Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Well there ya go. Weird looking moths I must admit.

Look out for these pesky little critters, they seem to be around right now and I believe they may be responsible for the large clean holes in many leaves. I think they are called katydids

I had a katydid problem last year but they haven't made an appearance this year (yet)
They are very well camouflaged and the fish love them. catching them is the hard part

spoke too soon!

Just met their prime minister and she doesn't look happy!

That's the nature of a red head I guess...

Interesting how its a little heavier in the rear too...

misogynists the lot of you!

and now ASIO is "Oscar Mike" to Kal to visit the smooooth moderator

Nice pic Gorotsuki. I wondered why some of these katydids are pink. After doing a little research, it seems that it is because they have been eating/ grown up on pink/ red foods. I found one on a rose and it was a pretty pink.
This is what I was greeted with yesterday morning, I think it tried to bite me and then I saw its fangs, so maybe it did. Or perhaps I just thought it tried to have a go.

OK, these are dirt garden beasties, but since this seems to be *the* thread, I'm just popping them here :-)

Roly poly/pillbug face :-)


Ladybird with the violin marking


Lots of spots (hangs out on the bay tree, not too worried about it)


Larva of one of the things... How do you tell which?


Burrowing roaches (very camera shy creatures). I have 2 or 3 kinds of these. The blue/grey ones are gorgeous, but these are pretty cool too :-) If only all of our roaches burrowed...


White faced orange ladybird on dead choko leaf


I do have a pic of one that is black with orange spots but it is a bit too soft, and a heap of spiders from earlier in the year if spiders are acceptable, but this'll do for now

Save the leaf, keep it fed, watch it turn in to a pupa and then wait for it to hatch out. Take photos at each step.

On the other hand, if you interfere with nature sometimes the best laid plans go astray. That is why my bug catcher got labelled the chamber of death.
I have 4 butterfly pupas on my kitchen bench, don't think they are going to hatch. But to recycle them I could coat them with a fiberglass resin and turn them in to two pairs of earrings

Faye,

Is it true there are 'good' ladybugs and 'bad' lady bugs for your garden? Or are they all the same, just different colours?

@Charlie,

No expert, but I believe there is a ladybug known as the '28 spot ladybug' which likes to eat plants and not aphids.

Edit:

Found a link: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/gardening/is ... ybug.shtml

Perhaps I am wrong about the 28 spots.

Thanks Arbe, so it seems the yellow ones with lots of spots are the ones to look out for.

Yup the 28 spot ladybirds skeletonise things like potatoes and eggplants, they are a burnished orange and their eggs look similar but their pupa are slightly different and the larvae are far more spiky.
I do have photos in my stash, but can't locate them at the minute.