# What is eating my eggplant?



## mathmonger (Dec 27, 2012)

Can anybody ID this little bugger?


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Can you ask it politely to take off its jacket and skirt?


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

mathmonger said:


> Can anybody ID this little bugger?


Those look like the "nymphs" (juvenile stage) of a "true bug" i.e., an insect that feeds through a piercing needlelike proboscis.

I suspect they're on your eggplant because they want to suck its juices; there's a number of remedies. One is to hand-pick and murder as many as you can, though this can be tough. There are also vegetable insect killers that work okay. If they don't seem to be doing any real damage, maybe do nothing. But do keep an eye out in any case. Eggplants are manna from heaven for a wide number of insects.


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## mathmonger (Dec 27, 2012)

I had some caterpillars on my brussels sprouts. I was hand picking those things four times a day. I couldn't get them under control. I found a recipe with baking soda and vegetable oil to spray on there. I didn't expect it to do much, but it seemed worth a shot. I turned all my leaves brown! I don't know if they are going to recover. I don't want to repeat that mistake! But, yeah, these guys on my eggplant just showed up and I have holes all over. I think they are trouble.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

mathmonger said:


> I had some caterpillars on my brussels sprouts. I was hand picking those things four times a day. I couldn't get them under control. I found a recipe with baking soda and vegetable oil to spray on there. I didn't expect it to do much, but it seemed worth a shot. I turned all my leaves brown! I don't know if they are going to recover. I don't want to repeat that mistake! But, yeah, these guys on my eggplant just showed up and I have holes all over. I think they are trouble.


I'm pretty sure that the bugs you have aren't making holes in your eggplant leaves. 

You can check by looking closely at the mouth of one and see what the mouthparts are like. Caterpillars, beetles, etc. have "chewing" mouthparts; they can munch holes in leaves, or in the case of lady bugs, devour insects like a tree shredder.

Next time you get caterpillars, try something that contains "BT" bacillus thuringensis, which is a bacteria that they ingest, and which kills them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis

BT will also kill beetle larvae, like Japanese beetle grubs in your lawn.

Oops digressed . . . 

Sucking insects have what looks like a needle folded up (usually) under their heads.


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## mathmonger (Dec 27, 2012)

DoomsDave said:


> mathmonger said:
> 
> 
> > I had some caterpillars on my brussels sprouts. I was hand picking those things four times a day. I couldn't get them under control. I found a recipe with baking soda and vegetable oil to spray on there. I didn't expect it to do much, but it seemed worth a shot. I turned all my leaves brown! I don't know if they are going to recover. I don't want to repeat that mistake! But, yeah, these guys on my eggplant just showed up and I have holes all over. I think they are trouble.
> ...


I dunno. That's the best shot I can get. When I get near them, they jump really quick.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

mathmonger said:


> I dunno. That's the best shot I can get. When I get near them, they jump really quick.


I've seen them before, and I'm pretty sure they're a sucking insect. We had them in Ohio, too.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

mathmonger said:


> I dunno. That's the best shot I can get. When I get near them, they jump really quick.



Did you see the flea beetle?


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