Bugs... how do they know

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I'm sure we have a few experts in here (I know for sure of one thanks to conversations at the NC Meat Up).

So I'm used to whatever bugs in my various attempts to garden. General pests make sense to me. But when my beans (various Rancho Gordo varieties I planted for giggles) started sprouting they were immediately covered in bugs. I initially assumed it was the soil splashing up on them due to heavy rain, but today I realized they are bugs, and after a quick search they appear to be bean beetles. The only crops near me are tobacco as far as I know.

So how does a plant specific pest species just instantly appear? You just fly around for miles until you find my tiny collection of 6 bean seedlings and lay your eggs?

(I've got a fresh gallon of neem oil on the way to deal with these ones, so more curious as to how they show up vs food safe pesticides but open to that being part of the discussion too)

[Jim White]

This article from UF gives information on how bean beetles overwinter and what other plants they can live on:

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/bean/mexican_bean_beetle.htm

Related to your question is the bit about how they send out scouts to find things like your yummy stand of beans.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

as a side note I'm curious what search terms you used to find this? I did a few and most of my findings were what they do or how to deal with them, but not cool stuff like this

[Jim White]

These days, the way search engines tailor things searches can return different results for different people. I just googled “bean beetles” and got mostly nerdy stuff. The UF article was on the first page.

If I hadn’t gotten something like this quickly, I would have moved to “bean beetle alternate hosts” to get info on how they stick around when nobody has a bean crop growing.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I didn't want to post a pic on the main post because the discussion isn't intended to be specifically about bean pests, but you can see the mix of splashed soil and insects specifically on the bean plants with this one... hard to tell at a glance other than the one on the stem.

[HawkerXP]

[smokin fool]

Years ago PBS had a series on about handling lawn and garden pest using household items.
the guy used to mix everything in a 2L pop bottle and spray it from those garden hose weed spayer attachments.
He use Sprite, Listerene, liquid dish soap, chewing tobacco to name a few things that killed insects and improved your lawn and garden.
I can't remember the name of the series but a search of the PBS website should find it.

[FireMan]

They got the memo when you purchased em & packed up the family & moved on just waitin for ya. They are very smart bugs, yessir.

[Alan Brice]

I read about a guy in Alaska who grew incredibly large things even in his short growing season. He took his kitchen waste/ compost, and mixed it in water. (large rubbermaid trash can). aerated it with a small aquarium pump, min 24 hrs. Then sprayed the tea all over the plants. Once or twice a week. It not only fed them but toughened the plants to resist pests.

[Johnny Booth]

I have a garden inside my screen room. Still get bugs, usually white flies or mealy bugs. Neem helps, but easily washes off with rain and they come back that night. In Florida I have to spray at or after dusk so the product does not burn the leaves. Consistency is key. 👍😎