skip to main content

Vegetable Gardening

Eww what is on my Aragula?

10 years ago

Hello,

Today I was picking my arugula greens for a salad and unfortunately noticed a lot of gnats in the soil. In addition some of the leafs have little bugs on them. Could someone please help me identify what they are and how to get rid of them?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

Jonathan29
10 years ago
gnat fly larve is probably what they are. they can eat roots of plants. and breed in wet or damp and warm soil. in large quantities the larvae will feed on enough roots to start damaging the plant showing up on the upper leaves. I have used an organic solution that worked quite well for me. It was ORGANOCIDE kills 25 incests and their larvae including gnat fly. as well as treats 4 major disease's that are fungal related or bacterial related. applying it i would drench the soil with it and the plant. then wait 2 days to it again repeat tell there is no sign of them.

Here is a link that might be useful: TheItalian Garden
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
10 years ago
To me they look like aphids. I'd just wash the leaves thoroughly before serving and ignore them. Even if i ever used sprays, I definitely wouldn't bother spraying something as ephemeral as Arugula. It's grown and been eaten in such a short time span it isn't worth worrying about the odd bug imo. Blast the plants with the hose if the aphids really bother you.
Related Discussions
What kind of Fungus is growing on my Squash?
Q
Comments (3)
Maybe this will help. It, evidently, is not harmful to the plant at all. No fungicide is needed based on this article. Here is a link that might be useful: MSU Newsletter on Slime Mold & Plants
...See More
What kind of plants are my babies?
Q
Comments (8)
Nicholas - Good question. H. fasciata has tubercles only on one side of the leaves so a closer second photo may be required. Also has a difference in the fibrous aspect of the leaves. Of what I've seen, most Haworthias of these types are quite 'closed up' and look a bit taller in the 1.5" plug size. As they grow larger to the 2.5" or larger size their leaves spread out. In addition, H. fasciata is a fairly rare plant while H. attenuata is very common in stores (of course, that is not necessarily a good basis for ID).
...See More
Already thinking about squash bugs. Eww.
Q
Comments (1)
Hazel, I'd absolutely let the chickens into the garden and let them have some fun. Our chickens have access to the garden all winter because I leave the garden gate open for them and they go in and out of it as desired. They do a lot of digging and scratching and they eat a lot of weed seeds and overwintering insects, so I feel like having them in the garden is very beneficial. I don't rototill my raised beds any more because of the negative effect it has on the soil structure, but back when I did rototill every spring, the chickens would follow right along behind me, digging and scratching their way through the soil and eating every insect they found. It was wonderful. They were just as happy as they could be when they saw us coming down the driveway with either the rear-tine tiller or, later one once the soil was more improved, the Mantis cultivator, because they knew that they were about to have some good times. Squash bugs overwinter in garden debris, including mulch and spent plants from the previous season. An important part of cutting into their population includes cleaning up and disposing of all the garden debris from the previous year. I do always rotate all the squash plants to a new area every year because it means that overwintering squash bugs at least have to search for the new plants each spring. Hopefully while they are moving around and searching, I'll see them and kill them. Squash bugs don't bother tomatoes and peppers, but later in summer, their close look-alikes, stink bugs, will show up. In our garden we have both brown stink bugs and green ones. The strategy for fighting them is much the same---kill every single one you see, early and often, in order to protect your plants as much as possible for as long as possible. Oh, and welcome back to your gardening family! I understand about the hillbilly internet. I've noticed we have tons of trouble with our internet service every summer. The internet service provider has tried to convince us for years that it is because our woodland is growing so tall that the trees and their leaves are blocking the wireless signal from reaching us, but I have noticed that our internet service begins acting up about the time the kids get out of school for the summer and it straightens up and becomes more available again as soon as the kids are back in school. Hmmm. Can't blame it on the trees then because they don't lose their leaves until well after school starts up again in late summer. I just think it is a fact that when the kids are out of school, we have trouble getting on the internet because it is clogged with more users than our hillbilly internet service provider can handle. It is frustrating, but I also think it is part of living in a fairly rural location where we're lucky to have internet at all. We are beyond the geographic reach of all the other local internet service providers, so we don't really have other options either.
...See More
2ft Sky Pencil Holly bare branches - eww?!
Q
Comments (8)
are you sure its just not an intermediate stage during the growing season??? do you see any indication.. of where next years buds will be.. and if that new growth.. might not hide it all??? ... im sure you could cut it back to force new buds.. but then i suspect.. the plant will get wider.. kinda defeating the purpose of a tall thin plant ... im leery of fixing.. what might not be a problem .. may i ask.. why isnt it in the ground??? interesting media mix .. but i dont see anything so out of whack that it would cause this ... thats a lot of sun on a black pot ... can you put anything in front of it.. just to hide the pot from direct sun ... maybe you are overheating the roots on one side ... there appears to be a shrub on the opposite side .... i have the perfect solution .. since its potted.. lol ... turn it around.. so you dont have to look at it ... lol ... ken
...See More
elisa_z5
10 years ago
I tend to agree with floral. A thorough washing before eating (immerse in water, don't just run water over it) should get the bugs off. You could also soak it in salt water for 30 minutes and that will kill any insect life. I'd wait to see it there is any damage to your plants, as Jonathan mentions, and only then seek anything more aggressive.
glib
10 years ago
Well, looks like Jonathan is quite heavy handed with his insecticides. And that if that grosses you out, you have not seen anything yet.
Natures_Nature
10 years ago
Personally, i don't worry about washing my plants off after harvest. the larvae is probably healthy for all we know. And for sure healthier than spraying your plants with poison. We have to change our thinking, or we as a species are in trouble. We never had "perfect" food before, we weren't designed to eat perfect food. We are designed to eat a insect chewed leaf, sometimes we don't have faucets right next to us, back then there wasn't a faucet. You would worry more about the water then a little bug bite back then, washing your food could've got you sick. I compare that to people who forage wild herbs, they take those and wash them with polluted tap water..

Long story short, eat the damn leaf without worrying!
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
The insects on the surface of the leaf are aphids. A strong spray of water and/or squishing can usually control them if tended to on a regular basis. Aphids are very common garden pests.

The gnats flitting around the containers are probably fungus gnat adult which lay their eggs in damp soil. The tiny maggot like larvae feed on the organic matter in the pot, as well as tender plant roots.

In the future, make sure that your potting medium is very porous, coarse textured and fast draining. Avoid watering too frequently.

Your plants are perfectly safe to eat. Just give them a good rinse in the sink. It's part of having a garden.....better get used to it. :-)
dave_f1 SC, USDA Zone 8a
10 years ago
vinnnya....some years aphids just seem to be on everything, and they love fast-growing greens. I personally would never spray anything on leafy greens except maybe insecticidal soap. If you submerge your harvested leaves in a large bowl of water and stir it up a bit, all the aphids will float to the top. Then you can skim them off or run the water until they flow over the edge of the bowl into the sink.

0

Sponsored

More Discussions

gave my garlic a haircut today

11

Ferry -Morse is garbage

14

Slug killer 1% Iron Phosphate vs. 5% Sodium Ferric?

2

Do carpenter bee traps work?

7

What are rabbits favorite veggies?

11