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Apr 23, 2016 11:58 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Joy Wooldridge
Kalama, Wa. (Zone 8b)
Sunset Zone 6, Heat zone 4,
I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Photo Contest Winner 2021 Lilies Daylilies Organic Gardener Cat Lover
Birds Region: Pacific Northwest Garden Photography Bulbs Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Container Gardener
Columbines sure seem to be a favorite of at least a couple different pests in my garden. First I had a problem with caterpillars. They were eating all the leaves off the plant. I used Diatomaceous Earth and was able to save some of my plants from looking like green skeletons. Now I find these little bugs all over the blooms. Anyone know what they are and how I can go about getting rid of them? Preferably the least toxic way for all the good bugs and other wildlife?

Joy
Thumb of 2016-04-23/Joy/1fb8c3
No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same in one garden. ~Hugh Johnson
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Apr 23, 2016 6:17 PM CST
Name: Amanda
KC metro area, Missouri (Zone 6a)
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To me they look like Japanese Beetles.
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Apr 24, 2016 7:23 AM CST
Name: Jennifer
48036 MI (Zone 6b)
Cottage Gardener Houseplants Spiders! Heucheras Frogs and Toads Dahlias
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They are not Japanese beetles. I call them soldier bugs
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Apr 24, 2016 7:25 AM CST
Name: Jennifer
48036 MI (Zone 6b)
Cottage Gardener Houseplants Spiders! Heucheras Frogs and Toads Dahlias
Hummingbirder Sedums Winter Sowing Peonies Region: Michigan Celebrating Gardening: 2015
They are not Soldier bugs either though. Try posting in the insect forum. Or even Ask A Question forum
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Apr 24, 2016 9:12 AM CST
Name: Duane
Redmond OR (Zone 5a)
Life began in a garden.
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They sort of look like stink bugs
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Apr 24, 2016 1:50 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Joy Wooldridge
Kalama, Wa. (Zone 8b)
Sunset Zone 6, Heat zone 4,
I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Photo Contest Winner 2021 Lilies Daylilies Organic Gardener Cat Lover
Birds Region: Pacific Northwest Garden Photography Bulbs Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Container Gardener
Thank you for all your suggestions. I didn't even know we had a insect forum here, so thank you also for that. That may be the perfect place to post this.
No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same in one garden. ~Hugh Johnson
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Apr 25, 2016 7:34 AM CST
Name: Jennifer
48036 MI (Zone 6b)
Cottage Gardener Houseplants Spiders! Heucheras Frogs and Toads Dahlias
Hummingbirder Sedums Winter Sowing Peonies Region: Michigan Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Janet will know what they are @JRsbugs can you help?
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Apr 25, 2016 7:50 AM CST
Name: Janet Super Sleuth
Near Lincoln UK
Bee Lover Plant Identifier Organic Gardener Dragonflies I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Charter ATP Member
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I've checked this out but can't find an exact match.

It is a "stink bug" which are often predatory, it might have been wanting to feed on the caterpillars.

I would say it's in the Subfamily Pentatominae (family Pentatomidae).

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...
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Apr 25, 2016 8:10 AM CST
Name: Janet Super Sleuth
Near Lincoln UK
Bee Lover Plant Identifier Organic Gardener Dragonflies I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Charter ATP Member
Cat Lover Garden Photography Butterflies Birds Spiders!
I think I found it, in fact I'm sure! I searched for "stink bugs aquilegia Washington state" and up it came in google images!

Cosmopepla uhleri, it's in the Tribe Carpocorini where I had looked but no examples came up.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...
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Apr 25, 2016 8:19 AM CST
Name: Jennifer
48036 MI (Zone 6b)
Cottage Gardener Houseplants Spiders! Heucheras Frogs and Toads Dahlias
Hummingbirder Sedums Winter Sowing Peonies Region: Michigan Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Janet @JRsbugs you truly are a Super Sleuth! Thank you!
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Apr 25, 2016 8:31 AM CST
Name: Janet Super Sleuth
Near Lincoln UK
Bee Lover Plant Identifier Organic Gardener Dragonflies I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Charter ATP Member
Cat Lover Garden Photography Butterflies Birds Spiders!
I tip my hat to you. Thumbs up nodding
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Apr 26, 2016 12:50 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Joy Wooldridge
Kalama, Wa. (Zone 8b)
Sunset Zone 6, Heat zone 4,
I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Photo Contest Winner 2021 Lilies Daylilies Organic Gardener Cat Lover
Birds Region: Pacific Northwest Garden Photography Bulbs Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Container Gardener
Thanks Janet! So do they just mate on the columbine? Though they are a bit unsightly all over the blooms, I won't bother them if that's all their doing. Guess I could look this up myself now sense you found the name for me. Smiling
No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same in one garden. ~Hugh Johnson
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Apr 26, 2016 4:53 AM CST
Name: Jo Ann Gentle
Pittsford NY (Zone 6a)
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Cat Lover Heucheras Hellebores Container Gardener
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Stink Bugs. There has been an exceptional invasion here in the east, since last fall. They come into the house,drives the cats nuts and gives them something to play with.
They are slow moving so we just catch them and release them outside.
We swept them off the side of the house starting in August.
Creepy.
Our local paper had an article on the invasion.
Speaking of invasions, this is the year of the 17 year cicadas, get ready everyone.
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Apr 26, 2016 4:54 AM CST
Name: Janet Super Sleuth
Near Lincoln UK
Bee Lover Plant Identifier Organic Gardener Dragonflies I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Charter ATP Member
Cat Lover Garden Photography Butterflies Birds Spiders!
Some bugs have a host plant, I recognised that this one was very similar in shape (the pronotum but mainly the scutellum) to one I have which is called Woundwort Shieldbug (Eysacoris venustissimus) which is what prompted me to search for the plant in your case. They are supposed to be specific to the plant, and I have seen them mating on Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) which is native and I found some growing on the roadside at the front of my property. The plant has since spread and I have a large patch of it under the Horse Chestnut tree which in turn attracts a species of bee which isn't often seen.

Back to the story. Hilarious! I have also seen the Woundwort Shieldbug mating on white deadnettle (same family), and found their nymphs on Fuchsias which are by my south facing wall. I found they do sometimes use other plants such as Fuchsias so yours might too. I haven't seen any real damage to the plants, and their numbers are small, I prefer to let nature do it's thing (preservation of all species is important).
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Apr 28, 2016 6:32 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Joy Wooldridge
Kalama, Wa. (Zone 8b)
Sunset Zone 6, Heat zone 4,
I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Photo Contest Winner 2021 Lilies Daylilies Organic Gardener Cat Lover
Birds Region: Pacific Northwest Garden Photography Bulbs Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Container Gardener
Thanks Janet. I'll just let them be. Unless something is destructive to my plants, i just let them go about their business too. So that's what I'll do in this case. They are kinda cute for a stink bug. They can just become part of my garden critters family. Hilarious!
No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same in one garden. ~Hugh Johnson
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