The Culprit

Well, Dear Readers, I have the displeasure of introducing you to the culprit known as the four-lined plant bug (Poecilocapsus lineatus). This no good, life-sucking son of a gun is ravaging my beautiful herb patch. It’s eating my mint, oregano and sage. What is shown here is only in the nymph phase. Normally, images associated with nymphs are pleasant; images of a beautiful young woman dancing about a forest come to mind, for example. Nymphs however, are actually bitches sent by the devil to break a gardener’s heart. Although these four-lined plant bugs supposedly cause no real damage to the plant, just make it unattractive, it causes a whole lot of damage to the gardener’s spirit. There is nothing worse, Dear Readers, then waiting for spring to arrive, seeing new growth of fresh herbs that are healthy one day and covered in orange bugs and brown spots the next... Anyone out there who is able to share any tips about how to get rid of these terrible pests, please do so in the comment section. Yes there are sprays and things but if anyone knows of a natural method to assassinate these little nymphs, please share it so we can help one another.