I have had a disaster on my hands ... I have been fighting 100s upon 100s (probably 1000s) of small, flying, black beetles that looks like a baby ladybug upon first glance. I had to look at them with a magnifying glass to be sure they were not baby ladybugs before I killed them. These have eaten most of my snapdragon petals and buds, moved on to the blooms and petals of my roses, verbena, bush allamanda, larkspurs, hibiscus plants, zinnias, petunias and more. They do not eat the leaves, just suck the petals and buds dry. There were so many of them that the blooms, buds and stems looked black. I tried insecticidal soap for 3 days as they wreaked havoc on all of the beautiful blooms which obviously only stunned them because of their hard little beetle bodies. If you have this problem, use orange oil as directed on the bottle (spray in late evening or early morning). Repeat an hour or so later because some of the beetles escape by flying off. Check your plants the next day and repeat if you find any live ones. This works. Most of my blooms on my plants, except for the larkspur which I used orange oil on quick enough, have been ruined because I didn't know what to use to fight the little boogers. I usually don't spray for insects, but these suckers (which they truly are) had to go. I have posted this in hopes that anyone else who may have this problem will know how to deal with it. I have a feeling that their eggs may have invaded my yard when I bought the snapdragon plants months ago and the eggs finally hatched out. I have never seen this type of beetle before.
Warning: Beetle eating blooms ...
Hazel, I had some of those last year, they completely suck dry two pots of mexican primrose, and then, they dissapeared. I tried getting them with soap, but id didn't work,
I am glad to know about the orange oil, it looks like it is wonderful stuff.
Thank you for letting us know, that way we can be prepared.
Josephine.
thanks Hazel for the head up. I wonder if Neem oil would be as effective if problem arose
Oh NO Htop! And I live in the same area! So far our only pest is a green lady-bug look alike, I think DH called it a potato beetle. But they are in my flowers! I know they can't be good but so far don't appear to be destroying anything. Thanks for the heads up.
Your welcome, frostweed. These critters weren't moving on except to all of my plants that are in bloom. I have tried to find out what they are and haven't been able to do so yet. I hate killing insects and I especially hate having to spray plants that may have beneficial insects on them. Orange oil is a really great product. I was afraid that it might damage my more fragile plants, but it didn't.
vossner, Neem oil probably would do the trick too. I couldn't find mine so I used the orange oil. I sprayed a little bit of the orange oil on the dirt oround my plants too because it is supposed to keep cats from digging in the flowerbeds... this would be a miracle for me. I hope it doesn't kill my helpful earthworms worms. I didn't spray enough for it to "soak" the ground.
alamoaimee, I hope that they do not show up at your home; but, at least you know how to send them to heaven. A potato beetle looks like this:
http://images.google.com/images?q=potato+beetle&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&start=20&sa=N
Here's a Mexican bean beetle that is related to the ladybug (ladybird) beetle. It eats plants.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/8703
I have seen a green beetle that has spots like a ladybug, but has a more elongated body. I think it is a Southern corn rootworm (spotted cucumber beetle). Is this what is on your plants?:
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/coleoptera/rw/southerncornrwjb.html
I found this green beetle, but it wasn't for what what I was searching:
http://www.tigerdude.com/japan/adventure/narabug.jpg
But, last year I saw a green beetle with black dots that, to the naked eye, looked just like a ladybug. I couldn't catch it. Maybe it was a corn rootworm that needed to go on a diet. I have searched last year and this year to determine if there is such a thing as a green ladybug, but have not found one as of yet (except one that has a dark green body with orange spots). I never knew there are so many kinds of lady bugs.
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=ladybird
http://www.ladybird-survey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/londonla.htm
http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_beetles/COCCINELLIDAE.htm
I don't guess I have seen Orange Oil, are you referring to the cleaning supply for furniture and stuff of that nature?
Here is one we have problems with. As long as there is plenty of oenothera, they leave the other stuff alone, but when they've eaten all the primroses..... watch out cuphea! I used pyrethrum on them and sprinkled DE on the plants. They did a lot of damage, but it was more to the leaves than the flowers. http://citybugs.tamu.edu/IntheNews_Details.asp?ID_Key=404
Calalily, that is exactly what I had last year, and boy they can eat, thank you for the link.
I haven't seen any this year, yet, and I hope i won't.
Hazel, those links you put up are excellent, you must do a lot of research, what would we do without you?
It is so great to have such wonderful and helpful people here at Dave's. I love this place.
Josephine.
htop:
OH! You found it! Bless you!
[HYPERLINK@www.ent.iastate.edu]
We have the cucumber beetle! But that was the best crop we had last year? Go figure. How come these suckers like my roses? What are they eating???
Those Cucumber beetles will eat ANYTHING!!!! Last year, they ate my petunias. This year I have found them on my roses and Anemones. And that is just the ones I have seen.
