perennial garden bug

[Lindalana]

Am at loss to ID this one, it came back second year- am guessing from overwintering larva? and is becoming damaging.
Am not fun of spraying anything at all but it is getting out of balance. It could be baby stage and adult or two different ones. Baby has red head, brown body with dark lines and dark soft wings. Adlut looks similar to cucumber beetle with stripes. Damage to the leaf is like sucking sap dots. Sorry for muddy pictures

[MissS]

Lindalana I have the same bug issue. I looked it up last year but now I can't find it nor can I remember its name. It is a true bug.

Last year I had a few plants with these bugs on them and I just squished the bugs when I found them. This year they are all over the place and ruining the foliage on many of my plants. Earlier this week I made the decision to spray them with soap spray. It seems to have been very effective. I have only found 2 since spraying on Monday and those were on plants that I could not reach very well to spray.

I am watching very closely to see if I need to spray them again. I do not like to spray plants either but this was a severe infestation that was turning the tops of my plants to a brown crisp.

Hopefully this one spraying will help to keep them in check.

[Lindalana]

Oh good for you!
What kind of soap spray did you use? I got concentrate of neem oil and was planning to try.
Also question if use of beneficial nematodes might be helpful to destroy overwintering?

[MissS]

I use Dr. Bronner's Magic Pure-Castile Soap made with organic oils. It worked great! Today i noticed 3 more immature bugs and my first adult. Not bad considering that I had hundreds of these on my plants. I bought my soap at Costco.

I have no idea if nematodes would be helpful or not. That is a great question! If you try it PLEASE let me know if it works for you. This is only the second year for me with these bugs and they are very destructive. I expanded my beds this year and so far the new area has not been touched. I would like to keep it that way if possible. These could easily wipe out my beds.

[AlittleSalt]

Linda, I wish I could help more. I've never seen those bugs. A few years back, we had aphids on black eyed peas that looked a lot like the first picture. It wasn't spots - it was aphids you could see.

[Lindalana]

ok, neem oil did not work.
I just got a package of lacewings eggs and ladybugs. I might give a try with soap but have to refrigerate my packages for now.

[MissS]

Found em. This is the Four-lined Plant Bug (Poecilocapsus lineatus).

http://www.clemson.edu/cafls/departm..._lineatus.html
http://www.cirrusimage.com/bugs_four_lined_plant.htm

This bug likes a lot of our garden plants to feed on. The good news is that there is only one brooding season.

Sadly, an article on DG states that Ladybugs and Lacewings are ineffective against these bugs.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/4251/

I'm so sorry for the bad news. How about trying some Hartz flea & tick shampoo for dogs. I am going to mix that with my Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Castile Soap.

Please keep me posted. These are really devastating this year here. They do have the ability to take out my whole Hummingbird Garden this year.

[Lindalana]

MissS, thank you very much for info.
I will be resorting to hand picking, they seems to be slower in the morning.
Funny to read "cosmetic" damage only, it is what my perennial gardens are for.
I have asked Arbico organics for possible use of assassin bugs and pirate bugs which they do have.
I will also remove two bushes of forsythia which I have in that bed and clear up all plant stalks which usually left to overwinter.
For leaf damage I have successfully used foliar mixes from Smiling gardener, it seems to help repair it much faster http://www.smilinggardener.com/sale/calculator