On 5/6/2014 8:33 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
OK , today I found a small black bug on my decimated eggplants . About
maybe 3mm long , and several on most leaves - except the one where the
spider has set up shop . Also found a Colorado potato beetle on an eggplant
yesterday .
Something is eating the leaves on my peach tree , not sure what but
they're havin' a time of it .
Found a small green caterpillar on one of the apple trees , a few leaves
have been munched .
Found a small bug , cylindrical and about 5-6mm long with orange spots on
either side of it's "neck" and long antennae , not sure if it's a predator
or pest .

My plan for right now is to dust the affected plants with some DE , should
stop most pests . I surely don't want to get into using insecticides now ,
as I have a bee hive coming later this month . In fact , I'm not so sure I
should continue the DE after the bees arrive . I just know I need to get a
handle on this before it gets out of control .

Depends on where you live Terry as to what sort of bugs you've got. I
think maybe the small, cylindrical one with the orange spots may be a
lady bug, they predate on all the smaller bad bugs so leave that one
alone. Lots of good pictures on the web with descriptions of the bug and
what they predate on. I lost two peach trees to peach borers so now I
have garlic and onion chives growing in a ring around all my fruit
trees, just in case. Haven't had a borer yet since they were installed.
Potato beetles of any kind can ruin your day, I pick them off by hand
and drop them in an old jar with a half inch of kerosene or motor oil in
it, motor oil generally as kerosene is hard to get around here.

George