Insect and Disease Identification Thread

@LarryGene I found this guy in the garden, about the size of a small pea. Is this a friend or enemy? Thanks

A patent-leather stinkbug :flushed:

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My apricot looked like yours a few years back. It never happened again.

https://growingfruit.org/t/frost-damage-or-something-more-sinister/37151?u=piblarg

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@Piblarg Awesome news thanks Iā€™ll keep an eye on it for recovery. It hasnā€™t really worsened in the last couple of weeks and the apricot was in bloom before everything else when we had some wet and cold for the area weather. Laughable probably for the rest of the country but we had some lows at 29-30F while it was in bloom so hopefully this was the issue!!

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Thanks. It is dead now

Also found this guy flying around. I thought was a bee because it has hair under the body.but it doesnā€™t look like a bee when it is not flying. Good guy or bad guy?

Maybe this one:

https://bugguide.net/node/view/214761

Thanks, I think you got it right. From what it said, it kinda do good things and bad things

Yes, it is often like that - not black & white :slight_smile:

There is this pink/orange stuff growing on my young Girardi mulberry tree (only about 1" diameter). It started on a small branch that I pruned off about two weeks ago, but now it has spread to the trunk. I sprayed it with some copper fungicide a week ago, but it has gotten bigger since then.
Any idea what this is or how bad it is? I live in Zone 9 Louisiana.
Mulb#2
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Sorry, canā€™t see it clearly; judging by the color, it might be Nectria sp. (cinnabarina?)

IL847: post #1321: Some kind of scarab beetle, I think, will have to do more research.
It does not appear to the the common Dark Flower Scarab.

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I think you might be right, thank you. Unfortunately, its on the trunk only a few inches away from the graft, so I canā€™t really cut it off.

If I recall correctly mine occured in similar circumstances. The buds affected in mine were dead Which lead to some wierd patches of blind wood.

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Anyone recognize this tiny insect (or maybe springtail?) I found resting on avocado leaves in my greenhouse? It was very hard to photograph because it is only about 1 mm or at most 2 mm long.


I only see one of them, so Iā€™m leaving it alone for now in case it maybe wants to eat some aphids or soft scale as it grows up. So far those are both present in the greenhouse, but the aphids only in small localized populations on particular plants that then seem to vanish overnight sometimes, and the soft scale only really on one of the avocado trees.

I assume something is eating the aphids, but Iā€™ve never seen what. Spiders, maybe? There are so many different species of spider in there, I wouldnā€™t be surprised if one of them went after aphids. And so far no ants have found the greenhouse, so the aphids are thankfully defenseless.

Can anyone ID this? Bark on a small apple tree btw.Thanks!

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Swincher post #1335: Tough one to ID; I have eliminated thrips or lacebugs.

IL847: post #1321: small black beetle has features similar to Histeridae (Clown) beetles.
Iā€™m still looking.

If Clown, would be considered beneficial in the garden.

Edit: Nope, I was hoping the random pale rings around the perimeter of the wing covers would be a key to ID, but few pictures show clown beetles at this angle.

Iā€™m fairly certain it is a clown, or hister beetle. Beneficial.

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Swincher post #1335: Yes, springtail.

^closest I could find in appearance, and in Lacey, WA

^ scroll down to ā€œFoodā€ and ā€œRemarksā€

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Iā€™ve been on the lookout for them this week and have spotted two or three apparently feeding on avocado pollen. I touched one with my pollen brush and it did the spring thing where it just seemed to vanish because it jumped so fast. Iā€™m happy to leave them alone, though.