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Bug identification!
Craig Ashford
Posts: 2
I have these little critters in my greenhouse which are eating my Lupin seedlings. I've tried fumigation candles as well as bug spray but I cannot eradicate them. Can anyone tell me what these are, and how to get rid of them. Whether it's introducing a natural predator or something else. They're about the size of a pencil dot and jump like a flea. I've included a photo of them, and the damage they're causing.
Thanks in advance.
Craig.
0
Posts
It's more than likely slugs eating the lupins, they will have those and delphiniums off at the base if you don't watch them.
My best guess would be the larva of a thrip of some kind, especially given you are having difficulty eradicating them as they are persistent little s*ds. I can't give any tips on fighting them as whenever I've had thrip issues the best I managed was limiting their numbers a little. RHS advice here:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=876
That does look to me more like slug damage - lift up those module trays and look underneath at the gaps between the modules, and under the lip around the edges - the blighters get everywhere!!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
PS, I agree that the actual damage does look like it has been made by slugs. My ID was for the tiny insect but it probably isn't that which is causing the damage in the top pic.
I think the worse thing about module trays is they provide board and lodging for slugs.
They look like springtails. They are harmless to plants but they are a symptom of over-watering. Something else is eating your seedlings.
http://www.houseplantsguru.com/springtails-and-how-they-damage-plants
The beastie in the second photo is a springtail. They eat dead and decaying organic matter and are important - possibly the most important animals involved in recycling. They get their name from the spring attached to their tails, which cause them to leap about, in the manner of fleas (the mechanism is similar). They don't have strong enough mouthparts to munch your lupins.
My money's also on slugs. Probably tiny ones that you can't catch. That compost does look wet as well, which won't be helping.
The tiny little black or keel slugs are almost certainly the culprits - they really are the ones to try and deal with - the favourite foods of the big slugs that we all hate, is little slugs, so we shouldn't worry about them - but we don't like them around so tend to wreak war on them, when it is the tiny underground ones that are munching the roots. As ever in gardening, nothing is quite what it seems to be!!!