Bugs , slugs, and thugs...Oh my!

This is my new hibiscus 'Peppermint Schnapps'. I am looking forward to it growing up and blooming. It looked very nice yesterday afternoon. Overnight the nasty saw fly larva must have hatched and began to eat. I was totally horrified when I saw this damage this morning. They are gone for now and I have sprayed this and the remaining roses with insecticidal soap again. We have just got past the nasty winter moth caterpillar feasting and now this. Next the beetles of every description will be munching. Not to mention the critters that occasionally come for a buffet.
The slugs are here as well but thankfully not in the huge numbers they were last year. Still they can wreck a plant overnight. It is war and once in a while we win a battle. It can be discouraging at times but the plants usually always recover and grow new leaves and bloom and put a smile back on my face. What is your worst enemy in the garden?

The Sawfly on my Hibiscuc is one of them! But I would have to say my worst enemy here is the Red Lily Beetle! I hate them! Second will have to go to Japanese Beetles, however the larvae eating my lawn every year is way worse than the damage they do to my plants. I have a wild area that usually keeps them busy enough to not destroy my other stuff. I'm going to give the Sawfly third place though! I hate to use poisons but Bayer Advanced Flower and Rose care works on all three of the pests above.When I get fed up I usually use it on my Lilies, Roses and Hibiscus. My lillies are already beyond help this year. Maybe I still have a chance at saving my roses and Hibiscus.

I did not realize they liked hibiscus. Should have since I think they are in the rose family. I will spray them with the roses from now on. There are warnings out on the systemic insecticides that use spinozad (sp). It can concentrate in the pollen that bees bring back and make into food for next generation and kill off the babies. They are suspecting it as one cause in the drop in bee populations. Topical spray can be kept away from blooms. The red lily beetle is a nasty thing. You have to keep after them all summer but after a couple years of picking and smushing they are down to a manageable population here now. Neem oil is supposed to be effective on them.

I have tried Neem on them and it doesn't help much because I can't keep up with remembering to re spray every time it rains, plus it costs a small fortune during rainy years! (I really don't think the neem is that effective on these pests for me even when I am good at keeping up with it) I do feel guilty about the bee problem but I usually don't see Honey bees on my roses, hibiscus and Lilies. Just Bumble bees sometimes. I have tried the picking and smooshing with all three of the above but the pests always win. I wish you could have seen the massive amounts of JBs on my Hollyhocks I tried for the first time. I am talking hundreds per day. I have two small girls and work part time and I find I just can't keep up with everything! Plus even if I pick all the beetles here they keep coming in from neighbirs yards. My neighbor right next door has a breeding ground for the Lily Beetles because she does absolutely nothing about them. They just happily eat and breed on all hers then they move in to my yard. I think it is like that with all the neighbors around here. There aren't really any gardeners, they just plant some things and leave em to do as they do.
*Added
I did try something this year for the Hibiscus. I posted a thread with some links to some interesting info on naturealpredators of Sawly here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1042784/

This message was edited Jun 6, 2010 8:49 AM

That is very interesting about the wasp. Don't know if he lives around here or not. I did find that paper wasps eat them as well.
Here are two more discussions about these little hungry buggers. Seems lots of people trying to find a safe way to get rid of these guys.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/rosesorg/msg0917450032387.html
http://vvv.caes.state.ct.us/FactSheetFiles/ValleyLaboratory/fsvl007f.htm

Something at leaves on my Jalapeno Pepper plants. I just put them in Friday/Saturday!

Wow...must not be bothered by hot stuff! The red lily beetle is my worst problem....I've sprayed 3 times already, & am still seeing them...one clump of lilies is gone, but others are OK.

Having the same problem on mine, pat. Sprayed with BT the other day. Have to stay on top of it.

This message was edited Jun 6, 2010 6:49 PM

Does the Neem have to be sprayed at temps under 90° like other oils?

I think any spray or oil should be done very early in the morning and even better on a cloudy day that no rain is forecast. Leaves will burn in hot sunny conditions. I have been know to not be patient myself and prove this rule to myself the hard way.
Victor the saw fly larvae are not caterpillars. The article I read said it will not kill them. It may wash them off the leaves which is a plus in any case. I would have sprayed the hibiscus when I did the roses if I realized that they would get attacked too. Oh well live and learn. That is what is good about gardening, there is always something new to see, do and learn.

I have caterpillers on mine.

Oh dear. So what kind of caterpillar gets after them? Any other nasty buggers that I should keep an eye out for? Do the JBs like them?

The thug portion of this thread aside from the resident ground hog consists of this sort of thing: the first arm waving, barking like a dog, pink garden clog deer chasing episode of the season. A young buck just strolled out of the wood like he owned the joint. He must be new. He left in a hurry. ^_^

I checked saw fly larvae and it looks like what I have. So what do you do with them?? No wonder the BT was not working!

Insecticidal soap will get them. Make sure to spray bottom of leaves as well as the tops. They are almost invisible, specially when they are small. They will be gone just in time for the JBs to start up. Gotta love it! but if you run your fingers under the leaf you will feel them.

I turn the leaves upside-down to see them. I'll try soap.

We're using care in clearing my dad's yard, I must have dozed off during the Herpetology lectures the only thing I remember is if its a toad larger than 4"s bag it, freeze it, and bury it deep (cane toad). Oh, and there's red on yellow- kills a fellow, red on black it's a friend Jack (coral snake). They also have shaketails down here, but I don't mess with no snakes that play maracas. LOL Ric From the Sunshine State! Baa! Hum! Bug

Hee hee!

