Posted by: Mia | 1 August 2007

Friends and foe

thing

While inspecting the sweet/chilli peppers on the windowsill, I spotted these funny looking insects on the leaves. The plants have greenfly, which I use a handheld small vacuum cleaner (designed for cleaning computers) to suck them up. I noticed that these strange insects seem to eat the greenfly. I don’t know what they are - I know the picture isn’t that great either.

Last night’s read in bed was Organic Gardening Your Questions Answered (bought from a charity shop) by the team at HDRA that did the tv programme All Muck and Magic. I knew that centipedes (they are fast moving) are carnivorous, but I didn’t realise they eat slugs. Last time I checked the allotment compost heap - there were loads of centipedes on the fabric/carpet covers. Perhaps I could relocate them to the raised beds! On the subject of slugs, I put 4 yogurt pots out in the garden and filled with beer last night and caught half a dozen slugs or so - not many but then we haven’t had rain for a few days.

Seeds sown yesterday: various basils, chervil, spring onions, various lettuces, and cabbage.

Responses

The one on the left looks like it might be a ladybird larva. They’re fearsome looking creatures, mainly black with a couple of orange splodges. After tucking into aphids for a while they curl up into a little pupa (often seen attached to leaves) and become ladybirds.

It isn’t a ladybird larvae. I know the picture isn’t that great and having looked again at the picture - I can see the resemblence. However, both insects are from the same plant if not the same creature. My first impressions on what it could be were beetle/bug with a weevil-like shape but shiny and my insect book isn’t making things clearer. I’ll try again to get a better picture of it. It can be smaller than a ladybird larva.
We have ladybirds and baby ladybirds outside in the garden - mainly on the cobnuts. Had all sorts - mainly 2, 10 and 14 spotted ones, not seen many 7 spotted, black on red and red on black plus the yellow and orange ones. Quite a range - somewhere on the blog/flickr is a mosiac of the ladybirds some of which are making more ladybirds!

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