Lace Bugs

I decided to pull out some sunflowers in my garden that were starting to look particularly bad. The leaves were turning yellow or developing yellow spots and just generally not looking very good. While I was cutting them down and bagging the plants I noticed some small bugs on the leaves that I hadn't seen before. At first I thought they were crumbs or some kind of plant debris but then I started noticed them bouncing up and down sort of like a needle on a sewing machine.



When I looked closer I was able to confirm that these were indeed bugs so I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. Coincidentally I managed to capture a small spider that I hadn't noticed there when I was taking this photograph unfortunately I didn't notice the spider attack these bugs.

It turns out that these are Lace Bugs and another gardening pest that does damage in the garden. After some on-line searches it dawned on me that the yellowing leaves that prompted me to pull the sunflowers were probably caused by Lace Bugs. They damage a wide range of ornamental trees and shrubs and plants by piercing the leaves and withdrawing chlorophyll and other plant fluids. Some websites I visited recommend controlling them by knocking them off with a strong jet of water but Lace Bugs also have a natural predator in the Assassin Bug that should be encourage in the garden.