Do these critters eat at night? I haven't noticed beetles or anything in the daytime, but there is something eating on my roses at night apparently. They have lots of new growth, but few flowers.
ms_merae, you can find orange oil at some nurseries, feed stores, and now Lowes carries it too (they have a section of natural garden products - Medina Plus Soil Activator, fish emulsion, etc.) It can be mixed to clean furniture, but it can also be mixed in proportions to spray on bugs, as Hazel described, and to drench ant mounds (kills 'em dead without poisoning everyone else.)
Hazel, thanks for all that info on the beetles, I think I just saw that spotted cucumber beetle yesterday (yikes!) Good to know orange oil will work on it. I suspect that the orange oil you used just on the surface of the bed won't harm the worms. I hadn't heard that about it repelling kitties, I'll have to try that myself. I have bamboo chop sticks sticking out of some areas of the garden to deter mine, those spots look a little like a space vehicle has crashed there :-)
How about these very colorful beetles?
http://www.beatles.gr/images/beatles.jpg
I had a bad flea beatle infestation earlier in the year. Insecticidal Soap, garlic and hot pepper spray finally got them under control, but it took a while. Orange oil has to be diluted carefully to spray on plants. If too strong, it can do damage to certain plants. Earthworms will suffer if it comes into direct contact with them. Not a pretty sight!
Htop, so sorry about your flowers, I know you must be heartbroken. I would CRY!! Thanks for the update, will buy orange oil to have on hand -----jackie
Speaking of cucumber beetles! I was driving to work this morning and felt something tickling my arm. I looked down, thinking it would just be my hair and there was a cucumber beetle on my arm. I jumped out of surprise and he ended up somewhere in the car. LOL At least he's not at home on my plants!
Those and the little black beetles from Calalily's link were the worst pests I had last spring, but luckily they did not last long. Since I just bought the orange oil for the fire ants, I will have to mix up a spray bottle of it to prepare for spraying on the beetles. I mixed up a gallon milk jug of it for ant mounds last week. Yesterday there were ants marching all along the fence and in the storage building and I was pouring the mixture from the jug on them and the fence. A spray bottle would have worked much better for that!
Callalily, those are ugly little guys too.
frostweed, I love to do research. In college, my research papers were so long that the professors told me that I need not do twice amount of research other students did. I just don't know when to stop. :o) Thank you for your kind words.
alamoaimee, shuggins is right ... cucumber beetles are not picky about what they will eat. They will eat anything.
shuggins, cucumber beetles have munched on my petunias also.
Mary Lee, there is a fuzzy black catepillar that eats plants at night. I have had those guys mow down whole plants in one night. But, they usually eat the foliage not just the blooms. I'll have to research this problem.
Maggie, you are quite welcome. I thinl I'll try chopsticks in my beds to deter the cats. That's a great idea. Love the colorful "beetles". :o)
LindaTX8, yes, the orange oil will damage cetian plants if it is too strong and/or applied in the heat of the day. The image in my mind of toasted earthworms is pretty gross. I haven't had flea beetles yet unless the ones I am still battling are flea beetles. I think that they are larger than flea beetles. Thanks for the info about attacking tflea beetles. It will come in handy if they decide to visit my plants.
jackie, I did shed a few tears. The snapgragons were the prettiest ones I have ever grown and the bush allamanda will take a long time to produce new blooms.
sweezel, I bet those ants are afraid when they see you coming! :o)
Here's a photo of my once lovely orangish colored snapdragon after the beetle attack. The blooms are now brown amd even more ugly.
This message was edited Apr 11, 2006 2:23 PM
Here's a phot of one my sad bright pink blooming snapdragon.
A closeup of the beetles attacking new pink bloom ...
I am still in battle, but I am winning.
Hazel, those are really strange critters. I have never seen anything like that. They look like black ladybugs.
i haven't seen those either. hungry little critters.
cala, your snapdragons look so sad.
Mary Lee, I thought they were baby ladybugs when I first saw them so I didn;t attack tthem at first ... big mistake on my part.
vossner, the napdragons do look sooo sad.
I am still spraying with orange oil each morning and evening because the critters hide within the snapdragon blooms and fly off when I start to spray so a few are still alive each day..After I have made sure that I have exterminated all of the critters, I am gioing to cut off all of the old blooms. I hope the weather stays cool enough for the snaps to put out new ones. You would think that the plants themselves would be dead by now because of all of the orange oil, but it hasn't seemed to bother them yet. Now I have some knd of small hopping catepillers that are eating the leaves of my calendula. I have never seen these before either.
Hazel, Have you tried all the stuff that's supposed to taste and smell bad to bugs? Like strong liquid seeweed and fish emulsion and all that? It seems like all the orange oil you've been using might too much for the plants. I can't remember if you said you already tried all the stinky stuff. Another thing I think Malcolm Beck talks about is garlic spray, especially for grasshoppers, but it should drive anything away.
Mary Lee,
Surprisingly, after repeated ( and I mean, lots of spraying), the orange oil has not damaged the plants, not even the new blooms. The other stuff might have driven them away from the infested plants; but, they would have attacked the other plants iin the yard and I would have been chasing them from plant to plant as they devasted everything.
Hazel, are your neighbors having the same problem? If they are and are not spraying, it's going to take forever to get rid of these bugs. Did you ever find out what they are? Maybe they'll eat themselves to death in the neighbor's yards.?
Mary Lee
Mary Lee, none of my close neighbors have any blooming plants. I still don't know what they are. I never thought about them gorging themselves to death! There IS hope after all ... :o)
Hazel, are they only on blooming plants? If your neighbors don't have any blooms, then no wonder they hit your yard so hard. Poor babies, they be starvin', and your whole yard looks like chow to them.
Mary Lee
Yes, they are only eating the blooms. My yard is the only one that has a lot of blooms and these critters must have really been excited to find a bloom buffet ... like we were at the the pizza buffet we took you to last time you came by.
That is so cruel...for a bug to eat blooms, especially in April when many things are at their best bloom time! Have you checked with the extension office in S.A.? Maybe if you can get them ID'd, they'll know something to use on them!
No, I haven't checked with the extension service. Thanks for reminding me to do this. I have pretty well eradicated all of them with the orange oil. Yep, My April blooming plants were all looking great until the invasion. I am cutting off all of the old blooms on the snapdragon so they hopefully will produce new blooms before it becomes too hot for them.
Howdy... I think I may have an answer to your question re: what kind of bugs are eatting your plants? Im going to take a wild guess and say : Grubs! Since moving down to the Rio Grande Valley from Ilinois... I was getting concerned with the lawn and noticed it seemed like the same problem up north with Grubs... So, I went hunting down for some answers to: "How do I control theses bugs" Well, it turns out that you need to kill them off with an application of grub killer around JULY when they are just little grubs... Theses grubs grow up and become beetles like the ones you describe... I hope this helps out?
This message was edited Apr 15, 2006 12:38 PM
PaperWhiteTulip, grubs sure can be "a pain in the grass". :o) They also damage other plants as well. The beetles eating my plants blooms are much smaller beetles. Thanks for the suggestion though. Moving from Illinois to ssouthern Texas must have been a real shock to your system with the difference in climate and soil conditions.
Hi Htop,
The grubs aka beetles are small in size a little bigger then a lady bug...and now is when the grubs turn into beetles... Re: shock to mah system...Well, mah relatives are from Tx and I would spend my summers here... as a kid. My former neighbors in Illinois, would think I was crazy for gardening in 89 degree weather (lol) Re: Im really enjoying learning about all theses new plants I never seen before here in Texas! Such a nice varity.... Oh, I wanted to say "Congrats" on being a "Uber" that is way kewl :)
Ps: Jorge has a great link... I hope this helps out or: try google.com on grubs and see if they post a picture of the beetle?
Hi, Jorge. Have a great Easter. Thanks for the link. I may be able to ID these critters.
PapreWhiteTulip, Grubs in the ground sure do eat a lot of plants. I'll sure check them out to see which types turn into small beeetles. I'm used to the big old fat ones that turn into huge beetles or the smaller ones that turn into June bugs. Yup, 89 degrees is cool here. :o) I bet you don't miss all of that Illinois snow and ice. We are glad to have you as a Texan now. Thanks for the "Congrats" on being a "Uber". I appreciate it. Have a great Easter.
"Thank You" for your kind words...... And your welcome, it's a pleasure chatting with you. I wish you the best in tryin to figure out what da heck them bugs are.... Your right, I don't miss all that ice... or snow.. I mean it looks pretty re: snow but it's a pain in the butt for folks with arthritis :( Wishing you and family a super Easter!
What a lovely phot ... thanks for sharing it.
Your welcome, that's "Sparkle's" new resting place re: behind him, under the trimmed bogainvilla
Thanks for the warning! I had a horrible battle last year with cucumber beetles but have been lucky to have only seen a few this year. Something is munching on stuff tho but I think mine is from pill bugs! I trust the advice of the person that said they only eat decaying matter but I found them all over a very live plant yesterday! It's going to be cooler tomorrow so I'll go out and look for these black things. (which I don't think are from grubs tho)
koncreteblond, you are quite welcome. I just found some more of the beetles eating my rock rose blooms, but it ws too hot (100 degrees) to spray them. I'll have to go on the attack tomorrow.
Pill bugs have eaten the new leaves that were emerging from my pentas as well as my vincas and have successfully killed several of them. They will eat the new, tender leaves that are at ground level in spring. I also have been told that I shouldn't kill them because they eat only decaying matter. This is not true. They also eat seedlings as well as emerging leaves from some bulbs. This is a fact because I have watched them do it. They usually do the most damage to young plants in the spring.
http://insected.arizona.edu/isoinfo.htm
I'm having to agree with you about the pill bugs. I've been told the same thing, and really value this person's advice, but there is no doubt in my mind now. I've seen too many of them and too much damage. I am going to put out some boards today and see if I can get them to congregate under them so I can dispose of them in groups.