Subject: What is this?
Location: Maui
June 7, 2016 2:11 pm
Please ID
Thanks!
Signature: Jason
Caterpillar eating Marijuana Leaf
Dear Jason,
This appears to be a Caterpillar eating a Marijuana Leaf.
Yeah I’ve seen plenty of caterpillars eating cannabis flowers… I did not realize they also ate/attacked leaves.
Thanks
Subject: Mystery bug
Location: North Shore, Maui, Hawaii
February 20, 2016 6:54 pm
Aloha folks, You guys were so helpful the last time that I thought I’d give it another go.
I found this guy on the underside of a Cannabis sativa fan leaf (legally grown). I’m not sure if the black spots surround it are fecal matter, but some of the black spots on the bug almost looked like babies. Any help is much appreciated.
Signature: Greg Hansen
Possibly Lace Bug Nymph
Dear Greg,
This is an immature True Bug, and nymphs can be very difficult to correctly identify. Our initial guess is that this appears to be an immature Lace Bug in the family Tingidae. According to BugGuide, they: “Feed mainly on leaves of trees and shrubs, causing yellow spotting and sometimes browning and death of the leaves.” Beetles in the Bush has some nice images of immature Lace Bugs. Aloha Arborist Association has a similar looking image of the Cotton Lace Bug, with a list of plant family hosts, but Cannabaceae is not listed. Perhaps your Lace Bug is a different species, or perhaps the information on plant host families is incomplete.
Thank you so much Daniel! You are a saint! I really appreciate your help and expertise.
Greg
Aphid, we believe
Subject: Just found these on my medical cannabis.
Location: Maine
October 14, 2014 7:19 pm
Hey bug man. Just found these crawling on the pots of my cannabis plants. Look like mites. Larger ones have two pronounced “tails”. You can see one of these tails in the photo below.
I am hoping to get an answer as I haven’t been able to find much online.
Thanks so much for your time.
Signature: Conor
Dear Conor,
We believe this is an Aphid, and you mentioned “larger ones” in your request which means there are also smaller ones. Aphids reproduce parthenogenically without fertilization, with females giving live birth to offspring, so there are often various sizes of Aphids found together. Young are nymphs that go through simple metamorphosis, so except for size, different ages look quite similar. We found much literature online regarding Aphids and the culture of Marijuana, including this page on the I Love Growing Marijuana site. Aphids plague many gardeners of roses and plants other than marijuana, and there are many predators of Aphids that are helpful for people who do organic gardening. Organic nurseries often sell Lady Beetles or Lacewings to eat Aphids, but they are not necessarily native predators. Rather than introducing predators that might negatively affect the local ecosystem, we would advise trying to encourage native predators.
Subject: Cannibis Eater?
Location: Central Calif, USA (city of Bakersfield)
July 29, 2014 7:59 pm
We have found these 4 winged “flies” on our cannabis plant. Are they insect or plant eaters?
So far they haven’t eaten me!
Signature: Lynn
Glassy Winged Sharpshooter
Hi Lynn,
Your images are very tiny and not of the highest quality, so we enlarged them and enhanced them for posting, but we prefer high resolution, high quality images for identification purposes. This appears to be some species of Leafhopper or Sharpshooter, and there are many agricultural pests in the family. Leafhoppers suck the juices from plants, and some species are known to spread viral infections to plants. Our best guess is that this is a Glassy Winged Sharpshooter, Homalodisca vitripennis, based on this BugGuide image. According to BugGuide, it is: “A major vector of Pierce’s disease on grape. Usually not a serious pest within its native range, this sp. was introduced into so. California, where it has become a serious threat to viticulture.” We attempted to locate any documentation on the relationship between Glassy Winged Sharpshooters and Marijuana, and we did find a different species of Sharpshooter feeding on Marijuana on the FloraFinder site. The University of California Davis Integrated Pest Management site has an excellent article on the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter, and though we scanned it, we could not find a reference to marijuana.
Glassy Winged Sharpshooter
Insect identification
Location: Southern Ca
May 14, 2011 1:24 pm
These little bugs walk/crawl but they also jump. Naked eye they look dark and can see two little antenna at the head. Sorry the pix are not as lit up as I would have liked. I live in the high desert of San Bernardino County in Southern Ca. I planted a Marijuana plant in my back yard with Promix potting soiless mix. These little critters are swarming around the mix. I put some dish liquid soap in with my nutrient solution when watering and it seemed to knock them down a lot but not gone. I have found them inside my home as well (this morning there were approx 7 of them in my bathroom sink). Can you tell me what they are and if they are harmful to Marijuna plants? And what is the best defense if they are? Thanks Bugman!!
Signature: Outlaw
Thrips, possibly
Dear Outlaw,
We believe you have Thrips. Despite your awesome photomicroscopy, we still find the anatomy of this critter a bit confusing and we do not have the necessary experience to identify this insect with certainty, however, we feel that based on the information we do have, that Thrips seems like the likeliest candidate. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable will be able to provide a definitive identification. Here is a link to the Thrips order Thysanoptera on BugGuide. BugGuide notes: “The word thrips is singular and plural; there is no such word as “thrip” (in other words, “I saw a thrips” is an example of correct usage). The word thrips itself is said to be from a Greek word, meaning “wood louse” or woodworm, referring to their abundance in dead branches, where they feed on fungus.” BugGuide offers this assistance with identification: “Thrips are tiny insects, only a few mm in length at most. Thrips may or may not have wings. When wings are present, they are narrow with few or no veins and fringed with long hairs. Thrips have asymmetrical mouthparts (no right mandible) suitable for piercing and sucking. Antennae of thrips have four to nine segments and are relatively short. Tarsi of thrips have one or two segments with one or two claws and are bladder-like at the end.”
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