Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi

Been off line for a while due to connection problems, hopefully back for good now!
I have just found lots of tiny black beetley type bugs particularly on the big courgette flowers. I am also growing some purple coloured cauliflowers (or trying to) and there are some on the middle purple bit. They are not like black fly. They have hard shiny backs but are very small. I don't want to use chemicals. Any idea what they are and are they harmful?

Polly.

Is it similar to one of these:



They may be flea beetles is so, more info here:

http://www.organicgardening.org.uk/factsheets/pc19.php

Jerry

Hi Pol,
Another possibility is that they are Blossom Beetles
Neither of qwhich you will get rid of organically.

They sound like what we call Thunder Bugs and you only get them when the weather is humid, like now. I have loads on my courgette flowers each year and they don't seem to do any harm.

Same here - anything bright's covered in them (there's an invitation for a quip Peter) but they don't do any harm, so I just ignore them.

No quip, I cannot wear my favourite bright yellow T-shirt for gardening as it gets covered in bugs, the little black beetles found in daffodils adore it.