good bugs and bad.  

Good guy ♤♤♤♤♤

 good guy. ♤♤♤♤♤

And...

hahahahahhahahahah right. Feel like they are eyeing me about to fight. 

I found I had a lot of aphids during heavy growth periods when they were younger. The aphids would be so thick i'd just use my fingers to "mechanically remove them" , and follow it up with a neem/ soap treatment. 

Do you grow any neem @peteypyro??

@will said:

 I don't grow neem trees, but like the oil/emulsion for an organic treatment. 1 Oz. / Gallon solution works well for aphids, with another ounce of Dawn dish detergent added.

@peteypyro 

I occasionally see beetles on my leaves. Never enough to worry me, but I do wonder if they’re chewing on the leaves. Thoughts?

@pete2000 never encountered them before. I'd be interested to see what happens

@pete2000 said:

 ( attached photo)
    If the leaves aren't chewed on, they're prolly fine. I leave a few aphids alone as a few may cause the plant to produce more alkaloids as a defense. 

I definitely have a few leaves getting chewed on. One morning I was really excited because it looked like my plant was growing horned leaves. It turned out that whatever it was that was munching on the leaves left little horn features on the edges lol. 

Not sure if this is the same beetle, but whatever it is it loves kratom pollen. 

@pete2000 lmao face first

Lol it took a while to get the picture, it was buried so deep. 

https://ucanr.edu/sites/PollenNation/Meet_The_Pollinators/Beetles/

After reading that, I think I’d prefer bees!

@pete2000 That's a really sharp photo. The individual flower parts can be seen. That beetle does like the pollen. 

WANTED: 

@pete2000 love that line in there..."Ladybugs are natural enemies of many insects that we consider pests. A single ladybug can eat as many as 5,000 aphids in its lifetime!"

  They're ugly up close with a face only a momma bug can love. 

@peteypyro

I missed it before, but if you zoom in there’s an ant stuck in the flower at around 5 O’clock from the head. 

@peteypyro said:

<p>@pete2000 said:</p> <blockquote> ( attached photo)<br />  <span style="color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:16px">  If the leaves aren't chewed on, they're prolly fine. I leave a few aphids alone as a few may cause the plant to produce more alkaloids as a defense. </span></blockquote>

 What have we here... ladybug, ant, and aphids...