Me: Tell me oh wise and Sage Leafhopper, why do you bother my plants so? Leafhopper: Why? Why you ask? You silly giant, I am hungry of course. What other reason do I need? Me: * Sigh * Yes, but why do you have to eat MY plants when there are so many others to choose from?

You can never escape. They are always there. Watching. Waiting. Sometimes hiding out and stalking you for months before making their presence known and sucking your plants dry of all their life fluids…. While these odd looking critters may look soft and squishy, they can be real tenacious menaces to your plants.

Remember all those boldly colored reddish-orange and black bugs that were all over the place in the fall? Hanging out in huge clusters? Well, theeey’rrre back! That is if they ever left you in the first place… And now they’re multiplying! Literally, lol.

There always seems to be something eating my plants. Even in winter when I thought they would be safely tucked away inside! This time the little bugs are particularly sneaky though, as they hardly look like bugs at all and blend right into the plant…

Ok. So, normally I work remotely (in Michigan), but this past week I made a trip out to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to do some on-site work at my home institution. That means staying at a hotel while there. Due to my entomological profession, that also means going through my standard routine of pulling apart the bed before I feel comfortable unpacking anything. Why, you ask? Well to check for bed bugs of course!

I have a buddy that hangs out between my window and the screen. He keeps me company. Most days, when it’s colder, he hides in the corners where I can’t usually see him, but on the warmer days he does his funny little slow walk into the center part of the window where I can watch him. He used to have a bunch of friends that were around my doors and periodically came in to visit, but now it’s just him…

Well, our pool of many–legged critters to write about may be getting smaller with the cold weather, but there are still some winter hardy bugs out and about. Like the little grey thing in the image below. Is it a tiny moth? A weird fly? A bit of lint with legs? Nope, none of the above. It’s actually a type of tiny insect called a Psyllid.

Do you have annoying brownish bugs crawling all over your doors and windows? Are they periodically bumping or flying into you at the most inconvenient times? Do they frequently come inside just to get stepped on (or sat on!) accidentally and emit an unpleasant stinky odor when squashed? If so, you are not alone.

Do you have black bugs with bright reddish-orange markings all over your screens? Are they congregating above the door constantly in your way? Or maybe they are just sunning themselves on the front of the garage? Yep, I do. Meet the Boxelder Bug.

Did you know humans aren’t the only species that have farmers? Ants farm too! Instead of keeping dairy cows or goats though, ants maintain aphid farms!