EEEk....snakes are the worst...the whole time I gardened in FL, I remember a friend saying pygmy rattlers like to curl up in the irrigation collars....needless to say, I avoided them! Pat, don't you just love boosy deer? And chipmunks....mine better stop eating the geraniums.

Anyone know if this red milkweed weevil/beetle is a thug?

Oh my doesn't he look formidable with those antennae. Have not seen any of those so don't know if they are friend or foe. Anything that is called weevil probably not a good thing.

Found this info: http://www.texasento.net/tetrophthalmus.htm Not a friend I think.

This message was edited Jun 11, 2010 3:02 PM

Not good if you grow milkweeds for Monarchs like me!

I did find that website and a few others where it just mentions that that beetle hosts plant is the milkweed(hence the name) Can't find if it eats other plants.

What the heck is this????

Ewww, you are finding some nasty looking buds down there Jen. Another sinister looking thing with red. Red usually means don't eat me to other bugs and birds, I don't taste good or will give you a stomach ache at the very least. Don't know what it is but I bet it's not good. Don't know if your other guy eats other stuff or is specific to milkweeds like the red lily beetle is to lilies.

Cool bug!

Yeah, as long as it's not in my garden.

Yeah, I find some weird looking bugs down here and toxic weeds I've never seen before, stuff I can't even find on the Rutgers weed gallery.

Jen I always wonder if the plants we get shipped ... bring the strange weeds with them

Hi NE gardeners ~ In 2008 the reddish-orange beetle hit my home VT. garden, on a rather good chew (I noticed late in the season as we move to our summer camp in early June to late Sept., home once a week with recyclables & garbage) and my only thought is a deep watering all around if it's dry.) But late July I not only noticed BIG CHEWS but slimey black stuff all over all
my AO's that I adore. Here one day a week, I at first thought I was looking at lady bugs, & week later with more damage, knew this freaking beetle was distructive on a scale of a major bomb to the landscape.

Called Master Gardeners I know well, posted AO lily crime to local garden centers and than
deeper online. Hand picking/SQUISH (and they are as fast as Japanese beetles to drop to the ground) and over and over heard about Neem in whatever combinations or concentrates. Priced way out of my league of finance for almost daily allover spray (with all the price of annuals to fill 8 whiskey half barrels at home and camp) I took in 2009 the advice of a Master Gardener good friend and local Sat. a.m. radio gardening show that along with late blight ruined tomatoes, but gardeners in the NE going through the same thing w/As&Os. DIG UP, put in black plastic commercial bags and DISPOSE. I was so angry as I pulled out my Casa Blancas, Black Beauties, Muscadets, and others, that I couldn't even cry. (I think my family got water sandwiches for supper that night ~ lol ~ as I was so angry & so sad.)

Thankfully summer of 2009 at our camp in a deep valley 25 miles away all those same lilies were pristine. 2010, that freaking beetle found us. Weekends up there show all A & O's being descimated. (They will also go after Hosta next so I've read, and lots more.) Once moved there next weekend, the AO lillies will go into commercial garbage bags, and outa' there. I'm at a age of a tight budget, but not so agile to keep up on a very hilly camp veggie garden and mega perennials, so now sadly, have to cut to the QUICK!!

ckl from VT

I sympathise with everyone.
I tried NEEM its hard to find here and now comes out mixed with other products for big bucks.No Thanks
I cut to the chase with chemicles and went straight for Bayer Rose and Flower Insect Spray and when the ran out used SEVIN .I am carefull about dilutions so we still have bees and butterflies.
I spray in the spring when lilies first emerge as red nobs above the soil.This kills the RedBeetle larve.I continue to spray thru the season every few weeks and when I see the nasties.I have minor damage ,even none except a hole in a leaf now and then.
I have nearly 300 lily bulbs to spray there just isnt time to pick over every leaf and squish even if I could stomach it.
I vote for science on this one.

As far as the systemic bayer insecticide goes how it has been explained to me is that it is not the concentration you use that kills the honey bees. It is that they concentrate it to make honey to feed to the baby bees in the cells. This can become lethal to the next generation and the new queen and the hive dies over time. That is the theory. Soapy water or even just plain hose water sprayed on the nasty excrement covered beetle larvae will wash them off. Once you get the population under control there will be a lot fewer red devils to deal with on a regular basis. The biggest problem people had with them is that they were new and got into gardens in large numbers before people knew what to look for and how to deal with them and they wrecked a lot of lilies.

I get it.Thanks for the info.Pat.
The rhumor goes ,someone brought an Easter Lily into CT. and planted it in their garden.The rest is history.

If you missed the piece this morning on 'Sunday Morning", here's a different take on bugs. Click on "THE ARTWORK"--there's lots here for everyone, not just bugs. http://www.pheromonedesign.com/public_html/categories/simplegroupings/simplegroupings.htm
Here's the video-view full screen http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6088117n&tag=related;photovideo

Thats just sad.I dont see the "art" in this anywhere.Its gimmicky.

Very cool video. Thanks for posting. They look very pretty under glass. Maybe we could get cash for red lily beetles. I think gardeners would gladly donate them along with JB caterpillars from moths etc.

Sorry.Ijust cant accept someone who captures creatures and kills them and profits by it.
I dont mind a RLB spraying to rid myself of a pest.
When this "artist" pitches the detail he goes to to preserve the beauty of bugs and then sorts them out to mount them in a frame,its like color by number to me.
The concept is so shallow as to be laughable.
There is a fool born every minute.Those who pay thousands for bugs need to have their heads examined.
They probably also buy "elephant paintings" at ZooFests.

Yes, I agree Jo...it's hard for trained artists to buy into what some call "art" & mean money.

OK found it(Sallyg helped)

http://bugguide.net/node/view/454

It's a good guy