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Picture of hopping little red bugs

17 years ago

Here's a picture of the some of the hundreds of hopping little red bugs that have invaded my vegetable garden. In the picture, they are sitting on the leaf of a sage plant. Any guesses on what they are and how to get rid of them? I've already tried jetting the whole garden down with sprays of water, and that seemed to reduce the population for a couple of days, but now they are back. I get covered in these bugs every time I go out into the garden, which freaks me out. It's not clear what damage they are doing to the plants. All I can see are some little, tiny brown or black spots.

Image link: {{!gwi}}

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Comments (6)

User
17 years ago
Three questions.

What plants do you find the highest numbers of these bugs on?

Exactly how big are these bugs?

Can you see any visible legs and body segments?
User
17 years ago
The bugs could be Chiggers / Redbugs. They will jump onto people and are small and red.

Have you had any mysterious spots appear on your body lately that itch like posion ivy?
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Comments (5)
There is a "nymph" stage which is smaller, and the nymphs grow, somewhat similar to caterpillars where they shed their skin, or exoskeleton, 5 times before reaching adulthood. Maybe you are seeing various instars of growth. Without a photo, I'm only guessing anyway. They also vary in size, depending on the species. There are like 20,000 species of leafhoppers and treehoppers. I love the colorful leafhoppers, bad as they may be. The ones that are blue and red striped? Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Leafhoppers Article
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Thanks for responding, rhizo. I don't have access to the picture right now. Sometimes I cannot stand the searches on the internet. Everything leads to products and companies. I also found my question of a "couple of years ago" as in June 16, 2011. That is a little more than a couple. At that time "box elder" was what most seemed to say. However, these are round, not oblong. I do think the consensus was box elder, and just do not let them in the house. This year there are so many that I have become more concerned. They are all over the patio and porch. They are everywhere I try to dig. I am still reluctant to spray, except I sprayed Raid on the cement steps trying to stop them from coming into the house. My neighbor's tree is a maple, so the answer may be box elder, but i see no images online that are of round bugs like I have. They are easy to kill on the concrete, and smear a little red. I do not see legs, and they are not spiders. Do any of you have them? Sammy
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Comments (13)
Okey dokey I got some pics. The first two are of what I'm guessing are the adults, hope they are clear enough. The last one is the underside of the leaf, there are lots of black 'spots' that are too small to really see. For all I know it's larvae of some kind, or the bug's poop. And there is definitely a silk like substance on a lot of the leaves. In the first pic you can see some of it off to the right. I got a spray insecticide. It's called Garden Safe Insecticidal Soap. I sprayed it on all the leaves and the undersides. Thanks for all your help :) I really hope this works. Any ideas on what they are, and suggestions on getting rid of them, is very much appreciated :)
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Comments (8)
Assuming you want an organic solution--you can try spraying with seaweed spray, which is what Garrett recommends. I know he says that mites are a symptom of poor water uptake by the plant, but to be honest with you, I have a terrible case in my best put together flowerbed and I'm meticulous about how much water it gets. I think Texas is just plagued with hungry mites. From what I can tell...if you get the mites with the seaweed before they get too bad you can control them. Past that, integrated pest management is your best bet (though I've not tried it yet, it makes sense). I got this link from midlothianlou: http://www.hydro-gardens.com/spidermite.htm
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
17 years ago
In other posts, she describes this critter as clearly jumping/hopping....not something that chiggers do.
User
17 years ago
I found articles online that clearly state that chiggers will sometime jump or hop onto passing hosts.
hadleyweed
Original Author
17 years ago
No signs of chigger bites, which I had plenty of growing up in Ohio, so I recognize them when I see them. In my memory of what chiggers look like, these are bigger.

I have tried a number of rounds of strong jets of water, which reduces the population temporarily, and we even had a week of rain, which I thought might help, but they are back in full force. I think they have finally managed to do some damage to my green bean plants - tiny black spots, then gradually yellowing leaves. I've had to give up any winter gardening this year because I see no point in planting during such a huge infestation.
User
17 years ago
My only advice now would be to take some to your local County Extension Office and see if they can identify them.

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