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Tomato Bugs

HHHHHHEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!
I’ve grown tomatoes for years, and recently moved. When I go out to my garden, EVERYTIME a tomato starts to turn red, something eats a hole in it. I thought it was worms, but I have sprayed for them twice, with no results. Today when I went out, one of the tomatoes had split at the top (due to the weather), and there were little bugs with wings inside them, they had red heads. Is that what keeps eating my red tomatoes?? Please help me, I’m loosing my mind. Whatever it is, it only eats a hole the size of a half dollar, then moves on to the next, and doesn’t seem to be bothering anything else in my garden. Thank you soooo very much, hopefully you have an answer for me.
Kristi

Hi Kristi,
I suspect birds. I have mockingbirds that frequently nibble my ripe tomatoes. Also squirrels. I have taken to draping the plants with tulle, or netting, when the tomatoes begin to ripen. Tomato bugs, or tomato horn worms, occasionally nibble the tomatoes, but usually the green ones. They also defoliate the plants, and you should be able to find them because of their droppings. Good luck.

OMG,,,,,,, i never thought of that!! We do have mocking birds living next door. We watch them attack the neighborhood cats. Funny that the tomato’s usually only have holes toward the bottom of the plant. Maybe because the birds are short?? What can i cover them with so they can’t get through? I’m afraid they can get their beady little beaks through the netting??? Thank you soooooo much for your advice. You have no idea how much this helps me!!

Hi Kristi,
Some garden shops sell a black or green netting that is more durable than tulle. I got it at Home Depot. I haven’t had a problem with the tulle. The netting at the garden shop has a stronger weave with larger holes, and it can be reused from year to year. Remember, everyone loves tomatoes, even birds and small mammals. The position of the holes probably has something to do with where the birds perch while eating.

You are awesome,,, Thank you so very much for taking time out of your busy day to help others. I think that is wonderful!!! May God bless you richly. :-)

Posted 07 August 2002 § Tomato Bugs ‡ Comments (0) °

Watermelon Bug

Hello Mr. Bug Guy!
Never seen anything like it before and we have no idea how it got into the house and onto the second floor landing. That’s as far from any open window as it gets in our place and not close to the ground, either. (Although we do have two cats and a kitten.) It was casually walking, slowly, along the carpet. Actually, it looked kinda sick. It wasn’t moving particularly fast or anything. We scooped it into a jar and within hours, there was barely a flicker of movement left. (Still Flickering, though, as I write this.) It’s not quite 3 cm from nose to tail. It’s coloring was much like a watermelon, the kind with a lot of contrast between the stripes. It had these two, strange paddles out front, looking a lot like shoehorns. Any idea what this bug might be? Is it local or some kind of import? I’m in San Jose, CA, at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay.
Thanks!
John

While cleaning out the old email account, we discovered these amazing photos sent in by John of a Ten Lined June Beetle, Polyphylla decemlineata. They are native and the adults eat pine needles while the grubs are considered pests of peach trees.

Posted 05 August 2002 § Beetles § Scarab Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Watermelon Bug

Hello Mr. Bug Guy!
Never seen anything like it before and we have no idea how it got into the house and onto the second floor landing. That’s as far from any open window as it gets in our place and not close to the ground, either. (Although we do have two cats and a kitten.) It was casually walking, slowly, along the carpet. Actually, it looked kinda sick. It wasn’t moving particularly fast or anything. We scooped it into a jar and within hours, there was barely a flicker of movement left. (Still Flickering, though, as I write this.) It’s not quite 3 cm from nose to tail. It’s coloring was much like a watermelon, the kind with a lot of contrast between the stripes. It had these two, strange paddles out front, looking a lot like shoehorns. Any idea what this bug might be? Is it local or some kind of import? I’m in San Jose, CA, at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay.
Thanks!
John


While cleaning out the old email account, we discovered these amazing photos sent in by John of a Ten Lined June Beetle, Polyphylla decemlineata. They are native and the adults eat pine needles while the grubs are considered pests of peach trees.

Posted 04 August 2002 § Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Gnats

What is the tiny fly type bug that comes in through the window screens and hangs out on the window glass or ceiling. They almost look like a small fruit fly but they are not. They hang out in the grass as if you water your lawn or walk through it they disperse. Just tons coming in the garage screen door. I’ve been swatting them for almost a week now. Live in NY state and it has been dry and hot. Thanks

Dear R.
Any number of gnats are small enough to enter through the openings of window screens. The Black Gnat (family Sciaridae) is tiny, about 1/16 inch, and often flits in one’s face while watching television or gets caught in fresh paint, or causes despair when they appear in bowls of breakfast cereal. The larva live in decaying plant material, often being numerous around compost piles, and they are also known to infest the roots and stems of various herbaceous plants. Since you haven’t complained of itchy bites, you can be thankful that you aren’t being plagued by nasty no-see-ums, so count yourself lucky that you just get benign gnats.

Posted 04 August 2002 § Gnats ‡ Comments (0) °

Crickets

To whom it may concern:
My children and I want to keep a singing cricket as a pet. We have tried crickets from the pet store and from our garden, but they never sing in the house. We have a nice cage with food they seem to like; and we have made sure that we keep males. How can we get one to sing?
Maria in Buffalo, NY

Dear Maria in Buffalo,
I guess you already know that you must have a male cricket to get singing. I have known people who bought large quantities of crickets from the pet store to use in art installations as a sound component, so I know that pet store crickets will sing, though their songs are frail. Additionally, store crickets, usually European House Crickets (Acheta domesticus) are not very attractive, since they are an anemic shade of tan. Garden crickets or Field Crickets (Gryllus species) are a beautiful glossy black and have a robust chirp. Singing generally occurs in spring and early summer. I had a Field Cricket move into my bathroom sink drain many years ago, and it managed to hide somewhere in the pipes whenever I ran the water, though I was careful to not scald the free-loader. My cricket would sing constantly. I would recommend locating a cricket in your garden by tracking its chirp. Give it a cool, dark place and hope for the best. I cannot come up with a logical reason why your captives are mute, and I would suggest patience. Give the guy a chance to adapt, and eventually his romantic inclinations should bring on the song.

Posted 01 August 2002 § Crickets, Camel Crickets and Mole Crickets ‡ Comments (0) °

FLIES!

What is the tiny fly type bug that comes in through the window screens and hangs out on the window glass or ceiling. They almost look like a small fruit fly but they are not. They hang out in the grass as if you water your lawn or walk through it they disperse. Just tons coming in the garage screen door. I’ve been swatting them for almost a week now. Live in NY state and it has been dry and hot. Thanks

Dear Cindy,
Your hovering flies are probably Little House Flies (Fannia canicularis) which are smaller than normal house flies (Musca domestica). On hot summer days, they can be found in garages, under trees, in doorways and in other shaded places, aimlessy hovering, never seeming to land nor having any definite place to go. According to Hogue, swarms of Little House Flies are mainly males with females usually resting nearby. Breeding occurs in a wide variety of rotting organic materials, and they are especially fond of chicken manure and are often found in large numbers near poultry farms. The flat, oval maggots also eat much of the same diet as other domestic flies, frequenting garbage heaps. To get rid of them, clean the chicken coop and make sure the garbage is removed regularly.

The fly on the wing of the big fly is a normal housefly. The other two look
exactly the same, but are huge. Their coloring is the same as the housefly,
but I have never seen a housefly this big. They do not have the green of a
horse fly, and our neighbor had an even larger one on her window. We live in
upstate NY. Any information will be appreciated.
ThankYou
Tsehdek

