber beetles?
Do you know of anything I can put into the soil to get rid of the grubs or anything that eats the plant roots that won't damage the plants?
the fifth image - thank you for confirming my thoughts on the extention service ID - the person who did the ID was a master gardener - I am seriously thinking of contacting the state extenstion about the misidentification! As to those worms, why is it that I find countless worms like this - all the same size - never larger or smaller? If they are juvenile worms, wouldnt there be any larger ones when they grow up? I had the same thing last year - same exact size!
The insects in the second and fourth images are in the same family, but I cannot tell if they are the same species; definitely no relation to the cucumber beetles. As for control, see http://homeguides.sfgate.com/kill-grubs-vegetable-gardens-40630.html
It is puzzling that you would not find any more mature earthworms in your soil; I find all gradations in my garden.
Your latest images show a beetle in the family Carabidae (ground beetles). The vast majority of ground beetles are general predators on other small arthropods, and thus usually considered neutral if not beneficial, but there are a few that will feed on seeds as they start to germinate. Yours bears a superficial resemblance to one of those - see http://www.spiderwebsc.com/beetles/ground_and_water_beetles/gwb27.html
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