Thanks CJ! I'm afraid I just can't seem to muster the same enthusiasm for tomatos that I can for the rangoon creeper...
Debbie
Assasin Bugs on Tomatoes
Well, that's because you have a ton of them! LOL How many do you have anyway?
Three back here that are history real soon. That pic was of two--I'll keep them awhile and I have 2 hard rocks and a Goliath (also in the back above) I'll keep awhile. They are in my daylilly bed...talk about a 'juxtaposition' of plants. lol
CJ--desperately need your advice over on the datura thread by City Sylvia towards the end!
This message was edited May 27, 2006 10:24 AM
Debbie, Couldn't find the thread. Sorry.
link:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/600601/
Deb
You guys are AWESOME!!! I just spent all morning reading each post on this thread and I think you guys have saved my life. Okay....maybe not mine...but you've saved the lives of hundreds maybe thousands of tomatoes that I may have watch over. I cannot believe the little stinker STINKBUG has been a mooching culprit. We saw a couple in the garden and fearful of their smell let them be. But I think since there are 2 different kinds of pit marks in my tomatoes that 1 is birds and another is stinkbugs.
Kristi,
Sounds like you really know what you're doing in the garden! My DH wants to quit and full time garden as well, LOL, but I say without that paycheck he gets I don't think it'd be long he'd own that garden. But he does very well in it. I am for sure going to be killing my stinkbugs and thanks to a few of you who said to PICK those blushing tomatoes (I was dumb....waiting for vine ripened and so were the birds!!!) and also buying clearanced red glass Christmas ornaments for hanging on my corn stalks next time around.
Hehehe....we'll see who wins!!!!!!!!!
Thanks all!!!
This message was edited May 31, 2006 7:20 PM
Hi Aimee,
Let us know who has the upper hand!
Kristi
Kristi,
You mentioned needing to use up summers cuke bounty. I am trying pickling this year. Here's a thread on it:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/604334/#new
Thanks Aimee,
I used up all I had yesterday and made 12 quarts of pickles and one pint of pickled okra. Today I've made 12 pints of brandied peaches (they're processing now). I had to start them yesterday and let them soak in syrup for 2 12 hour cycles but they're almost done! I'm running out of shelf space! I wish the peaches were my own homegrown but alas, no peach tree.
Hopefully I'll have a good fig crop for preserves.
The link to the pickle recipe sounds almost like mine but we like 'em hot so I always add little red peppers.
I'm making baskets for Christmas so I have to get an early start. I plan to throw in some homemade spice mixes and crochet some funky pot holders for them.
Kristi,
Wow, you are so industrious girl!!!! It is exciting to meet people who garden AND put stuff up, both seem like a lost or fading art. You'll have to share the recipe for your pickled Okra. There are 2 brands for sale at our local stores (HEB or Walmart) and I can't remember the names. I tried 1 and didn't like the pickling recipe. I always buy the other and LOOOOVE it, so crunchy, and the jar has an outline of the state of Texas.
Taste O' Texas! Yummy!
Industrious or obsessive/compulsive, depends on who you ask.
Assassin bug nymphs don't like to be observed. They run and hide when I approach them. They don't harm plants and are beneficial because they eat aphids and other harmful insects. Here is a photo of some nymphs of one type of assassin bug which can vary in color ...
This message was edited May 29, 2006 9:27 AM
Here is a photo of the adult assassin bug that the above nymph turns into ... but there are several other different kinds.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/5100
Great first pic there....I see these guys; I just leave them alone. But then, I leave all of them alone.
This is 'insectology' taken very basic; but, I always leave the brightly colored insects be. What was that we learned about predators bright colors?
Debbie
That's what mine look like. But on my tomatoes, there are literally "hundreds" of them and they are truly ruining the fruit. I've always left them alone also but the damage is becoming severe.
Kristi
Oooh...Milkweed bug, milkweed beetle come to mind instantly. Bright colors, very bad guys. Can't count on that in the insect world, Debbie...And some of the black ones - very good guys (ground beetles for example).
That's why I just leave them all alone....but I really don't have insect problems enough to fret over. Maybe its all the anoles?
I believe the nymphs you show are the zelus assassin bug. It, too, is red and black, and very common here. This is the adult.
This is the nymph of the wheel bug, the mean looking critter in your second picture:
Here is the leaf-footed bug nymph. The bad guy. Note the enlargements on the back "legs".
