Catch one and take it to the Natural Gardener in Oak Hill. They have an "experts" desk . They are always ID ing bugs of all sizes. They have a microscope.

This post was edited by wantonamara on Sun, Apr 14, 13 at 13:49

That bug is on my bog sage too! When you find out what it is, and the control, please post it. They have just about decimated my bog sage.

FWIW safer soap seems ineffective. I gave them some bt today.

Sorry, I don;t recognize it. Probably it's best to hand pick them and drop them in a jar with soapy water.. Beatles often have a short life span so they'll probably be gone soon. BT is good, but only works for caterpillars. Most beatles lay eggs in the soil and applying beneficial nematodes will kill any beetle larva there.

Whatever you do don't use Seven dust. It's lethal to bees and their hives, honey bees and wild bees alike -- we need all the bees. Bees carry Seven dust back to the hive on their feet and it kills the baby bees and the whole hive..

Unfortunately, chemical insecticides kill beneficial insects as well as the target insect and you'll just have more pest problems in the future. Mostly, I just get used to a few damaged leaves. The plants soon outgrow them.

Found the same little buggers on my bok choi this weekend and hand picked them off. Not on my spinach, lettuce or chard - just the cabbage. Don't know if it's them or caterpillars (or both) eating the leaves - probably caterpillars. But I gave 'em all a little BT dusting for safe measure.

Update...yes, bt is also ineffective. They move slow enough to get the majority by hand picking. They are voracious, but mostly on the middle-aged growth (insert joke here).
They are limited to the heartleaf skullcap, not interested in lettuce, chard, herbs, etc.
Thanks for the comments.

I've looked through pages and pages of beetle pictures, but couldn't find an exact match.

If you ask on the insect forum you could probably get an ID which would give you an idea of its life cycle. Or take one to a gppd nursery for ID as Mara suggests..

Here is a link that might be useful: GW Insect forum

I've got the same insect...ALSO eating the Heartleaf Skullcap. Am hand-picking so far. What's odd is that a Flame Acanthus by those plants looks like it might be dying! No bugs on it that I can find now.

Found it by backing into it. A site describing Skullcap said:

"Insects that are known to feed on the foliage of Small Skullcap include the caterpillars of Prochoreutis inflatella (Skullcap Skeletonizer Moth), the leaf beetles Phyllobrotica lengi and Phyllobrotica limbata, and Asphaera lustrans (Shiny Flea Beetle). The foliage of Scutellaria spp. (Skullcaps) are usually bitter and avoided by mammalian herbivores."

Here is a link that might be useful: And this is the bug: Phyllobrotica limbata

But I can't find anything on the life cycle to let us know how long they persist. It's probably a seasonal thing and the Heartleaf Skullcap will out grow it. You who have them keep us posted.

There is a little black and red beetle that I see on my Shrubby skullcap. It eats the leaves, but there are never very many and I don;t see much damage. I can't find the info now, but it's specific to Shrubby skullcap. I searched for and found it online several years ago. Interesting how insects evolve to eat specific plants and the plants survive.

I had these guys last year on my Heartleaf Skullcap. They really did a number on it. But it came back and now we have even more of these bugs this year than last. And I see them flying around checking out everything else too.

Thanks for finding that, roselee! Hopefully, it will move on soon. Must be a good year for those. There's been insect damage on the plants before, but never this bad!