Japanese Beetles
Greetings Steemians! Welcome to the second installment of my Garden Pests Series. Today I'm going to talk about one of the most destructive pest insects I've encountered, Japanese Beetles.
The Japanese Beetle is a type of scarab beetle that is considered to be an introduced, invasive species in the US. It was first identified in the US in the early 1900s and is thought to have been brought here in the roots of transplanted irises.
This is a Japanese Beetle on the Bluelake Pole Beans growing in the garden I work in.
They're kind of pretty. But extremely destructive. And once one or two show up, more are on the way.
Even in small numbers these guys can decimate a plant rather quickly, leaving behind lace-like leaf fragments.
What do they feed on?
You may be wondering what plants they like to feed on. From what I've seen, pretty much anything. And it can be rather unpredictable. Plants they feed on one year, they may not touch the next. What they choose to decimate in your garden, they may not touch in your neighbor's garden. I have even seen them eat one rose bush, but not the one right next to it.
Control
All of the control methods I use in the garden are appropriate for use in organic gardening. I do not use any harsh organic pesticides either. This can make controlling the Japanese Beetles rather challenging.
I rely heavily on scouting for the beetles. As soon as I spot one, I get a bucket of soapy water and walk the garden removing them by hand and throwing them into the bucket (be sure to actually throw them or they may fly off). This actually does help to keep the population at low enough levels to keep the damage to a minimum. They also seem to really like marigolds in my garden and seem to find the marigolds before they find anything else. Which does give my other stuff more time to establish before sustaining much damage. They just recently found the beans and eggplants. But they seem to be leaving everything else alone for right now (unfortunately other pests aren't).
I also use insecticidal soap in the garden which is supposed to kill Japanese Beetles, but I've never actually witnessed it do so and have never come back to find dead ones, so I don't trust that it actually works. Which is why handpicking and drowning is my current control method.
All pictures in this post were taken by me on a HTC Desire Eye phone camera.
As always, if you have any comments, questions, suggestions, etc. please leave them below.
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Other Recent Posts:
Garden Pests Issue 1 - Cabbage Caterpillars
Until next time
