Q: These bugs are eating my morning-glory plant. Can you please tell me what they are and how I can get rid of them?
A:Â Those are tortoise beetle larvae. I mentioned the adults in a July column. This is a nice photo of the young ones. They resemble Mexican-bean beetle larvae with their yellow bodies and spiky appearance. They are plant-feeding beetles and can be an occasional pest on a variety of vegetables and weeds.
The good news is the vegetables and other plants can handle the holes in the leaves that they make so you really don’t need to do anything to manage them. More good news is that these insects are helpful in keeping some weeds in check and have, in some cases, been raised and released to manage specific weed species.
If they were a small population, I wouldn’t worry about them. If you are concerned they are getting too numerous on your plants, you can simply knock them into a bucket of soapy water.
Peter L. Warren is the urban horticulture agent for the Pima County Cooperative Extension and the University of Arizona.  Questions may be emailed to plwarren@cals.arizona.edu.
