Not sure of it's name, but I see them around quite a bit. They always seem to have 4 gold spots on their backs.

Anyway, I don't consider them a significant pest on my plants and the only place I have actually seen them eating anything is on my raspberries, but even then they only eat the over ripe ones and leave the rest alone.

Come to think of it I have seen them in tomatos as well, but only the over ripe ones that had fallen to the ground.

I kind of just figured they were there to eat stuff that was past it's prime, sorta like the first link in the decomposer chain of critters.

Are you finding them in all your raspberries, or just the really ripe to over ripe ones?

I found some inside ripe ones when I picked them :-( yuck. I made sure to knock all the over-ripe stuff to the ground to try to keep them (and anything else) from attaching to the other berries. I've never had them on my berries before, but the little creeps used to really wreak havoc when I'd grow tomatoes. Ruined entire crops, I don't know how they would poke through a tomato, but once they did, there'd be 100 of them in there.

I think I remember seeing these, or something similar, on weeping willow trees as a kid. I lucked out with the Neem-away on the tomatoes in the garden because I didn't know what they are. I'm not sure how to go about treating the raspberries. ugh.

Is there an equivalent to the "Neem-Away" that one can buy locally?

Thanks,

Gina

You can probably find Safer Bio-Neem locally. Do you have a Stein's in your area? They carry it. It's a neem oil based product just as Neem-Away is (was?).

I used to use it and found it very effective.

I have since switched to using Dyna Neem which I got from an Amazon.com seller. Reason I switched is it's cheaper. Even with shipping. Bio-Neem requires 3.5 ounces per gallon of water and Dyna-Neem requires only 1 ounce per gallon of water.

Both work well though.

I think they are called 'Flea Beetles" But not really sure. I have only had them on Marguerites. They are annoying.

Dave
Milwaukee

I'm thinking its a "Picnic Beetle"

tj

Here is a link that might be useful: Picnic Beetle

A master gardener guy came out and said they were indeed picnic beetles. I never was able to get my raspberry bed back, even after his insecticidal soap recommendation :-( Yes, I know this thread is ancient. I just found the site again :)

original pics

Yuck.