What is this? They LOVE daylilies. It isn’t metallic but I do see those as well. I’m not sure if they are also in/damaging other plants, need to figure that out.
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It’s an oriental beetle and it’s invasive. I have a Japanese beetle trap that is mostly trapping these guys.
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I have so many. Is it too late to get traps now? What do they actually do to the plants? When I see them they are just hanging out, I can’t tell if they are doing damage. But I have a lot of damage like flower petals being chewed on, is that these? Or something else?
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Yeah that’s them. They chew on flower petals, but worse is they live as grubs in your grass and cause problems for your lawn, if you care about that.
Animal Death
I do the hand-culling method (cup full of soapy water and just bop them in. The traps are a bit controversial; some people swear by them and others say they attract even more beetles to the yard.
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I guess the old Random Questions thread disappeared? So here’s a new one.
My family is going on a long drive soon and I’d like to find a good audiobook we can listen to in the car. Last time we had a long trip I lucked out with Nine Goblins by T Kingfisher as a crowd pleaser (the crowd being me, Mr. Meer, and our eleven year old son). A little adventure, some funny parts, nothing dark or scary (the goblins are in a war but then Stuff Happens and they’re not at the war any more, that’s about as dark as it got). Any suggestions?
I did start looking at Newberry and Caldecott award winning books but in a cursory look they all seem to be along the lines of “this will teach a life lesson” and I guess I’m looking for something more beach read level.
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There is an audiobook of The Hobbit read by Andy Serkis.
Also the LOTR trilogy but your kid is probably a bit young yet.
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This would be a new genre for you but I think Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter is very cozy with barely any dark.
I’m not doing book club this month but I’m still buying Yesteryear to read on vacation (not for family)
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Not sure if this was an accident or not @anomalily I have once or twice accidentally unlisted my or someone else’s entire journal due to toddler interference, it’s surprisingly easy to have a little thumb (or stray kitty toe bean) happen to lock down a thread.
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J2 and I listened to ‘The Marlow Murder Club’ not too long ago. It is a series of four ‘cozy mystery’ stories set in England along the Themes. We both really enjoyed them
I must’ve done this accidentally? I’ll go undo
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Thanks! Can we merge this topic into that one so there aren’t two?
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Yes please to merging.
@anomalily @Crow @meerkat we are now merged.
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mergination
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Ok. I just took soapy water out and only saw two. Is it the wrong time of day at 7:30pm? Do they go underground or something at certain times? I have Neem Oil, should I use that? Do I actually spray the bugs when I see them or spray the plants/flowers? I rarely see them on any plant leaves, but I will look more closely now. I usually see a lot of them nestled down into the daylily flowers so that will be my best time to get them.
The main problems I have are: skeletonized leaves on zinnias and some dahlias, and coneflower petals being eaten down completely, so I never get to cut them which makes me cranky. The coneflower leaves don’t seem damaged though. Many other plants are not affected at all, so they must prefer certain things.
I do use grubex in the spring to try to control the number of mole runs I get, maybe that helps with these too? I do care about my grass, but I care a lot more about my flowers.
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Thanks!
Summary
I do it in the morning; that’s when I see the most. They definitely prefer certain plants; I’ve found those in the rose family and hollyhocks are their favorites. I have never tried Neem oil. I use a cup of soapy water and a popsicle stick. I use the popsickle stick to bop them off the plant with the cup underneath and they just drop right in 99% of the time. It’s my least favorite garden chore to be honest; I hate killing them even if they’re an invasive pest.
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