Bug identification

I find these all over my hops and flick them off, I'm thinking they're not good as I see them poking their butts at (into?) the hops stem. Anyone know what this is? Some sort of wasp I figure.



I'm deploying a mass of these to help combat these and other insects:

Where did you get your manti?

I bought two egg cases (mantis ootheca) from a vendor on amazon.com. I've hatched about 70 or so mantids and released a few. I want to have the rest molt once or twice so they're more likely to survive, I have them on a diet of fruitflies now.

Usually wasps are beneficial. They will capture caterpillars and worms that eat leaves and eat them/feed them to their young. That being said I don't know what kind of insect that it.

Looks like either a wasp or a fly (hard to tell from the picture). Mantids will likely not catch many of them, regardless of what they are.

If the insects are sticking their butts (ovipositors) into the stem, they could be laying eggs, which would turn into larvae and create something called a stem gall (not actually that harmful), or they could just be poking some holes to get a drink of sap (not harmful at all). Again, hard to say without better pictures, maybe someone from your area recognizes the insects?

Bizarro! I think your hops will be fine. Those things are super hardy.. I keep trying to wrangle mine back. Not even sure if Round Up would do it!

Finally think I found out what this thing is. Picture-winged Fly.
Now to figure out why it likes to hang out on my hops so much.