Monthly Avatar Theme For June: June Bugs!

The avatar theme for June. June Bugs!!! Pretty bugs. Ugly bugs. Good bugs and bad bugs. Post up your favorite garden bug or your garden nemesis that you just can't seem to get rid of.

No mating bugs please

Thanks to gwennifer and the Pacific Northwest region for the June Bugs idea

Mine is the DINNER BUG.





Kay

Our daughter found this little guy on one of those "free" flowers you don't have to pay for in our lawn. He is definitely beneficial to pollinate our budding veggies.
Renee

@walshevak wrote:Mine is the DINNER BUG.





Kay

Cool!

cheyannarach also thought of June bugs!

CapeCoddess asked if we would please post whether our avatar bugs are beneficial or not. Great idea!

I've added a cabbage moth to my avatar. This bug is my enemy. They flutter around all pretty like and lay teeny tiny eggs on the underside of my cauliflower and broccoli leaves. The eggs are slighty yellow and easy to spot once you know to look for them. They hatch into teeny tiny green caterpillars that are not as easy to spot. They are very hungry and will munch, munch, munch until they are big, fat caterpillars. Spraying once a week with BT is an organic method that will kill caterpillars. Even better is covering your brassicas with tulle so the moths can't lay their eggs on them in the first place.

I'm always picking up bugs, to the agitation of my loving husband who fears creepy crawlies, lol. So here's a picture of me with a lovely grass hopper.

Mine is this little praying mantis that my daughter found recently. Love the picture with reflection in the blue cup.

@littlesapphire wrote:I'm always picking up bugs, to the agitation of my loving husband who fears creepy crawlies, lol. So here's a picture of me with a lovely grass hopper.

Looks like good fishin bait

Mine is this little praying mantis that my daughter found recently. Love the picture with reflection in the blue cup.

That's an outstanding shot

Ooohhh that lizard is so pretty! Is that a pet or something that is wild in your area?

I don't know what this bug is or what it does or doesn't do. I've only seen one and since the bugs shown so far are so pretty I'll use it for now. If anyone knows anything about it, I'd love the info!


Thanks for the heads up on the cabbage moth, Gwennifer! I see them around here and didn't know they were one of the bad guys. I'll keep an eye out for the eggs.

CC

One of my queens She is very beneficial... all her daughters have been very busy and I will probably extract honey in a week or two...

I always liked caterpillars...just NOT on my tomatoes.

@CapeCoddess wrote:Ooohhh that lizard is so pretty! Is that a pet or something that is wild in your area?CC

It is a tokay gecko and they are wild in the Philippines where this picture was taken. Spot stalked that bug across the ceiling for 2 hours before he finally got dinner

Kay

My interesting (read: ugly ) looking tortoise beetle. Luckily I am not seeing many of these after my first encounter a week or so ago.

I'm not even going to enlarge that beetle, Jenn. Gruesome!

@JennAndCompany wrote:

My interesting (read: ugly ) looking tortoise beetle. Luckily I am not seeing many of these after my first encounter a week or so ago.

I think I might have seen one in my garden, too. What can we put on them to get rid of them? Also saw a striped potato beetle I think.

@PeonyLover wrote:

Love Heimlich!

GG

Lol, is that from Bugs Life? Ants? I can't remember which...

That's from Bug's Life Rooster!

My bug is a ten lined June beetle. We discovered these weird creatures a couple years ago when one flew into our house one night, he flew into the ceiling fan and came crashing down on me EEEEK! He flew up again and it looked the size of a small bird. We finally managed to catch him and we caught a girl outside out them in a jar together and they hissed at eachother. As far a I know they haven't been a garden pest to me, they lay eggs in soil and feed off of grass/plant roots. Those are the only two I have ever seen.

@cheyannarach wrote:
My bug is a ten lined June beetle.

THAT is a cool looking insect!

some good ones out there!!

Heimlich he's in A Bug's Life. And a pretty funny bug.

@camprn wrote:

@cheyannarach wrote:
My bug is a ten lined June beetle.

THAT is a cool looking insect!

They are pretty cool bugs, you should see them fly, it's crazy, I thought it was a small bird or bat at first.

My personal favorite...Spiny Flower Mantis.

OMG!!! Is that mantis for real??? You guys have some STRANGE friggen bugs out west...

CC

Yep they are real....

Several species of mantis camouflage them selves as flowers.

Unfortunately none of those species is native to Oregon....the spiny flower mantis is native to Africa....though people here in the States do raise them as pets.

What we do have in Oregon is flower spiders....



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misumena_vatia