Garden Insects

Organic compliant means that one has met all of the requirements of the USDA organic program or another organic certification program. This means meeting both the growing methods requirements and the record keeping requirements.

The description matches that of a bagworm larva, typically belonging to the family Psychidae. These larvae construct protective silk bags or cases around themselves as they develop. The movement pattern you described is consistent with how bagworms move, resembling an inchworm-like motion.

Also known as tobacco worms, or hookworms. Either use an insect killer like sevin dust, which I dont recommend, cause it kills the pollinators. I just look for them and cut them in half with a pair of scissors. Instant compost material. Or you can have a little bit of fun and gather about 6 or 7 of them at a time in your hand and squish them like my dad did when he was a kid. (i suggest wearing gloves because one actually tried biting me, cought me off guard because he was so fast.)

Citronella candles work by masking the human scent that attracts mosquitoes. However, they are not 100% effective in repelling all mosquitoes. Factors such as wind, proximity to the candle, and individual attractiveness to mosquitoes can affect their effectiveness.

To deadhead flowers, use clean gardening shears to remove spent flowers from the plant. Cut the stem just above a set of leaves or a leaf node to encourage new growth and more blooms. Deadheading helps the plant focus its energy on producing new flowers instead of seed production.

You should get rid of the nest because wasps will be atracted to the honey and if there are wasps they probably won't sting you as they are stealing and remove the nest at night as that is when wasps bees and other insects go back to their hives, but be careful.

Harmonia axyridis is the classification for orange ladybugs. The ladybugs in question lives natively in China, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, and Taiwan. Their original bio-geography and variable color prompt such common names as Asian multicolored ladybird, Halloween ladybird, and Harlequin ladybird.

The black and blue hairy flower wasp (Scolia soror) and the great black wasp (Sphex pensylvanicus) are bugs that have black bodies and black-blue wings. The steel-blue aphid- and cricket-hunting wasp (Chlorion gerarium) gives black-and-blue impressions that cautiously closer inspection proves to be more black of wings and blue of body. The three insects will be found respectively in Australia (case 1) and North America (examples 2, 3).

Honey doesn't come out of a bee.

Bees collect nectar and hold it in a special 'honey stomach', which is separate from the normal digestive tract. When she returns to the hive the bee regurgitates the nectar and passes it to one of the hive bees who takes it up to the comb, and puts it into one of the cells. It is warm within the hive, and bees also fan the nectar in order to evaporate off the excess water from it. The result is honey.

When the honey is ready the bees cover the cell with a wax cap to preserve it.

Controlling growth, dispersing seeds, and eating predators are ways in which bugs help plants. For example, bugs that are not invading or swarming in response to environmental stress and that are not natural enemies (such as aphids) may eat just enough to contain -- and not permanently damage -- development while acting as natural controls on "bad bugs" (as in the interaction between beneficial ladybugs and harmful mealybugs) and natural supports for the next generation by spreading pollen or seeds.

hornets

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there are a number of bees that nest in the ground..digger bees are solitary bees that will nest in large numbers at time, creating holes along the ground...in arid areas honeybees will nest in old ground burrows...wasps like yellow jackets will nest in the ground..a large wasp called a cicada killer is a solitary wasp that also nests in the ground

Lar

Diatomaceous earth and scratchy organic mulches are ways to kill ants without hurting honeybees in vegetable gardens. Harm to the beneficial insect in question (Apis spp) is avoided by concentrating on the ground, where ants (Formicidae family) are and bees are not. Home remedies revolve around hot water down ant holes and sprinkled cinnamon and salt along ant routes.

Click beetles and fireflies are both bio luminescent. Click beetles are equipped with two menacing "false eye-spots" on the thorax, and many are more than 1-1/2 inches in length. Tropical relatives of the big-eyed click beetle are called fire beetles and have bioluminescent eye-spots. One, Pyrophorus luminosa, produces "cold light" that is green and red, and is as bright as that of the more familiar fireflies. Its larvae, called glow-worms, also produce light.

THE ONE WITH MIXED PARENTS

Buzz pollination and nectar robberies are ways that carpenter bees help farmers pollinate such crops as beans, dogroses, eggplants, maracujas, passion fruits, and tomatoes. The insects in question (Xylocopinae subfamily member) employ the buzzing sounds that they emit to cause dried pollen to drop out of plants so that pollination is more efficient and widespread for the farm in question. They also perfect nectar-robbing whereby they remove excess nectar -- that otherwise may attract ant swarms -- from such long-tubed flowers as penstemons and salvias by "drilling" a hole in floral bases for "drip-sipping."

[1] Beneficial insects such as ladybugs are natural enemies of aphids. So they'll kill them for you. [2] Otherwise, the most life-friendly human interventions are by horticultural and neem oils, and insecticidal soaps and soapy water sprays. If aphids are ravaging edibles, the oils must be applied the day before eating. The soaps can be harvested the same day.

These black flying critters are called fungus gnats and pose a three part problem for you: adult, larvae and eggs. The adults like to lay their eggs in the moist soil of your houseplants and when they hatch the larvae eat the roots. The most non-toxic way of controlling these gnats is to eliminate the adults as they leave the soil and mature from larvae thus preventing them from returning to the soil to lay more eggs. You can use several different non-chemical methods if you have the patience.

I have done this by placing little saucers (I use jar lids) filled with distilled white vinegar around all the houseplants-don't be stingy. The adult gnats are attracted to the liquid and drown. This may take a week to get all the adults as they emerge from eggs and larvae already in the soil.

Another non-toxic method is to spread a minimum of 1/2 inch of sand on top of the soil of all the houseplants. This prevents adults from returning to the soil to lay eggs. Again this may take a week to be rid of all the gnats as their life cycle plays out.

Yellow sticky traps from almost any garden center (or internet order) are another method of catching the adults as they emerge and preventing more eggs from being laid.

Going easy on the water for your plant also should help control the problem. These gnats thrive in wet soil. If your plant can stand a little dry out this may be the easiest method for you. I have put an elephant ear plant infested with these gnats in my hot garage for about a week without water and brought it back in the house gnat free.

Some other methods I've read about but not tried include introducing beneficial nematodes to the soil and using a product called BTI.

leaves and grass just like adult ladybugs

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Sorry- they do not eat leaves and grass- ladybugs are HUNTERS! They eat smaller insect pests, such as aphids. We have ladybugs, lacewings, and praying mantids in our garden. They do a great job of controlling bugs, and we rarely have to use insecticides on our vegetables.

it hovers