A Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica). Bad news. Alien invader, rose-chomper, crabapple defoliator. Off with them to a bucket of soapy water. Die, die, die!
Not a Japanese beetle: an Emerald Flower Beetle or Emerald Flower Scarab (Trichiotinus lunulatus).
Yo, bug party at the Queen Anne's Lace. (Be there or quadratus estó?)
A big thanks to Thingfish23 for the Emerald Flower Scarab ID!
No, I never took Latin, feel free to correct me.
Great pics! Especially the bug party.
ReplyDeleteVery nice bugs you have there, except for that Japanese Beetle. I like that you are using soapy water to get rid of it. I'm curious: what do you use on aphids?
ReplyDeleteWe found some Japanese beetles, too. Ours are on a rose bush that I really love - I might have gone overboard with the soap, hot pepper, beetle body, & vinegar spray I made.
ReplyDeleteWe saw our first adult Japanese beetle of the year yesterday.
ReplyDeleteLast year we had five or six toads that hung out on our carport. We amused ourselves by feeding them Japanese beetles. One toad ate about 30 in one sitting!
As you can see, we are easily amused here in the swamp. :)
One thing for those horrid Japanese Beetles--flowering nicotiana (four o'clocks). They're drawn to them, and then they croak.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm just not a nature-y person. I see those bugs and want to stomp on them with my boots!
ReplyDeleteI like the bugs. But I like the turtle and snakes better. You have good pictures.
ReplyDeleteSon of MM (as transcribed by his dad)
Thanks y'all.
ReplyDeleteActually when I saw the first green one I mistook him for a Japanese beetle, until I looked them up.
RD, unfortunately all I know about aphids is 1) forceful stream of water, or 2) bunch o' chemicals.
Marsha - beetle bodies?!
Swampy I would love to give some of ours to toads. Or frogs. I'm not picky.
Chris, I didn't know that one! What a beautiful insect repellent.
Karen, feel free to stomp on all the Japanese beetles you can find. They are evil.
Dan, thanks, and thanks for stopping by.
Son of MM, thanks! I am still looking for a particular snake picture for you.
Oh Japanese beetles are attracted to other Japanese beetles, so get rid of them as soon as possible.
Yes, Japanese beetles are the work of the devil!. Gardens Alive! (which you can find on the web) makes several good products which will kill or run them off. And all of their products are organic! The Pyola spray or BullsEye are the ones I have used and was very pleased with. Also work on aphids and tomato worms etc. Plus, they will give you coupons for their own products.
ReplyDeleteJap Beetles are absolutely taking over. We've got Sevin on everything.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to Junebugs?
I don't know, I never see June bugs anymore!
ReplyDeleteI never see June bugs anymore!
ReplyDeleteWhat with global warming and all, maybe they're working the Mayflies' turf...
These are gorgeous. I'm particularly impressed with that yellow-and-black character with those huge antennae.
We don't have Japanese beetles out here in any numbers... yet. (We have Japanese restaurants; much better.) I remember them from Pennsylvania, though. They were always in our hedge, and they pinched when you picked them up. I think the oddest look I ever saw on my dear old Dad's face happened when he ducked to catch a ground ball, had his mouth open, and came up with a Japanese beetle clinging to his tongue.
Ask me about my beetle-elytra earrings sometime.
when are you going to make a calandar? i'm serious, you have some of the most beautiful rural photos--everyone in the midwest would buy it. or maybe a photjournalism memoir/book?
ReplyDeleteRon I liked that one too. I have such a hard time looking up stuff on bugguide that I haven't tried that one though.
ReplyDeleteJenni I wish I had the pixels for that!
Every time I see Queen Anne's Lace I think of the Mouth of the Canyon Park up in Fort Payne. We had gone swimming there and my roommate's mother told her the root bits are just like carrots, so she just had to pull one up. I think she was so enthralled with the "carrot" at the end that it took a minute for her to realize she was standing on a fire ant nest.
ReplyDeleteShe made up a few new words right about then.
LOL. You can eat the "carrots" although I've never tried them. You have to be really really careful because there is a very similar plant that is poisonous!
ReplyDeletehow do you get them off tall plum trees?
ReplyDeletedewey
You mean the Japanese beetles? Hmm. Well you could try squirting them with a hose I guess. That's the only thing that comes to mind. Then, supposing that they drop off, you could pick them up and put them into a pail of soapy water.
ReplyDeletethanks for responding so fast .. I knew I had read this last week in the Decatur or Huntsville Paper ...just found it again.
ReplyDeleteDECATUR DAILY online: Archives... BEETLE MANIA: Japanese beetles arrive early in Morgan County;
www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/archives/050623.shtml - 15k - Jun 26, 2005 -
His article makes me want to give up as we have plum trees (6 big ones),grepe myrtles and ornamental plum trees that are tall now .. I sprayed the plum trees with Sevin Sunday .. they were not too bad late yesterday afternoon .. today there are hundreds of them, plus on the two ornamental plums and one crepe myrtle .......awwwwwwwww
dewey
or maybe they aren't Japanese Beetles ..they are black ..I might try calling Mike Reeves
Well if they are all black, they are definitely something else.
ReplyDeleteYeah, call your extension agent. I'm not sure if you're in the area for the Master Gardener hotline or not - in fact I can't remember off the top of my head which 8 counties are in the area for the hotline. But if you call the extension agent nowdays, they may refer you to the hotline since the agents have so many more duties than they used to. The hotline is run by Master Gardener volunteers and they have a wealth of files and info to draw from.
Anyway, for Japanese beetles you want to try whatever it is you're trying early in the morning if possible. Beetles attract more beetles, so if you can get rid of them earlier in the day the problem won't be as bad.