orange bugs on my Eggplants

10 years ago

Hello folks. I noticed these orange bugs on my eggplants this morning. Any one know what they are and if there friend or foe ? I attached a picture of them.

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Comments (8)

digdirt2
10 years ago
Bit too blurry pic of the bugs to be 100% sure. Check out the photo linked below.

If yours have the same black dots on their rumps then they are Assassin Bug nymphs. Good guys.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: ID this bug
nc_crn
10 years ago
looks a lot like young/nymph leaf foot bugs...
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zzackey
10 years ago
That's what I thought. I just killed a few of them. If you look closely at the back legs you can tell they are young leaffooted bugs.
digdirt2
10 years ago
Yeah Assassin Bugs are leaf footed bugs. Not all leaf foots are bad guys.

Dave
planatus
10 years ago
When I see those guys I let them go and do their thing. Recently a cluster of them lived on a butternut squash for a week before dispersing, and they left the squash unharmed.
seysonn
10 years ago
The simple test is:
If they don't cause any HARM then they are HARMLESS. hmmmm
woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
10 years ago
What do you consider "harm," seysonn?

Aphids and whiteflies don't look like they're creating harm, because they don't chew foliage. But they carry diseases that can wipe out your crop. There are thousands of insects that don't look like they're causing harm, but do. And vice versa -- there are tons of bugs that are very beneficial.

Yardninja did the correct thing -- identify, then react.

I have no idea yardninja. I'm still a noob when it comes to insect I.D. At first glance, they look like nympphs of leaf-footed bugs. But I'd definitely listen to Dave and nc-crn... they know their stuff.

I just learned something myself... that assassin bugs are a leaf-footed species.

Kevin
gymgirl2
10 years ago
That is a congregation of STINKBUG nymphs. Leave them alone and they will be the bane of your tomato season when they grow up to become pests...

They are NOT my friends....

Assassin bugs do NOT have the black bump on their butts. It's how I remember the bad stinkbug nymps. "BAD Bug Black Butt Bump..."

And, the final clue: Stinkbug nymphs assemble in congregations, like they're praying in church over whatever they're destroying at the moment.

ASSASSIN bugs travel just like their names. Singular. Solitary. You may see a number of them in your grass, but they put distance between themselves as they patrol. They don't hang out as a gang...They're assassins....

I take care of my assassin bugs.

As soon as I get home, I'm gonna snatch up that congregation of stinkbug nymphs I noticed just yesterday, sitting on an eggplant, just like yours. I sneak up on them with a plastic bag, and capture them and that one eggplant, all at once...

P.S. The eggplant in your post seems to have grown dull. Pick your eggplants when they are very shiny. Pick them regularly to encourage production. The sooner you pick them, the sooner you'll have new blooms.

Remember: "A dull eggplant = a bitter eggplant..."

Linda

This post was edited by gymgirl2 on Tue, Sep 10, 13 at 16:12