Thank you very much for playing for writing this feedback - this is very valuable!
Indeed, many have said it's not obvious what one should do there when starting. I think I will be solved in the next update.
The bucket has modes where you can choose which bugs you want to pick up - so maybe that mode was changed and that stopped you from picking some bugs up. There are modes because the bugs do damage differently to the potatoes AND the big ones also can create more larvae if left on potatoes for too long, that's why one would maybe prefer to pick up the adult bugs first, but of course I have to communicate all this stuff better (or at all :D) in the game.
Indeed I wanted to add some automation tools as well, hopefully the additional smashing tools and upgrades will bring more purpose to the smashing and make the game a bit more interesting.