4 lined plant bug

So, the other afternoon I am out walking around the garden and noticed the anise hyssop and black and blue sage didn't look quite right.  Upon closer inspection, there were brown dots on the leaves that at first I thought was some sort of fungus or rust as there was no sign of an insect.

I started checking more plants and noticed quite a bit of damage on the coreopsis and the culinary sage.  Ack!!!

Most of these plants are quite established and have never had this problem.  So, I googled fungus disease on sage.  Nothing that looked like this.  Rust.  Nothing.  I waited until the next morning, went out to inspect the plants again, and.....aha!  An insect.

Was this the culprit or could this be a beneficial eating the real problem?  I don't want to get rid of a good bug, after all.  Hmmmmm.  At least I had something to go on.  Back to google and searching for a lime green bug with black stripes.  I found out this little guy was indeed the problem....a 4 lined plant bug.  Seems they really like sages and that's funny because so do I.  I have at least 5 or 6  different kinds.  No wonder he thought he was in sage heaven.  But if you don't have sage, not to worry, these bugs unlike alot of others, aren't too picky.  They have been reported to relish 250 other plants, also.

The bug overwinters in woody stems, making a slit in the bark and laying their eggs.  Come spring, the nymph, who is wingless and a little round yellowish thing, emerges and starts eating on the leaves.  They then transform to the winged insect.  The reason I happened to catch a glimpse of him that morning was because they are slow movers in the morning and evening, but fast little devils in mid day.  If you want to catch them, get up early.  The 4 lined only have 1 cycle per season, so they usually don't kill the plants they feed on, just make them a tad unsightly.  That is unless you have an infestation of them.  You can squash them with a gloved hand, but reportedly, insecticidal soap will work on them too.  If you don't mind sharing your sage with them, wait until their cycle is over and cut your sage back about half.  It will reflush and be just a pretty as ever.  Then, in the late fall after the leaves have fallen, look for the eggs along the stems of some of the host plants.


Another observation while observing the plants.......

The ladybugs were thick where I found the 4 lined.  I haven't figured out if she was stalking the nymph or something else.