Help identifying a bug that killed my seedling, and ways to treat
Adelaide (Z8b Canada)
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Hi! I am hoping someone here can help me identify the bug that potentially have killed my gem squash seedling and help me prevent it from happening to my other seedling :(
I transplanted 2 seedlings a week ago. It was a cool day and has been pretty mild for the past week. On Saturday, we had a sunny afternoon, but probably only around 22-24 C? So nothing too scorching. I noticed one of the seedlings started becoming soft in the stem, so I watered it a bit thinking it's a water issue. But it never really recovered and became completely yellow by yesterday, so I decided to pull it out today to see what's wrong. I noticed maybe 3 of these black little bugs inside the stem of the seedling just below the soil line, and there was a hole through the stem.
I have a second gem squash seedling that is doing OK so far, but I really don't want this to happen to it as they were gifts from a friend and I wouldn't be able to restart this. I would appreciate anyone who can identify this bug and maybe help provide treatments for this! Thank you!
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
3 years agoRelated Discussions
HELP! microscopic bugs on my ws seedling!
Comments (8)Impossible to be sure without seeing them, Alice, but from what you've described my first guess would be red spider mites--and, yes, they DO squish red! They're fairly common in Illinois--far less so out here as far as I know, and I've been lucky enough to never get them on anything out here---I just get the plain old "average" non-red mites! If you have a very strong magnifying glass--or, better yet, a "loop," check them out to see what you can see. (But, just a warning, if you do have a loop what you're gonna see will be downright creepy!) If they are mites, I'd use just plain old Palmolive (green) dishwashing soap in water. Have never used neem oil on anything, spraying any kind of oil on plant foliage just scares me! If you're gonna keep using the stuff with the neem oil in it, be absolutely sure there's no sun at all shining on them when you do it--and at least until they're totally dry. Hard to tell how spraying small seedlings with ANYTHING will work, I'd say it depends on just how small they are. If they have at least a couple true leaves by now you'll probably be ok. Even with just soap water I'd keep them totally out of the sun until they're completely dry. And if it is mites that you have, you'll probably need to keep "treating" them a couple times a week for a while to get rid of ALL of them. Carefully check anything that was near them. Mites seem to "prefer" just about ANYTHING that gets close enough for them to get onto! Good Luck, Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Red spider mites!...See MoreTomato garden problems - please help identify and treat PICS
Comments (4)For your tomato, it looks like Flea Beetles, you can actually see one in the bottom-most picture you posted and the damage is typical of them. Treatment for Flea Beetles depends on your personal preference. For the non-organic route, I believe you can use Sevin insecticide - provided they are listed on the bottle, which I believe they are. Organic pesticides, on the other hand, I don't know of any for killing Flea Beetles - I'll defer to those with experience on the matter. I don't use any pesticides really, but if I had them, I'd just squish as many as I could find :) For your Basil, it kind of looks like it's got sunburn / windburn. Was it hardened off before putting it in full sun? For the cucumber... I'm guessing it's probably not warm enough yet for it to really take-off growing. It looks fine and pretty much like most of my seedlings. They always start-off slow and then try to conquer the garden in a matter of weeks. Good luck....See MoreHelp identifying and treating this weed
Comments (6)are these bits of new growth emanating from that stump? That last picture makes me wonder if it's not really a weed, as we typically classify them, but the roots of an old tree making a last ditch effort to come up. Take a piece and run it to a local nursery to see what what they say. The leaves are actually quite attractive. But there are two ways to knock it a manageable level. Pull like your trees depend on it, maybe even dig into the roots a bit, or chemical kill one at a time. Round-up as a spot treatment should help a lot. The foaming spray cans do a pretty good job of keeping it from overspraying. It's pretty safe as long as it doesn't get on the leaves of the plants you want. It doesn't travel through the soil much either. So if you don't' want to pull, then spray those little suckers on a calm morning, and they should die off in a few days. Then get a pre-emergent to keep new ones from popping up. Here is a link that might be useful: Weed Identification...See MoreNeed help identifying a bug on my plant
Comments (4)They both have there pros and cons But if your soil does drain fairly fast then the plant really isn't soaking up any of it. That way if you soak it it insures that your plant Is obtaining the water that it needs. Like Rhizo said it might also need repotting if it is pot bound. In which the root mass takes up most of the pot leaving less soil to absorb the moisture. Like you said just fill up a sink and put it in there for maybe 5-10 minutes then allow it to drain out in the sink. You don't have to soak all your plants you can also water them how you would normally. I usually soak my succulents and my big spider plant as the succulents are in a fast draining mix and my spider is due for a repot and insures that the water dosnt spill all out the bottom and create a waterfall down my cabinet like it has done in the past I'm not sure what the white thing is but you said you've noticed webbing between the leave so like purple said that's most likely spider mites. I'd look for spider mites damage on the leaves and for more webbing. I usually use a flashlight at night and go through all the leaves to make sure I see no webbing or mites....See MoreAdelaide (Z8b Canada)
3 years agoAdelaide (Z8b Canada)
3 years ago- Adelaide (Z8b Canada) thanked daninthedirt (USDA 8b, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
Adelaide (Z8b Canada)
3 years ago- Adelaide (Z8b Canada) thanked daninthedirt (USDA 8b, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
Adelaide (Z8b Canada)
3 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
3 years agodaninthedirt (USDA 8b, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoAdelaide (Z8b Canada) thanked daninthedirt (USDA 8b, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)Adelaide (Z8b Canada)
3 years agoAdelaide (Z8b Canada)
3 years ago
Vicky Renee
3 years agoVicky Renee
2 years ago
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Adelaide (Z8b Canada)Original Author