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What's eating your seedlings? Could be bagrada bugs

Colorful stink bug cousin can devastate young leafy greens


Bagrada bugs
Female, left, and male bagrada bugs. The pests have been
taking hold in California since 2008. (Photos courtesy UC IPM)






What’s eating your cabbage and broccoli seedlings? According to several Sacramento accounts, it may be bagrada bugs.

These stink bug cousins usually are most active in February and March when wild mustard (their favorite food) is rampant across the Central Valley. But a wave of recent bagrada bug sightings has been reported in local community gardens as well as backyard vegetable beds.

Size comparisons, from left: Lady beetle, bagrada bug,
stink bug, harlequin bug.

Also known as the “painted bug,” the bagrada bug ( Bagrada hilaris ) looks similar to the harlequin bug but is smaller. Less than 1/4-inch long, the bagrada bug is black with orange and white markings; harlequins have no white markings. According to the UC Cooperative Extension master gardeners, the harlequin is three times the size of a bagrada bug.

Bagrada bugs go after young seedlings and leafy greens. That’s why they can be particularly devastating now, when gardeners are setting out cool-season transplants.

According to the master gardeners, bagrada bugs tend to attack cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, turnip and mustard greens. This bug also attacks related cruciferous crops such as radish and arugula. Ornamental landscape plants such as alyssum, candytuft, nasturtiums, rockcress, stock and wallflower can be infested.

Bagrada bugs
Bagrada nymphs and adults.

Under mild conditions, bagrada bugs can have several generations in one growing season. Their nymphs are bright red-orange and black, and often mistaken for lady beetles. In Southern California, they tend to peak in late summer and early fall (as in right now).

An invasive insect native to Africa, bagrada bugs were first discovered in California in 2008. They got a foothold in Los Angeles before spreading throughout Southern California. By 2013, they were found in Fresno and Monterey. Now they’re established in Sacramento, too.

They love mustard but will eat other kinds of leafy greens, too. Like other stink bugs, they jab their needlelike mouthpart into their food and suck away. Their damage looks like a little starburst on the leaf surface.

Like other invasive stink bugs, they have few if any natural enemies; birds don’t like to eat them. Pesticides aren’t affect on them either.

Besides wild mustard, their favorite host plant is sweet alyssum. That flower can attract masses of these bugs; don’t companion plant alyssum with your cabbage or broccoli.

But sweet alyssum can be used as a lure to bagrada bug death. Get a pyramid-shaped stink bug trap (such as the Rescue-brand stink bug trap), but substitute a piece of alyssum for the bait. (Bagrada bugs won’t respond to other stink bugs’ bait.)

Another method of control suggested by the master gardeners: A sheet of paper and a handheld vacuum. Place the paper under a plant suspected of bagrada bug invasion and gently shake the plant. The bugs will fall out onto the paper. Then, vacuum them up.

In the meantime, protect young seedlings with individual covers or hot caps.

For more on bagrada bugs and controls:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74166.html

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

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Find our summer recipes here!

Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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Taste Spring! E-cookbook

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Taste Fall! E-cookbook

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Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening

WINTER

Is edible gardening possible indoors?

Hints for choosing tomato seeds

Starting in seed starting

Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees

When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

How to squeeze more food into less space

Potatoes from the garden

Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Win the weed war by tackling them in winter

Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables

Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

Ways to win the fight against weeds

FALL

Add asparagus to your edible garden

Soggy soil and what to do about it

Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come

It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying

What to do with all those fallen leaves?

Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Change is in the autumn air 

We don't talk (enough) about beets

Fava beans do double duty

Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

How to prolong the fall tomato harvest 

SUMMER

Time to shut it down? 

How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

: Put worms to work for you

Grow food while saving water

Enhance your food with edible flowers

Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

Does this plant need water?

 Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

How to grow summer salad greens

 Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

Help pollinators help your garden

Battling early-season tomato pests

Make your own compost

Where are the bees when you need them?

How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

Grow culinary herbs in containers

When to plant summer vegetables

Don't be fooled by these garden myths

Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth