I know this isn't the best pic, but I had to post it hoping someone could tell me about this bug. It's yellow with black spots! I noticed it on my L'Amour as it was uncurling and it's eaten little holes in the bloom! I'm guessing some kind of beetle. I have BT, but we're expecting rains tonight and tomorrow, so I'll spray as soon as the rain is over. What should I use?
It's the dreaded cucumber beetle. BT won't have any effect on them - it only works on caterpillars. You need a strong insecticide like Orthene, Merit, Talstar, or Mavrik.
Brinda, I had them so bad last year it was hard to get a picture of a brug without holes in the flowers. Made me sick to go look at my blooms. This year I have everything Tom mentions in his post above mine. They are here, but until the blooms open up, I'll hold off on the spray. I don't think they are even in the plants until the blooms open.
I am calling them Kamikaze Beetles,(among other names)as soon as you try to squish them,they dive for the ground.
I have them too Brinda,real pain!
That was a nice color on the bloom!
This message was edited Jul 23, 2004 9:27 PM
Sure is good color. That is as dark as I've seen it. L'A must like its living quarters. By the way, Orthene is the cheapest of the insecticides listed, but if you get it be prepared for the stink. Merit and Talstar don't have odor and I can't remember about Mavrik, but I think it was one that made me cough. It and EnstarII.
I think cucumber beetles are to brug growers what Japanese beetles are to rose growers... a plague from h*ll! They've ruined all the flowers on my Becca Lynn - the bugs even crawled up in the buds that were just emerging from the calyx and chewed them up before they even had a chance to open. I guess from now on when I get lots of buds that are starting to show color I am going to have to spray regularly. I've noticed that in my area at least the cucumber beetles seem to come in waves. We had a lot in May, and then almost none during June and the first half of July... they've only started getting bad again the past week or so. Maybe we'll get another break next month.
Once they leave here the Asian beetles come to stay for a while and last year they covered the brugs and everything else. What a miserable fall I had, but last year, tho too late, I bought some stuff that is supposed to take care of the beetles.
Thanks so much everyone! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw all the little holes in the blooms. My heart was broken!!! I'm off to get some spray to get rid of these things! Just when everything was looking up! LOL Do they do damage to the pollen? I looked in my others open brugs and there is no 'fluff' at all, and most everything either looks eaten or fried from the heat! Geeeeezzzzzz!
Do they eat petunia blooms? Probably not, from what I've seen it looks more like cats. And they are after my tropicanna too. Chit!
The skinny, little cats get my petunias. Within a day of spraying with BT the flowers are back!
My cucumber beetles seem to be attacking the leaves on my seedlings. No flowers yet. The holes are all over them. Tom, on all the sprays you mention, any have residual effects or do you have it to hit the beetle with the spray to kill it.
Just saw an old time recipe (on TV) for fighting cucumber beetles on plants...you make basil tea mix.......tear up a bunch of basil leaves put in a large fruit jar in the sun for two days......strain the leaves out and discard,mix the tea with a few drops of dish soap in a hand sprayer and spray the plants.I don't know yet if it will work..but worth a try.I'm gathering basil now!! :-)
Let us know Kyle!! I guess I am off to the farmers' market for some.
I've heard of making a tea with hot peppers. What do you think of a basil-pepper tea? Last year I sprayed baskets of impatiens with a solution of Dawn dish liquid and it really hurt them. Might wanna avoid that brand.
I would say use like Ivory liquid or a similar type thats gentle so it won't burn.Dawn and a few others have degreasers in them. too harsh.
I saw Gardening By The Yard yesterday, too. Paul James has some good tips, but I'm not sure the basil has anything to do with killing bugs. It is most certainly the soap that is doing the killing. Ivory dish soap and water makes a good homemade insecticidal soap. If you have the basil, go ahead and add it, but I wouldn't go out and buy basil to add to the mixture because just using the soap and water will kill equally well (Eclipse is correct; use Ivory or Dove dish SOAP and not Dawn, which is a DETERGENT. A DETERGENT can damage your plants.)
The basil may have some properties that, after being applied to the plant, make the plant less appealing to bugs, but the soap is doing the killing.
I use a mixture of 70% rubbing alcohol, Ivory dish soap and water as an insecticide. I use the alcohol and water in equal amounts (16 oz. of each) and then add two tablespoons of Ivory dish soap and mix gently. This works great on Mealybugs, aphids, etc. You might need to use less alcohol in the mixture on some plants so they are not damaged. I use this on Hoyas to kill mealybugs.
The soap removes the waxy coating that all insects have (which dehydrates and kills the insect) and the alcohol kills the insect on contact. All homemade concoctions are contact insecticides that need to be sprayed directly on the bug to kill. There is no residual action.
Mike
This message was edited Jul 25, 2004 8:40 AM
Wouldn't using that Bayer's Fertilizer with the systemic insecticide eliminate that problem?
I just used the Bayer and lost the leaves on lots of brugs and it killed my Echeverias. I won't be using that ever again. Kell said it made the leaves fall on her brugs too.
I used BT last night for the cats! I'm searching for something that I can get close to home for these beetles. Thanks for the heads up Susie on the Bayer!
It caused problems with mine at first too, but I use about 1/2 capful now and don't put it on the leaves and they've done fine. I also added the alfalfa pellets
I didn't get it on the leaves. Tracey was using something similar, but without the fertilize added. Wonder if she had any problems?
Well, my problems are over with the fertilizer burn, but this everlasting rain is rotting a lot of things in my gardens, just not the bruggies.
I've lost plants due to the rain also.
Gosh, I hope you guys get a break here real soon. I can't remember having so much moisture in July before. We aren't getting it like you, but normally it is starting to dry up and the lawns would be getting brown, but its nice and green and the garden soil is damp. I've only watered the brugs in the ground two time. Not bad for here.
I hope this does not forebode a lot of hurricanes hitting the coast. I lived near Wilmington, NC, on a barrier island called Wrightsville Beach and so did a lot of relatives. I can't tell you how much sand I have dug out of the first floor of their houses....
This message was edited Jul 27, 2004 10:53 PM
I have used Ortho,but it does not do anything for Cats.
