8.2.16 Gray hair streak butterfly and the (very unwelcome) striped flea beetle

Click on names of plants, insects and products for more information about them.

Yesterday I broke down and sprayed my broccoli, lettuce, cabbage and radishes with Dr. Earth Pure & Natural Vegetable Garden Insect Killer. I had tried, unsuccessfully, to  block the pest attack with row covers made out of Shark Bite tubing and garden fabric .

SharkBite

Agribon garden fabric

After installing the row covers, I  was able to get a good enough photo of this very tiny insect to be able to identify him. It turns out he is a bad dude known as the striped flea beetle - Phyllotreta striolata. AND he pupates right in the soil at the base of the plants that he will eat when he emerges, so my covers were only good for protecting him from predators, though were successful at keeping the cabbage butterfly out.

Striped flea beetle - Phyllotreta striolata

These things were quite literally eating me out of my leafy greens. I had no beneficial bugs in sight. So after trying to pick everything (flies which turned out to be beetles, eggs, and caterpillars) off by hand FAILED and using a bug barrier FAILED, I had to take desperate measures or just give up. I had picked this stuff up at Home Depot earlier for around $10 in case of emergencies.




And it WORKED. For now. I hope it doesn't take long for the spray to fade off and the soil to recover where I sprayed because I am planning on ordering a package of ladybugs, praying mantis egg cases and nematodes very soon (more on that later). And I do not want them exposed to the spray. If anyone knows how long the spray will taint my plants and soil for beneficials, please leave a comment.

And last but not least, a new visitor, gray hair streak butterfly - Strymon melinus, feasting on yarrow (strawberry seduction) - Achillea millefolium

 Right after I filmed this butterfly I found, not ONE, not even TWO, but THREE LADY BUGS in the moonlight coreopsis!