Debbie, Your gardens always look so healthy. It probably is due to anoles and beneficial insects. I have bunches of both too. And skinks and spiders and all sorts of crawly things....LOL
CJ
Just went out and double checked. Mine are the leaf footed. I just picked about 5 tomatoes and the damage is terrible. I'll have to cut off half of the tomatoes before we can enjoy them.
Kristi
PS....this may sound stupid but what are anoles?
cute little fellow on the tree stump...somebody else I'm sure has a better close up
oh, i have lots of those cute little buggers.
I also have the pink geickos with black spots that come out at night. I have a family that lives in my shed and a family on the front porch. Used to have lots of tree frogs but I don't see quite as many as I used to.
I just found one of these guys on a very small TX Star seedling.
Sure hope this one doesn't have a big appetite for zinnias....lol
Ooooohhh....be careful. She looks hungry.
Debbie - that's the good guy - the Zelus assassin bug - on your Texas Star Hibisicus. Looking for lunch.
Despite my silliness with the last pic; thanks for posting CJ and Hazel. I actually have learned something about the insects in our area and will now notice more than ladybugs and aphids. I'm just thankful I've never been over-run by any particular species and everything seems to held by checks and balances.
I still believe, healthy plants from healthy soil can usually hold their own. I also think biodiversity in the landscape goes along way to reduce insect and disease problems.
Finally got a good picture of one of the adults. The "critter" is leaf-footed. But other than damage to the leaves of the plant, I don't see any fruit damage
excellent pic Bubba--I always thought they were stink bugs...never do any harm here either.
Gosh I wish my camera was working! I want to show ya'll the tomato damage.
I get paid tomorrow....maybe I'll just go out and buy another one.
knolan,
I got mine by trading in some hotel points - Marriott.
Thanks Debbie,
I have learned to shoot these close-ups at the maximum resolution, then crop and change to low to copy to DG. You should see the detail at 9MP. It takes forever to copy and email at that high resolution - 2-4 megabytes each pic. I only get 6 shots on a 16 MG card.
If I switch the camera to the lowest -I can get 122 pix on the same card. Tried that yesterday morning. When I saw the results on the computer - it was so pixilated I couldn't stand it, so changed back and shot these critters.
All mine are at 4.1MP--love my camera just point, and shoot, and zoom if I want to. 98 pics it will store with no memory card--great detail with no 'fussing"...wrote a grant for mine at work (along with a wireless notebook laptop, LCD projector, external CD/DVD burner, and this M407 HP Photosmart video/camera, and a docking station); best 2 hours of typing I ever spent...lol
As far as speed of uploading...that's your server or your PC.
Now if I really knew how to use this camera, imagine what kind of pics I could take...lol
I'm starting to "meditate" on fall varieties of tomatoes here...ya'll have any thoughts?
Panama Rose--prior to freezing down to ground in Feb...lol
Bubba,
The leaf footed bug is a bad guy - he sucks juice from the leaves and fruit. He makes the hard bumps in your tomatoes that don't turn red. But he's not the one making the holes in the leaf. Look for something with a chewing mouth part - like caterpillars or beetles.
ceejaytown,
You really know your bugs. Thanks for the wealth of info. Do you know how I can safely get rid of these little buggers?
Kristi
Go to http://msucares.com/newsletters/pests/bugwise/2004/bw2004.pdf It tells you of some various ways to try to control leaf-footed bugs.
If you have only a few, try the two brick method. IOW, smush 'em. Don't use sprays unless the numbers are just too great, and the damage is too. Pesticides kill beneficials too. If you have to resort to a spray, remember that the adult bugs have wings - and they use them. Contact is necessary to kill them. Try spraying early in the morning before they wake up too much. They're sluggish then - just like us.
CJ
BTW, of the pesticides listed, I would prefer the pyrethrin. It doesn't persist in the environment as long as the others, so is considered less damaging. But it IS a poison, so be sure to follow all of the safety precautions on the label.
This message was edited May 30, 2006 2:13 PM
Thanks CJ,
I hate to spray but I hate to smush too. I've been tempted to just go ahead and pick all of the "almost mature" tomatoes and just let 'em ripen inside. Too bad my really horrible singing doens't make 'em run.
Good link. I'll contemplate the pyrethrin.
Kristi
If only bad singing did it, there are many of us who would have a pest free garden! And our neighbors would be wearing ear plugs. LOL I just picked my 'beginning to blush' tomatoes this morning - because the birds are getting the more redder ones.... If only they'd eat the whole thing! But noooo, just a peck or two.