Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Bugs. Bleh!
Now it's garden bugs instead of Blogger bugs.
I noticed that the daylilies have thrips. Last year, some of the red flowers were stippled and deformed, but I didn't think too much about it then. This year, almost all show signs of thrip infestation. I'm going to try to control it by daily deadheading and a very thorough cleanup this fall. The light colored flowers don't really show evidence of damage, but the red ones sure do.
And the Japanese beetles are back. I know they never really leave, but the grubs don't bother me as much as the adults. Last year, they did a lot of damage (defoliated) some Cupheas, and of course, they're always all over the roses. This year, the roses are gone and I'm hoping they'll leave me alone. But I'll hand-pick and drown the ones I find anyway. So far the numbers don't seem too high:
- June 26 - 6 caught and drowned
- June 27 - 2 caught and drowned
2 Comments:
I read with interest your comment that you don't have many beetles thhis year. And then I saw the numbers you posted here and am truly amazed. I wonder why our numbers are so different? I am literally picking hundreds of beetles a day--the couple days I've more or less counted its been upward of 500. And they just keep coming on strong. It gets pretty discouraging. (I did put up some traps as you suggested).
Are the traps helping at all?
I used to have a lot more Japanese beetles, but I think a few possible reasons for the decline here are: (1) just about all the neighbors have some kind of lawn treatment service and most of those apply something to kill grubs, (2) I got rid of my roses and, (3) I keep digging up more of the lawn for flower beds (not much grass left for the grubs to feed on).
I think there just isn't much you can do in the way of non-poisonous treatments for the adult beetles. You can go after the grubs with some biological controls (milky spore, parasitic nematodes) later in the fall and/or next spring, but of course that's of no help right now. Wish I could be of more help. Maybe there's some Tom Sawyer-like way you could get help with the hand picking? (Only half-joking).
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