Dear Tsedhek
The small fly in your photo is indeed a housefly (Musca domestica). However, your description of the horse fly is inaccurate. The green flies with a metallic coloration are members of the blow fly group which feed as larvae or maggots on the meat of newly dead animals. The Green Bottle Flies (Phaenicia sp.) are very common and they are principally garbage infesting flies, but the maggots can also infest untreated wounds in humans while the adults feed on dog feces. The adults vary in size from 3/16 to 3/8 of an inch and the size depends on the diet of the maggot.
Your large flies are in fact horse flies, (Tabanus sp.). The adults are robust flies from 3/4 to 1 1/8 inches in length. They are grey or blackish, and can have clear or darkish wings. The eyes often have horizontal stripes. The eggs are laid in marshes, ponds and along the margins of lakes and streams, and very often in sloughs, irrigation ditches and similar locations with wet mud and decaying vegetation. The larvae grow to nearly 2 inches long on a diet of snails and other small invertebrates. The adults exhibit sexual dimorphism, with the females having a seperation between the eyes which the male lacks. Her thorax is also white while his has a fringe of white hairs. The adult females have a ferocious appetite for blood, generally from horses, dogs and the occasional human, and they have been known to trouble rhinos, tapirs and hippopotomi at the L.A. Zoo. The bite is painful. The male feeds on fruit juices and nectar from flowers and does not bite. The female supplements her diet with fruit and flower fluids as well.

Posted 01 August 2002 § Flies ‡ Comments (0) °

Black Widow


Dear Daniel,
I’m sorry to report that my captive black widow has apparently expired, without warning, and before her time (I think), and I’m hoping that you might be able to offer some possible causes of death.
I found this brave arachnid in my house, right next to the front door, where she had constructed a nice web in the corner. This was surprising, because these spiders are typically shy-er and aviod the insides of our home, keeping to the piles of garbage and debris that surround it. I dusted off my spider cage and tossed her in with some sticks, and she set up shop immediately, dispatching every bug I could capture and introduce into her one-spider ecosystem. She ate four flies in about three weeks, and then, last night I caught three June beetles almost at once and decied to toss them all in and see how she’d handle an overabundance of supplies. She caught and wrapped all three in quick succession, then set to work on one, and I went to bed. This morning she was curled up in a ball on the bottom of the cage (see photo). Now there’s a giant bead of clear fluid emerging from her mouth-parts-area, and her legs are sort of clenching up and slowly releasing, over and over.
Could all this be the result of a tainted june beetle? Is she going to suddenly pop out of her old exoskeleton and finish off the three meals left un-eaten in her web? Please advise.
Yours,
Sean Dungan

Dear Sean,
I have never heard of a spider stuffing herself to death, but I guess that is always a possibility. I guess you should just wait and see what happens. Her typical lifespan would be three years, and it is entirely possible that you had a senior citizen move in with you.

Posted 11 July 2002 § Black Widow ‡ Comments (0) °

Black Widow

Friends;
It’s summertime in the Canyon, so that means it’s bugtime. I killed a number of these over the holiday weekend, but thought I’d take a picture of this lady before I smushed her with a broom.

I would’ve tried to get in closer, but admittedly, I was a little scared.
Chris

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the update on the buggy canyon. Just two days ago I overturned an old piece of wood while planting an oak seedling, and lo and behold, there was a big fat black widow snuggled in a crack on the underside. I gingerly replaced the wood. I have heard it said that there isn’t a house in southern California that isn’t home to at least 15 black widows, despite the actions of paranoid home owners and the attempts of exterminators to eradicate the species from the planet. Though she is a desert creature, the Western Black Widow Spider, Latrodectus hesperus, seeks out dark, cool, and usually damp locations to spin her indefinite web. Look for her in wood piles, hollow stumps, crawlspaces and among refuse stored in garages and attics. The water heater area is often a favorite site. The sexes exhibit pronounced dimorphism, looking like two entirely different species. The male is small and greyish while the much larger female is usually a glossy black, with a red (though sometimes orange or even yellow) hourglass marking beneath her bulbous shiny abdomen. The size difference contributes to her reputation as a man eater. The bite of both sexes is poisonous, and the venom is reported to be 15 times as strong as that of a rattle snake. Though they are not aggressive, preferring to hide in the dark, they occasionally bite people. Avoid contact with the spider and immediately call a physician if a bite occurs. An ice bag should be placed on the wound and the victim should be kept calm.

Posted 09 July 2002 § Black Widow ‡ Comments (0) °

TOMATO BUGS!

I just finished reading your letter about the evil "tomato bugs". On a 3 day weekend last year 4 of the nasty guys destroyed 3 of my tomato plants. I DO NOT want this to happen again. I was wondering what they look like when they are just starting out their reign of terror. I have only ever seen pictures of them when they were about 3 inches long. Also where do they come from, and is there a way of preventing their arival at all?

Dear Stephanie,
I’m sorry for the delay in this reply. Somehow, your letter got lost in cyberspace. "Tomato bugs" are the larval stage of a sphinx moth, Manduca sexta. They begin life as eggs and hatch into tiny caterpillars about 1/4 inch long. They are green, and their coloration combined with their lighter traverse markings help them to blend into the foliage of the tomato plants they feed upon. Look for them on the undersides of the leaves where they prefer to hang. Often the first evidence that there is a tomato hornworm is the presence of their telltale droppings along with nibbled leaves. They eat the soft portion of the leaf, leaving only the stems behind. Diligence is your best defence. Spend time with your plants, especially when they are young, and search for evidence of grazing hornworms daily.

Posted 20 June 2002 § Tomato Bugs ‡ Comments (0) °

Chinch Bugs: Poor advice followed by Organic Solution

Hi Daniel,
I’m having an ongoing problem with what I’m told are grubs in my St. Augustin grass. Each summer I get these patches which turn yellow/ brown and die out, just as if I hadn’t watered them in ages, which is, of course, not the case. Apparently they eat the roots of the grass causing the tops to die. I have usually spread grub killer and that seems to take care of it. The problem is that the grub killer, called "Seven," I believe, is super toxic, indicating the need to wear socks, long pants, gloves, respirator (my addition), etc. Do you know of any similar remedy for grubs that would not be so environmentally horrendous? I have three cats who live in this grass daily and I don’t want one of them to start growing an extra head or some other such gruesome mutation. Caroline, a Manx, already has all the extra toes she can handle.
Thanks,
Kathleen (a.k.a. Toxic Avenger)

Dear Kathleen,
I can think of three possible culprits for your St. Agustine grass problem, the likliest one being the chinch bug, Blissus insularis, small gray-black insects that suck plant juices from grass blades, especially St. Agustine grass, especially in hot weather. To confirm chinch bugs, according to the Western Garden Book , push a bottomless can into the soil just where the grass is beginning to turn brown. Fill can with water, If lawn is infested, chinch bugs will float to the surface. Diazinon and chlorpyrifos are chemical controls. According to Hogue, the Southern Chinch Bug feeds on several grasses, but Saint Augustine is by far the preferred host plant. The insect’s feeding may cause considerable damage: the grass becomes dwarfed, turns yellow and then brown, and dies. Because of the tendency of the species to form aggregations, the symptoms of attack are usually visible in scattered patches. The species is not a native. It first appeared in the Los Angeles area in the late 1960’s, having come from the southeastern states. It produces two generations per year and is most abundant in midsummer. Two additional possible culprits that require the same chemical control are Sod Webworms and beetle grubs. If you see whitish to buff colored moths flying around the lawn in a zigzag pattern at night, check for their larvae. To confirm Sod Webworms, drench area of lawn with a solution of 1 tablespoon dishwashing soap diluted in 1 gallon of water. Larvae will come to surface. Treat if there are 15 or more webworms per square yard.

