Can you identify this bug

Alasgun

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The title says it all. New to us bug this year, found on Swiss Chard. Don’t seem to be a problem, just being pro-active incase new buggy comes back next year.

recognize him?
 

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digitS'

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My thought was a flea beetle but it is not either completely black or striped as the ones here.

Besides, I identify those by their ability to disappear immediately when disturbed and you have some very good photos, Alasgun. That is suggesting that it didn't leap out of range, immediately.

Steve
 

Dahlia

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The title says it all. New to us bug this year, found on Swiss Chard. Don’t seem to be a problem, just being pro-active incase new buggy comes back next year.

recognize him?
It looks like a beetle, but I can't find one online that has that yellow back end!
 

flowerbug

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I agree. It's a definitely a bug nymph, the body shape suggests a stink bug. I killed a few today; they like to pierce the bean pods to feed on the seed.

i've killed several adults while picking beans the past few weeks. not a ton of them compared to the JBs, but they are there. i did not see many signs of stung pods or messed up beans in what i've shelled out so far.

i should also have noted that these have not been common bugs in the past as i do not recall seeing them and i'm usually pretty interested in what bugs i'm seeing. :)

i did get a pretty good laugh out of someone the other day when i mentioned i was not being too successful on training the birds to eat the JBs.
 
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Dirtmechanic

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Shieldbug.

"
It is important to be able to distinguish between the southern green shieldbug and the more widely distributed native common green shieldbug (Palomena prasina).

The latter often strays into glasshouses during the summer but does not cause economic damage.

As a result, control measures may be needed for the southern green shieldbug, but not its less destructive relative."

I see a great number of images online in a poster form that have the different life stages. More time needed than I have this morning but I am curious too.
 
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digitS'

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How much do you suppose that your starling and cardinal populations contribute to the decrease in JB this year, @flowerbug ?

Home and Garden teevee has an article about the ways to control Japanese Beetles including help from the birds:

When I lived in the sticks and had a serious problem with cabbage worms one year, I would be followed through the garden by a pair of crossbills as I picked some of them off and stepped on them. It was a little comical because they were not terribly flighty but would merely duck under cabbage leaves when I turned to look at them :).

Even birds that are so specialized as crossbills are for eating seeds, eat bugs and feed them to their young.

Starlings eat things like grapes and berries so they can cause some problems but maybe cardinals aren't so pesty and there are ways to encourage them to assist.

Steve
 

flowerbug

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How much do you suppose that your starling and cardinal populations contribute to the decrease in JB this year, @flowerbug ?

i don't usually see the mentioned birds in the gardens that much, the robin is perhaps the most frequent visitor. the rest of them seem to not get into the gardens much at all. we don't plant corn or other commonly attacked crow foods. i do leave dead mice from traps out for the crows but i do that on the grass and not in the gardens. catbirds and cardinals we have around almost all the time. they seem to like the shrubbery plants and the small trees in the north hedge or some of the more open spots we have where they get bugs, but the JBs are not often in those open areas.

i don't see damage in the grassy areas from JBs.


Home and Garden teevee has an article about the ways to control Japanese Beetles including help from the birds:

When I lived in the sticks and had a serious problem with cabbage worms one year, I would be followed through the garden by a pair of crossbills as I picked some of them off and stepped on them. It was a little comical because they were not terribly flighty but would merely duck under cabbage leaves when I turned to look at them :).

Even birds that are so specialized as crossbills are for eating seeds, eat bugs and feed them to their young.

Starlings eat things like grapes and berries so they can cause some problems but maybe cardinals aren't so pesty and there are ways to encourage them to assist.

starlings are not around our yard/gardens much at all. they flock around us in the fields at times but they do not come here. i don't know why. i've only shot one of them and that was years ago.

as for eating the grubs the raccoons, skunks and possums go for them but they don't get them all. there's a lot of grass around here along the roads and in fields and such. i'm sure other critters like voles and moles also eat them if they can find them.
 

Dirtmechanic

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When I put JB pheromone traps upwind of my garden I was shocked by how many accumulated in the bag. I noticed that the following year there was much less pressure and less in the bags. And the year after that I forgot to put them out.
 
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