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

  •  LallyLuckFarm   ( @LallyLuckFarm@beehaw.org ) English
    2•1 year ago

    ❤️

    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.