Help!! Bugs are taking over my garden! - With Pics added

[LaurieG]

This is the first year I've had any success with gardening, so I'm really learning as I go. This week I've noticed several varieties of bugs - mostly beetle looking - crawling on my plants. Each day they have gotten more and more plentiful until now I'm pretty sure my garden is well infested. There is black, poop looking stuff on leaves. There are black bumps on stems. Many of my leaves are getting eaten completely. The infestation seems to be at its worst on the things that are over-ripe and need to be pulled (beets, radishes, and lettuce that has gone to seed) but I stopped pulling it today when I noticed they are moving to my previously very healthy looking tomatoes. I'll try to describe them in the hopes someone will know what they are and what to do about it:

On the beets, radishes, and tomatoes are a flying type beetle looking almost like a firefly but without the light.

On some yellow tomatoes I have a very small yellow translucent beetle-type bug. These tomatoes tend to be split open lengthwise which I originally thought was just incidental but now I'm wonding if it is the bug.

On my squash is another beetle type bug - very long. My first thought was that there were 2 mating but then I noticed they never separate, so maybe its just one long bug with 2 torsos?

I've looked at hundreds of pictures and haven't found exactly what I'm seeing so I'm not sure what to do about it. Any thoughts?

[LaurieG]

Pictures

Here are some pics of my gardening woes. I would love advise on what to do. I still haven't identified the bugs and they are about 1/2 way through the garden now.

[Owen'nZoe]

- The firefly-like beetle, if it is the one in the photos you posted, is a striped blister beetle. If you want to keep your garden organic, it looks like the recommended way of controlling them is to handpick them into a bucket of soapy water (with gloves - because they secrete a substance which can make your skin blister).

- For the translucent bug and the split tomatoes, I'm guessing the bugs didn't cause the splits. Look up 'young thrips' and see if that is what you have - they change colors as they age and are no longer translucent. How have you been watering the tomatoes? Thrips like plants that are drought stressed, and tomatoes tend to split with uneven watering, so I suspect that keeping the tomatoes watered better would solve both problems.

I'm not sure about the bug with the really long torso, but I did scroll through your photos:

- Oak tree: I really wouldn't worry about it. My oak tree always has spots like that. If you go out for a hike and look closely at the oaks, you'll notice they all have some brown spots, partially eaten leaves, etc. If it isn't taking over too much of the tree (which it doesn't appear to be from your photos), I would just leave it be.

- #5 - No idea on your squash stem - it looks broken (from the storm, maybe?) or crushed (stepped on?), but I'm not sure. I'd go ahead and pick the squash now - I think the pattypans taste best when you pick them small.

-#5 - Powdery mildew. My squash get this every year. You can google remedies, but I've never had much success with the organic ones I've tried. In my experience, by the time it is really doing damage to the plant, our growing season is almost over, anyway.

- #8 - I think it is a spotted cucumber beetle. I have some in the garden every year, but they don't seem to do a lot of damage here, so I leave them. Are you seeing a lot of damage from yours?

Anyway, from the pictures, it doesn't look like anything is doing major damage other than the blister beetles and the storm (poor corn!). I think you're doing well!

[LaurieG]

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!

Yes, the firefly-like beetle is the one I pictured. I'm glad you told me about the blister beetle - I was about to start picking them.

That makes sense about the splitting tomatoes. I have not been good about consistent watering. The pictures that come up when I googled young thrips seem to be longer than what I'm seeing, except for the lavae pics so I'll keep an eye on them for a few days and see how they develop.

The long torsoed bug that has been on the squash for several days was gone today when I took the pictures.

Thanks for the tip on the pattypans. Mine is definitely not small anymore so maybe I missed the ideal time but it looks like there are some new ones starting.

Thanks for the tips on the powdery mildew.

I don't think the cucumber beetle is doing much. That was the only one I saw today.

Thanks again!