What eats harlequin bugs?

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by Tamara, Feb 6, 2008.

  1. Tamara

    Tamara Junior Member

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  2. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    From ATTRA (National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service)
    https://attra.ncat.org/calendar/question ... 3/06/p1903

    "Recent research in California has found, surprisingly, that the “roly poly"—also known as the “pill bug,” due to its tendency to roll up into a pill-sized ball when disturbed—is an effective predator of harlequin bug eggs. Previously, it was thought that pill bugs fed only on decaying vegetation, but it turns out that they are nocturnal predators, climbing into plants at night in search of harlequin bug eggs and other stinkbug-family eggs. Mulching your crops with hay or woodchips may provide habitat for ground beetles and spiders that would feed on the eggs and stinkbug nymphs. Since mulching may provide overwintering sites for the stinkbug, the mulch should be removed or incorporated into the soil after the crop is harvested."

    Sue
     
  3. Tamara

    Tamara Junior Member

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    Wow, thanks. I bet they have already been having a feast!

    I shook a whole lot of them off my salvia and tried them on the chickens and ducks...no luck there!

    I notice that the juveniles like lucerne and parsley flowers, so they are good in the sense that they are pollinators.

    I have some pics of babies just out of their eggs on flickr now!

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/boodicusdu ... 837037913/
     
  4. apstar

    apstar Guest

    guinea fowl maybe

    i have also heard (but haven't seen it for myself, although am thinking about getting some to see) that guinea fowls will eat harlequin bugs. i didn't know about the pill bug (slater?) eating them. that's great news as i have slaters and usually my daughter feeds them to the chooks if she finds them. i'll have to tell her to leave them in the garden from now on...
    if you know anyone with guinea fowl, maybe you could check with them.
     
  5. ho-hum

    ho-hum New Member

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    tamara,

    I have always associated harlequin bugs with eucalypts especially sugar gums.

    Their big natural predators are/were phascogales and sugar gliders. The reduction of these predators and the resulting surplus of harlequin bugs were named as one of the causes of dieback in gum trees.

    As a kid I put a couple of sheets of tin in the garden and checked them most days and knocked the bugs into a bucket of water [and kero].

    cheers,
     
  6. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    I was looking around the web, and it seems some chickens (and other birds) will eat Harlequin bugs, and some won't.

    This link says that the harlequin bugs make a bitter toxin out of the plants and it makes them distasteful to many fowl.

    https://www.springerlink.com/content/t0514254414800w1/

    Guinea fowl may or may not eat them, but guinea fowl are very noisy, and if you live in a residential neighborhood, the neighbors will hate you.

    Mustard is supposed to be a trap crop for them.

    But, since harlequin bugs are beetles, why not dust with Diatomaceous Earth (DE)? I'm sure it's called something else in Oz, I saw it somewhere. This stuff is totally non-toxic, and it punctures and dehydrates beetles when it works under their carapaces. It is safe for bees and earthworms. Since it is not a toxin, the bugs can't build up tolerance to the DE.

    Here is a Canadian site that sells Aussie DE https://www.diatomitecanada.com/horticul ... -earth.htm

    Someone in Australia must know what is called locally.

    Sue
     
  7. William watson

    William watson New Member

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    I have a 100% Success rate with killing off Harlequin beetles..Just spray with dish washing liquid/water..They die within 30 seconds..!
    REASON: They have a waxy coating over there shell. The detergent mix breaks this down.. Which then 'clogs up' their breathing pores....
    i'e' They suffocate..
    A further note to add.. Watch for creches of often up to 50 juveniles in 'pockets' around/under garden litter.... They quickly disperse when
    movement is detected..Best to attack them with a focus hand held squirter..
    Have fun
    Regards William
     
  8. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    Hi William,
    Welcome to the forum.
    Thats a really interesting/useful tidbit.
    Thank you
     
  9. Terra

    Terra Moderator

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    I had them at my previous property , constant battle .
    I used to "harvest " them with a rechargeable vac cleaner and tip into hot water killed thousands via different means
    I could keep their numbers down but they would bounce back
    By luck I found their main breeding site there must have been 10000 under heavy trash under a multi branch tree
    Killed them with a heap of buckets of boiling hot water
    After this they were much easier to keep on top of
    I would hit this spot every week

    So hunt down the main site
    If you can find it
     

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