Bugs on my zucchini

[Tiatrack]

I know there are some great plant people on here. I'm hoping you can tell me what these bugs are on my zucchini plant. They are tiny and green, but they look like they are starting to kill my plant It is on a second story balcony, so I have no idea what they are. This is my first try at growing on my patio, and I don't want the bugs to eat my plants! Any ideas what they are and how I can get rid of them? Thanks!

ETA: the pic with the brown leaf looks like the hatchling shells of whatever these bugs are.

 

[Jezilynn]

Im not really a bug or plant person but first thing that comes to my mind are aphids.. and ladybugs eat aphids. A natural and lucky solution! LOL, I love ladybugs...

 

[Tiatrack]

I was thinking that too since my parents have roses that get aphids, but my Google search didn't turn up anything that said aphids eat zucchini. They are a ton smaller than the aphids I have seen before. :hmm:

 

[alli713]

They look like aphids to me too, I have no real experience with plants, but I had similar looking bugs on my tiny strawberry plant a couple years back and they killed the little plant.

 

[3CsMommy]

Aphids. They'll go after tomatoes, peppers, zuccini... anything with big juicy leaves. Aphids is to plant as fleas is to dog, to speak SAT for a moment. They essentially drain the good stuff out of it and can kill whole farm fields if they're not contained.

I'd go to your local garden store and ask for a small container of lady bugs. Turn them loose in your neighborhood and your aphids (and most of your neighbors aphids) will be Nom noms.

 

[Tiatrack]

Ok, I'm going to pick up the lady bugs after work. I live in a second story condo. Should I put some of the lady bugs on the balcony and some just in the dirt on the ground floor? If I put them all on my small balcony I think it would look like attack of the ladybugs!

 

[Rickman]

When they've no more food, they'll fly away in search of more!

 

[3CsMommy]

Doesn't matter where you put them. Once the aphids are gone, they'll go looking for more 'grub' (pun intended).

We got a *huge* infestation of the Asian type of "ladybug" at my college every year and it was NASTY! If you're getting domestic lady bugs, though, they won't be a problem at all. They don't smell bad like the orange and black ones, they don't bite if you try to humanely stick them back outside, and they don't swarm like the Asian ones either. Just make sure your window screens are intact and plug any holes around your air conditioning unit/windows/doors with balled up aluminum foil to encourage stragglers to stay outside.

 

[blue_soda025]

I'm pretty sure those are aphids. They will turn your leaves black and moldy, so it's best to get rid of them. I had a HUGE problem with them on my pepper plant until recently when I decided to do something about them. There were clusters of them all over the leaves. Gross!
I even hatched some praying mantises and put a few on the plant, but there were just too many aphids for those little mantises to eat, even. And since I don't know where to get ladybugs around here, I resorted to using a simple solution: make a solution of about 2 tbsp liquid detergent to 1 gallon of water and spray it on the plant. What it does is it dries out the aphids... or something like that.. I'm not exactly sure what it does, LOL! But it sure did kill them all! I know it's not a chemical-free solution, but at least it won't burn your leaves and it does work very well.
Thanks to those aphids, my pepper plant also has ants crawling all over it.. because ants go after aphids too, I think. Another problem I have on my pepper plant is those little caterpillars. Ugh! Does anyone know how to prevent those from getting on your plant? I don't know why my pepper plant attracts soo many bugs. >=(

 

[3CsMommy]

blue_soda:

Diatomaceous earth (from a garden center/section) is very very finely ground particles of sea shells and animal bones that are used to add calcium to soil, but have the bonus effect of being yucky for bugs to crawl across. A circle of it around your plant should keep most of the crawlies from going up the stems. Renew it after heavy watering or rain. A side effect with most bugs is that the particles actually poke holes in their exoskeletons and they dehydrate to death if they do cross it. (It's also great for fleas if they get into the house.)

So, that takes care of up the stem, but on the leaves? Time for Plant Soap (also from a garden center/section) which, when mixed with water, helps drown any bugs it touches by plugging the 'nostrils' along their abdomens with water, and then keeping the leaves slippery so they have a harder time landing.

Beyond that, there's always Sevin dust, but I use pesticides as a last resort.

We're after our own container of lady bugs this weekend. Figures, I just talk about it and breathe a sigh of relief that I *didn't* have aphids this year, and I found the little buggers today. :hair: I went on a squishing spree out of spite (which I normally wouldn't do).