garden beetles

13 years ago

Back in early June, I found more earwigs in my flower beds than I could have ever imagined. I put out damp cardboard boxes at night and every morning I would kill several dozen. I killed a few hundred in total. Now I have a new problem. My flowers are infested with what I have identified as Asiatic Garden Beetles. They are about half the size of japanese beetles and are copper colored. They only come out of the ground at night to feed and mate. I made several rounds every night after 10:00 p.m. and would squish 100 or so each night for four nights. In the past few nights I'm only squishing a few dozen. I am wondering if these things will run their course in a couple weeks like the JB do. I am also wondering if I did a disservice to my dahlias by eliminating so many earwigs since they eat other insects and their eggs. It's hard to imagine thinking of earwigs as "friends",but I have never seen these beetles before. Flowers have been in these beds for years with never a problem. What gives?

Comments (4)

Poochella
13 years ago
Sounds like a dahlia horror movie! You aren't anywhere near WA are you? A few things to ponder: where did the masses of earwigs come from and why? And what to do about the Asiatic Garden Beetles? They don't sound friendly to the dahlia at all.

Maybe this is a good set of questions to pose to your local county extension office. I bet they are highly under-utilized and would love to be of help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Read about the coppery Asiatic Beetles here
tricia123
13 years ago
I too have been battleing these beetles for the past 2 weeks. I first sprayed Neem (I don't use chemicals). It only kept them off for a couple of days. I did alot of research on them. They are related to JBs and rose chafers. Since they emerge at night, birds are not around to get them. The only effective nonchemical way to keep them in bounds is to handpick. I go out as soon as it is dark with a jar of warm soapy water and brush them into the jar.The way to eradicate them, is getting them at the grub stage. A nonchemical way is to apply either Milky Spore on your lawns and planting areas (but takes up to 3 years to be fully effective), or spray nematodes (which I did years ago for JBs with excellent results).The good news is there is only 1 generation a year. My family is hysterical when I go out, as I put a hooded rain jacket on to keep the mosquitos off of me, have a light that looks like a miner"s light on my head, and a power flashlight that is coiled over my shoulder...good thing I do not have any close neighbors...
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unclehead_gw
Original Author
13 years ago
Tricia, As I posted above ,earlier in the week I was killing a hundred or so each night. I have seen diminishing numbers for the last five nights. Last night in twenty minutes of "hunting" I only found one. Most of the damage to my dahlias was done before I found this culprit. A couple of plants have probably 25-35% of the leaves eaten off. Not being a dahlia expert, I don't know how much damage a plant can sustain. They are still growing and the new growth is looking good. A neighbor told me that Milky Spore might work if everyone in the area would use it,otherwise you'll just get someone else's beetles. Good luck hunting. unc
tricia123
13 years ago
Unc, Good luck hunting to you too! One bonus was last night I saw several tiny tree frogs sitting in some of the dahlia flowers.Let's hope that this generation of beetles is almost done. Tricia