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Could you please identify this green pest on my Echinacea

Susan1359Susan1359 Posts: 23
in Plants

Hi, I'm a beginner gardener-I bought these two Echinacea plants last month. The pink one is thriving very well. The yellow one is not flowering at all- I have noticed this green insect on the yellow one and I thought maybe that's the reason it is not flowering. I don't know whether it is a pest or something that this plant would benefit from it- Any thoughts on this to help me with this issue is much appreciated- Many thanks- Susan 








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  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    It's not easy to see but I'd guess it was a grasshopper or cricket - I've seen a few in my garden over the last few days.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    You need to remove those 3 dead flowers (circled one and the two below it) and this will then encourage new flowers to form. It is not unusual for different varieties to show different degrees of vigour or times of flowering.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited August 2020
    Yes it looks like one or the other ... can't see it clearly enough to decide which ... but it's a lovely thing and certainly not harming your plants.

    Your yellow echinacea has lots of buds coming along ... they'll flower soon ... it's a different variety to the pink one so will perform slightly differently ... perfectly normal and will extend the season of flowers in your garden. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Susan1359Susan1359 Posts: 23
    edited August 2020
    Thank you very much
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Is it a shield bug? If so they can do a lot of damage to plants so advice from Buttercupdays hopefully will encourage new flowers.
    If you can remove the "pests" then all the better.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    No it’s not a shield bug ... Im on my phone and I can zoom in now. I think it’s a female Bush Cricket  ... @wildedges will know ... 

    @bertrand-mabel  😊 We get lots of Shieldbugs in this garden and we really like them ... we’ve never noticed any damage from them  



    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    Uk shield bugs don’t do any damage at all to plants so can be left alone
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • Susan1359Susan1359 Posts: 23
    Thank you very much for your help.


  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It's not a shield bug, but does look like a cricket of some kind as @Pete.8 and @Dovefromabove have said.
    Either way - harmless, both of them  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Susan1359Susan1359 Posts: 23
    Thank you @Fairygirl :)
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