Red Bugs

The County Agriculture Department as reported the first appearance in San Diego County of Red Bugs (Scantius aegyptius) from up north in Ramona  http://www.countynewscenter.com/video?v=155302.

The good news about this pest is that so far it's only eating broadleaf weeds, such as mallows and doesn't seem to be attacking anything else.  However, County Ag wants to know if these bugs show up anywhere else and what it is they're eating.

Milkweed Bugs

The less good news is that these bugs look a lot like a whole lot of other red and black bugs, including the Milkweed bugs we keep finding all over our Asclepia plants in our butterfly garden.

Ours are the Large Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus), not the Small Milkweed Bug (Lygaeus kalmii).  Not that it really matters which they are; we don't want any of them damaging our Asclepia seed pods.

We need the seed in order to propagate the Asclepia plants the Monarch caterpillars eat.