I noticed today that one of my struggling garden plants is absolutely covered in bugs. I have no idea if those two things are related (we had a massive drought), but I wanted to find out what these little dudes are, and whether they’re friend or foe. Any thoughts?

Edited to add: located in western Europe.

picture of a branch with about 10 spiky bugs on it

  •  Foon   ( @Foon@beehaw.org ) OP
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    51 year ago

    Oh interesting, would these be the larvae then? A quick Google tells me that we have over 60 different types of native ladybugs here, so I’m gonna have to do some searching. Thanks.

    And yes, I realise bugs all have their role to play and aren’t inherently good or bad. But I was looking for “is it likely that these clustering bugs are killing my plant”, i.e. are they a foe in this situation.

    • That would be my guess. They look similar to our local ladybug nymphs but with a few distinctions.

      The intent of the friend/for comment was to encourage deeper conversations, but I can see how it could come across as judgmental. If that’s how it came across to you I apologize for not being clear with my language and for causing you to feel called out.

      •  Foon   ( @Foon@beehaw.org ) OP
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        21 year ago

        No worries, I think I sounded harsher than I intended too.

        As far as I know, ladybugs shouldn’t have a direct harmful effect on plants. But what about their nymphs (is that the word? In my language it’s Larva), could they cause a plant to suffer?

        • ❤️

          But no, to my knowledge the nymphs/larva are highly aggressive predators of plant pests. If they truly are in fact ladybug larvae it’s likely that they’re a response to the pests that were attacking your already stressed plants. It may be worth keeping a lookout for aphids and mites to see if you can spot a pattern there.