Update: (07/13/2008)
organic solutions
Bugman, I love your web site but in a recent post (see below), you recommended some harsh chemicals to get rid of chinch bugs. Diazinon has been banned on golf courses because it kills birds. http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/FactSheet/Pesticide/fs28.diazinon.cfm Could you also recommend organic alternatives to bug control? Lots of lawn problems are caused by over fertilizing and overwatering the lawn rather than building up the soil itself. Here’s a web site with ideas for controlling chinch bugs without pesticides: http://versicolor.ca/lawns/ chinchNOW.html#action1 I live in a house built in 1908 in Massachusetts and I figure the lawn is an old pasture. The grass and clover lawn is deep rooted and survives even the longest droughts. I never water or fertilize. I just mow high with a mulching mower that basically chops up the grass blades and creates compost every time I mow. When friends complain about grubs, I don’t have a thing to add because the lawn is evidently so healthy that they don’t thrive. And if a drought is long enough to turn the grass brown, I still don’t worry, because the roots are healthy so the next rain brings back the green growth. Plus I see loads of butterflies, dragonflies, fireflies, interesting bugs, birds and other critters all summer long. Lots of builders strip the existing topsoil off a site (to sell to landscapers) and replace it with a shallow layer of topsoil, then seed it with grass that can never establish really deep roots in that thin layer. The homeowner is then stuck in a cycle of watering and fertilizing. If you dig into your lawn, you can figure out how deep the topsoil actually is. If it’s shallow, get a couple truckloads of topsoil laid down so you have a good 8-12 inches of soil, add a few inches of compost (which is often free from your city recycling center), re-establish the lawn with grasses that do well locally and then mow high with a mulching mower. You can save on your water bill while avoiding toxic chemicals that could hurt your kids, pets, birds and bugs. Thanks, Bugman, for a fantastic and fascinating site.
Carol

Posted 06 June 2002 § True Bugs ‡ Comments (0) °

The Creatures

(The Creatures
June2, 2002) Hello Bug Person,
I saw your site and thought maybe you could help me and my roommate out. We have creatures. That’s what we call them, because they are unlike anything we’ve ever seen. In the last three places we’ve lived, we have seen the Creatures in our basement. They are similar to centipedes in that they are long, have many legs, and are creepy. But that’s where the similarities end. Centipedes are flattened with legs that look like this ^ with one joint, but these Creatures have 2 joints, like spider legs. They don’t have as many as a centipede but definitely more than 8. The legs are generally the same size too, not different lengths like a house centipede. they don’t have the front “fangs” like a centipede but a mandible similar to a spider’s – no antenae no little butt feelers. And they come in 3 different colors. I’ve seen very large ones (4-5 inches), black with white spots; others were just as big but dark brown; and just the other day, in our new duplex, we found a little one maybe 2-3 inches long and light brown. They are very fast and i even hit one with a book, cutting off its lower half, and the rest of it got away. Yeah, these things are evil. Nobody knows what these things are. We’ve had hunters, floridians, Arizonians, and other self-proclaimed bug experts, but we always get the same thing: a hideous blank stare and lonely nights in our basement. Can you tell me what the creatures are?

Alex,
Be afraid.  Be very afraid.  Scream Alex, scream for your life.  You have Tinglers living in your basement.  Barring the possibility that the horrific monster from the 50’s horror flick starring Vincent Price is in your basement, following you from house to house, I can think of several additional possibilities, though none seems to exactly fit your description.
Possibility #1 is the hellgrammite, the larval form of the dobson fly.  These four inch long creepy crawlies normally live in or near streams, but we have heard reports of them being found in basements.  Check out this website to see if the hellgrammite is your culprit. http://www.watersheds.org/blue/nature/gallery2/
pages/hellgramite.htm
Possibility #2 would be a sun spider or wind scorpion from the family Solpugidae.  They move quickly, and can be found in basements, though I haven’t heard of any American species quite as large as the creature you describe.  They are closely related to other arthropods called vinegaroons.
Possibility #3 would be a different type of centipede.  Scolopendra polymorpha is a six inch long species of centipede that resides within the continental U.S.   You can locate a photo of it and of the sun spider on this website.  http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/USInsects/
Arthropods.html
I shudder to think that we here at What’s That Bug have entered the ranks of hunters, floridians or Arizonians with blank stares, but without more concrete information, perhaps a photograph or a drawing, and some hint of your coordinates on the globe, we’ve run out of possible id’s.

