That looks plenty good
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OK!!! @dbrn32 @MattyBear @BobbyDigital @Covertgrower @AfgVet who is the resident bad bug/beneficial predatory bug expert in the house??? Maybe even @oldmarine as i know you’ve introduced nematodes, etc and @Lacewing. I just saw what i THOUGHT at first, was a parasitic wasp on the same plant i saw the “sawdust” looking stuff at the base of a fan stem meeting the stalk yesterday. At first i was like COOL!!! but looking closer at it, i don’t think it was a wasp at all. Didn’t have a “waist” and/or a stinger that i could see and it had LONG antennae. It was more orange than red, nearly translucent. It was about 3/4" long. And it’s “lacy” wings, had two diagonal black stripes near the ends of them on each. ANY idea of what that is and should it be around my stuff? Of COURSE, by the time i went and got my phone/cam it was gone…
EDIT* my preying mantis from the raised planter box I had moved to Teensy carefully while extracting ALBERT LEE (fah Q albert, forever!!), seems to be AWOL. I was going to carefully transport it to the backyard ladies but no such luck there
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Ok so bigger or smaller than this ?
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that is close to the right color but NOT the same bug. NO stinger on it and it had really long antennae, like probably nearly as long as it was. I had edited my post above after you liked it so you probably didn’t see the 3/4" long (maybe an inch). The most prominent feature i noticed right off, that the bug you posted doesn’t have either (unless maybe males do and females don’t, or vice versa) was the black stripes, about 1/4" thick each, diagonal near the ends of the wings. There were 2 on each wing with about evenly thick space between the 1/4" stripe
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Ok hang on
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This possibly ? 
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that’s pretty dang close except for again the wings. i couldn’t tell if it had an elongated mandible or something in it’s mouth but even the “mouth” of this bug looks similar and the antennae. ONLY thing still that’s throwing me off, are the wings. This bug had the same “lace” wings as like a dragonfly, or dobson fly, or well, LACEWING, lol but at the end of the “lace” or “webbing” pattern it had the 2 stripes. It may be a cousin or close relative to what you just posted though. That is the closest thing i’ve seen. NOW, is that a GOOD bug or not to have around?
Take the color of the first bug you posted, add the features of the 2nd bug, except for the wing pattern/coloring and you have what i saw 
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That bug is a scorpion fly …and beneficial to the garden in the way they eat dead plant material and aerate your soil
Not harmful to the plant …and I am betting whatever you saw was not harmful either …
A lacewing you’d be hard pressed to see during the day …the adult is nocturnal
The larve however are. Not
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Try looking up a BROWN lacewing just for the Heck of it …Maybe it could have been the brown one sometime has weird patterned wings
I’m not a bug person, sorry.
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the timing of this is all just “too weird” also. I noticed the brown sawdust looking stuff yesterday on one of my ladies out back. Examined it and it APPEARED there was a “hole” above that like something bored into there. Started reading about boring caterpillars etc, and their natural predators. The Parasitic Wasps were y first choice after seeing Preying Mantises are “out of season” to order til Nov?? (seriously?). Then i ran across these while looking on amazon at the parasitic wasps and such: Amazon.com
is that a good deal for 5000 of them? And is that SERIOUS overkill to order 5000? lol
haha, i’m not either that’s why i inquired 
Figured even if you weren’t you’d know who was dangit dbrn you’re supposed to know everything!!! lol
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I don’t have anything for you either. Sounds like it was predatory, and more than likely beneficial, but that also means it was probably there for a reason… which opens up the question, why? Sounds like you’re onto something with seeing the sawdust looking substance. I would look over your plants really well for holes for starters
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It’s unfortunate that is how they sell them …there’s another version that the eggs come on like cards and I’ve read they are easier
I have 4 eggs laid naturally between two plants at the moment and waiting for them to hatch …
My plants are honestly insect free at the moment so I have no idea why they keep getting eggs laid on them but I ain’t complaining …
5000 is way overkill and they will most likely eat eachother but I am not sure how else you can buy them
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I saw the ones on cards, or maybe that was another predatory species but same company/brand on amazon. I think they weren’t so “bulk” in number also, lol. I’ll look into them more but also don’t wanna purchase predatory bugs “at end of season” just for them to hatch and die. HOPEFULLY they have enough time to self propagate for next seasons “hatch”?
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How much time do you think you have left …
Lacewing larve will roam around the plant and feed for around 4 weeks then pupate someplace on your plant and become an adult …
However they don’t really concentrate on hiding and do not seem to care about people …they are easy to get off your plant
Also look into the minute pirate bug
They are awesome predators too …they will reproduce on your plant if the food source is decent enough for them …
They can last for months also
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THEORETICALLY, we could be flowering well into Nov in VA. Archery season comes in in Oct, then Black-Powder season, and then around my birthday Mid-Nov we get “general firearms season” around here in hunting and i can tell you as much as i LOVE archery and blackpowder, i don’t usually sit out to hunt til around my birthday because it’s just TOO “hot” still (like mid 60’s to low 70s daytime temps still!). SOMEtimes we get a cold snap in Oct and it changes over a lil sooner and that would be “my only worry” about them if that helps
Not sure either, I kill everything.
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Yeah, sorry. Not a bug person either.
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Look into the minute pirate
You’ll have more success I think because you have till November potentially …they’ll reproduce and that will be that …protected plants from now till harvest for the most part
Lacewing is also great but cannot reproduce on the plant …rather eat till it’s a certain size than leave to look for a mate as an adult
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