Insects: Friends or Foe, take the quiz!

I hang out at night in the garden, and lay my eggs while you sleep. Then my eggs hatch and feast on your plants. I am FOE. Any dark moth in the garden is bad. Could be adult iris borer, adult squash vine borer (also has red on the body). Nothing good results from moths. But unless you disturb them sleeping on your plants, you will rarely see them.

Above is the Spotted Cucumber beetle, relative of the Striped Cucumber beetle. Can be devastaing to vine crops, melons, squash, pumpkins etc. They carry disease in their mouth parts that are spread as they chew on the plant. By the time you see adults, they have likely laid eggs in the soil near the plant roots. The eggs hatch into larvae that feed on the roots, so more damage is happening than what you see. Dusting helps a lot. But remember, once is not enough, as new larvae will turn into beetles in a couple of weeks. Don't wait until your plant is near dead to dust it, as it will be too late, attack back as soon as you see these guys. Definately FOE.

This is your BBF above the soil line. The juvenille (teenage) lady bug. They consume huge numbers of soft bodied insects and eggs. They often will have longer tails than the one above.

When it morphs into the 'beetle' it will look like the below photo. I have seen then transform before, with my own eyes, takes about 30 minutes from the time it starts, very cool.

If you see these clinging to your plants, leave, only good will come of this. Juvenille morphing into adult.

Who is this guy? Friend or Foe? Friend, in fact your BFF again. It is a lady bug! There are over 400 kinds of Lady bugs, even black w/red spots! This one is chowing down on a aphid, you go girl! More bugs later! Makes you feel kinda itchy?
and....the hated Asian Lady Beetle is also beneficial. It clings to our houses because it is looking for a warm spot, and their descendents would have clung to the sides of cliffs, which could be perceived the same by a ladybug. I mean how BIG can their brain be?