Posted 02 June 2002 § Centipedes ‡ Comments (0) °

The Creatures

Hello Bug Person,
I saw your site and thought maybe you could help me and my roommate out. We have creatures. That’s what we call them, because they are unlike anything we’ve ever seen. In the last three places we’ve lived, we have seen the Creatures in our basement. They are similar to centipedes in that they are long, have many legs, and are creepy. But that’s where the similarities end. Centipedes are flattened with legs that look like this ^ with one joint, but these Creatures have 2 joints, like spider legs. They don’t have as many as a centipede but definitely more than 8. The legs are generally the same size too, not different lengths like a house centipede. they don’t have the front "fangs" like a centipede but a mandible similar to a spider’s – no antenae no little butt feelers. And they come in 3 different colors. I’ve seen very large ones (4-5 inches), black with white spots; others were just as big but dark brown; and just the other day, in our new duplex, we found a little one maybe 2-3 inches long and light brown. They are very fast and i even hit one with a book, cutting off its lower half, and the rest of it got away. Yeah, these things are evil. Nobody knows what these things are. We’ve had hunters, floridians, Arizonians, and other self-proclaimed bug experts, but we always get the same thing: a hideous blank stare and lonely nights in our basement. Can you tell me what the creatures are?

Alex,
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Scream Alex, scream for your life. You have Tinglers living in your basement. Barring the possibility that the horrific monster from the 50’s horror flick starring Vincent Price is in your basement, following you from house to house, I can think of several additional possibilities, though none seems to exactly fit your description.
Possibility #1 is the hellgrammite, the larval form of the dobson fly. These four inch long creepy crawlies normally live in or near streams, but we have heard reports of them being found in basements. Check out this website to see if the hellgrammite is your culprit. http://www.watersheds.org/blue/nature/gallery2/
pages/hellgramite.htm
Possibility #2 would be a sun spider or wind scorpion from the family Solpugidae. They move quickly, and can be found in basements, though I haven’t heard of any American species quite as large as the creature you describe. They are closely related to other arthropods called vinegaroons.
Possibility #3 would be a different type of centipede. Scolopendra polymorpha is a six inch long species of centipede that resides within the continental U.S. You can locate a photo of it and of the sun spider on this website. http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/USInsects/
Arthropods.html
I shudder to think that we here at What’s That Bug have entered the ranks of hunters, floridians or Arizonians with blank stares, but without more concrete information, perhaps a photograph or a drawing, and some hint of your coordinates on the globe, we’ve run out of possible id’s.
Several months back, this column tried to identify a bug based on an inquiry from Deb. Here is her letter:
Hi,
I almost had a heart attack last week as I saw the biggest bug I have ever seen! I work as a therapist in an upstate New York School. My office is in the basement. As I rounded the corner to answer the phone, something huge
was slowly crawling across the doorway on the floor. It was blackish grey, about 4 inches long with a flattish body. The head looked as large as my thumbnail. It appeared to have short spikey hairs on its body, and 6 legs protruding from its middle segment. The abdomen was very large and trailed behind the legs. I didn’t notice any antennae, but it may have had pincers on the mouth. Thank God for a brave custodial worker!!! Later in the day, another co-worker said that he collected those bugs for trout bait, and that they sprout wings and fly around. Please! That was the stuff of nightmares!!!!!!!! I swear that I have seen miniscule versions of this bug in my own yard and want to know if they are the same. Could I have these prehistoric monsters flying in my back yard???!!!
—Deb

Embarassingly, I misidentified the culpret as a large roach. It turned out, in fact, to be a hellgrammite, the larval form of the dobsonfly, which you have photographed. Locally, the California Dobsonfly (Neohermes californicus) can be found near streams, generally at higher elevations, hence the frequent use of the larva as trout bait. The hellgrammites are aquatic and are found in swift streams where they prey on other insects, but they can pass dry spells under rocks and debris in the damp stream beds.
Dobsonflies are members of a primitive order of insects known as nerve-winged insects, which includes other oddities like the ant lion and lacewings. All adult nerve-winged insects, including the dobsonfly, are feeble fliers and are predaceous upon insect pests, so they are beneficial.

Posted 02 June 2002 § Hellgrammite ‡ Comments (0) °

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