Florida Backyard Vegetable Garde

Insects Click here for Homemade Organic insect sprays

Lately I have come across what I find to be very interesting bugs. I have seen the evidence not knowing what is doing what. I know there are "good" bugs so I did not want to kill them.

So I did what I always do, refer to my books and search the web. I came to find out what I thought was "good", was not. Here are some pics of what I have been finding and what I know about them.

This is the Leaf footed bug and the stage just before adulthood when they are still nymphs. There are other bugs that look different but still have leaf feet. They are Bad. They have tentacles that they stick in the fruit and inject saliva in and then suck out the juice killing the fruit. I saw them at first as nymphs, it looked like a bug party on my tomatoes.

This is the Tomato Hornworm. The name fits. It is Bad. These make wholes in the tomato and eat the inside, leaves and stems. They turn into moths in their adult stage. Organic control is handpicking and attracting native parasitic wasps. They lay their eggs on the underside of leaves. Look for those and destroy them also.

This is the Tomato Fruitworm (hornworm). Actually this is the larvae stage. They turn into moths as adults. The worms burrow into tomatoes, eat buds, and chew large wholes in leaves. Their eggs are found on the leaves. Wasps and other predatory bugs help to control these as well. I hand pick these off and look for leaves with eggs and destroy them. Morning is best time to find them to pick off.

The Hummingbird Moth (Adult form tomato hornworm)
I received and e-mail referring to this page about the hummingbird moth. She noticed these little moths buzzing around her flowers..
They did not seem to be doing any damage so she did some research and found that was what they were, which is the adult tomato hornworm which we all know is harmful as it destroys plants and their fruit.
I always thought they were moths that eat the plants like most do.
The hummingbird moth is a lot like Hummingbirds themselves with the long proboscis they use to pollinate certain flowers that can only be properly pollinated by this type. In conclusion, I now realize a bug can be beneficial in one stage and harmful in another.
Thanks so much for enlightening me, I have aloe vera that needs those
to pollinate successfully and I don’t have hummingbirds. Now I will not
get rid of all of the worms, like you suggested maybe leave one
sacrificial plant to have a few hummingbird moths around.

Comments or Questions Email: desiree@growincrazyacres.com

All Photos are taken by us of our actual gardens etc. unless stated otherwise.