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Florida Gardening

Big black beetles in my corn! Arrgh!

10 years ago

So, I noticed the silks drying up and the ears didn't seem plump enough for that to start happening yet, so I peeled the shucks back a little and several ears are FULL of horrible, big, black beetles. These are fairly large critters, almost the size of a dime. I'm not finding info on this particular corn pest. It doesn't look like the kind of beetles that UF (for example) identifies as a corn-destroying beetle.

I hit them with some permethrin (Bonide "Eight" garden dust - it lists several types of beetles) which I was already using to prevent corn ear worm, but I don't think it works on this kind of beetle?

Any ideas?

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Comments (3)

derbyka
9 years ago
I keep getting them the past 2 seasons, they are the Japanese beetles and the also go after roses.
thetradition
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the reply. These are black, without the bronze and green coloration and no white tufts of hair that ID Japanese beetles. Also, they're reportedly not found in Florida?

The "Eight" dust did kill them, just took a few days.

Here is a link that might be useful: UF says Japanese Beetles haven't invaded Florida
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derbyka
9 years ago
Did you figure out what they were? I assumed the ones eating my roses and corn were Japanese beetles because on brief glance they looked so similar. Next time, I will get a more detailed look. The data was from 2002 so the situation in Florida might have changed. The article says that they will eventually be in all gulf states.

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