Runner Bug Invasion!

[so lucky]

Those darned black and grey runner bugs have invaded my garden. I saw one today around noon, and by this evening they were all over the tomato plants. I grabbed the spinosad and sprayed them good. I sure hope that works on them. They can defoliate a plant faster than a horde of grasshoppers, I think.

 

[Smart Red]

Good luck!

I don't know that I have ever seen one of those.

 

[Lavender2]

What is a runner bug?

 

[thistlebloom]

I don't know what they are either, but if they're worse than the stinking grasshoppers I'll hate them with you So Lucky.
Hope you got them!

 

[baymule]

I HATE RUNNER BUGS TOO!!!!!

What are they?

 

[Smart Red]

I HATE RUNNER BUGS TOO!!!!!

What are they?

That, bay, is true friendship. . . "Your enemies are my enemies." Let us hope we can hate them from afar.

 

[so lucky]

Y'all are so funny! My enemy is your enemy. Honestly, I don't know what they are. I think there was a thread on here where someone called them army bugs or something like that. Let me try to find a pic. In the meantime, the spinosad didn't do anything, so I had to dust them with rotenone, which got them. I don't like to use it, as it is toxic to bees and such, but these plants weren't blooming much where the bugs were.

 

[so lucky]

Well, it looks like they are blister beetles. Why didn't I know that? The ones here are sort of grey and black, but there must be a thousand different kinds. I used to have a sweet autumn clematis, which those bugs would absolutely swarm on. I used sevin on them, and it was so fun to see them fall off the plant, roll over and die! Geeze, I sound sadistic. I am really not.

 

[Lavender2]

Oh I have seen those, apparently not in high enough numbers to cause a problem. I've seen the black, green, and striped beetles. Quite a catch-22 bug. They eat grasshopper larvae, but then they may take out your crop.

I read an article that mentioned their speedy swarm. Monitoring does not work in fields, they can go from zero to Bam!, in just hours! ... like you mentioned.

Blister Beetle - MN - oddly, I have never seen them on my iris or lupines.

Hopefully you saved your tomatoes!

 

[so lucky]

I checked this morning and couldn't find any, after a dusting of rotenone yesterday. When the horde is in full swing, it looks like the plant is shaking, from all the bugs moving. The stuff of nightmares. Reminds me of how fleas get out on the ends of the hairs of a badly infested animal, when the animal dies. All the fleas are on their tippy toes, getting ready to abandon ship. Ugh! saw that on a wild rabbit once.