Over the past few weeks I have noticed the appearance of several brown spots and blemishes on my Rainbow Chard plants. I had put it down to “chocolate spot” and didn’t think too much of it, as I’m harvesting so much kale at the moment that it’s only the hens who have been enjoying the chard anyway!
However, I went to pick some chard leaves earlier and was a bit surprised to see 6 or 7 shield bugs scurry away. I looked a bit closer, and saw that all the chard plants were covered with these shield bugs….are they the culprit of the brown spots?
I’ve checked it out, and apparently they do quite like chard. I had no idea that shield bugs actually can be a veg patch pest! They feed on the sap, by nibbling holes in veg plants and then sucking out the sap. Thus the brown spots.
I haven’t found anything helpful on how to keep them away from crops organically, so would be interested to hear if anyone has any ideas!!