A Harlequin Romance

Betsy had a thing for our mustard greens, the weather had been kind to them, and each week there were more leaves to cut. But, on the day we expected to finally pull them, an orgy of Harlequin Bugs, Murgantia histrionica, was near at hand. The warm winter had been kind, given that we are on the boundary of their range (hardly, right?), and this summer the population has exploded.

I'm instantly transported to my grandmother's instructions. A peanut can filled with a quarter cup of pungent liquid and a nickel for every beetle -Japanese beetles, Popillia japonica, on her roses. Not a can in sight, nor any pungent liquids, we pulled the old mustard (an excellent trap crop) and lay them in a wheel barrow, picking up the strays with loose greens. Because they're mating, they often run attached and as much as they do damage, any sensitive being would find smacking them with a brick at that moment a bit hard to manage. No? Well, I brought them far away, sensitive being that I am.

We'll see how my sensitivity works if they come back to devour my purple cauliflower and Romanesco broccoli next month. Harlequin Bugs like Brassicas like broccoli, cauliflower, collards, etc., radishes, mustards, and I hear, even tomatoes. Watch for them.