Two Bad Summer Bugs

With the colder than average winter, I thought maybe some bug populations might be down. That was especially so when I saw the Japanese Anemone develop buds and maybe bloom after years and years of decimation by the blister beetle. Well, they're back!, and eating like there's no tomorrow. 

Clematis are their other favorite and feeding occurs on the underside of the leaf, so it's often hard to find blister beetles. They can cause a blister if squashed on your skin but I will add that after years of dealing with them, I haven't ever been blistered. 

The species that feeds here in Virginia is Epicauta funebris or the margined blister beetle. Not entirely bad, the larvae feed on grasshopper eggs. There are well over 350 species of blister beetles, many with red coloring and much nastier blisters. One of my favorite summer sports is snipping them with my clippers which is A: very difficult, therefore, B: fun. If you are really good and can snip their heads off, death seems to be instant, which is difficult when their usually hiding on the undersides of leaves. And I swear they do some kind of little beetle scream, warning the others because after the first one, it gets harder and harder. Their favorite survival technique (to avoid the snippers), is to drop to the ground. Based on this I developed my second favorite way to kill them, a bowl of water mixed with something a little caustic, like strong soap and slipped under the plant. If you just shake the plant, they drop. It's not possible to kill them all, but a reduction certainly helps out the other plants. 

The other summer pest is sawfly. First appearing in late June, the larvae prefer to feed on mugo pines but will attack numerous other needled plants. The culprit is the European Pine Sawfly which is actually the larvae of a non-stinging wasp. 

It's not unusual to have plants stripped in just a couple of days. I have found that June  and early July is the first period to look for them and late summer is another. A very good product for treatment is anything that contains Spinosad, which is a bacteria that effects them and nothing else. Spray the needles that they will be feeding on rather than the larvae itself. 

The colder winter did effect some bug populations, one of which is the stink bug. Unfortunately they are busy making up for the loss as I have seen lots of young ones. For that we need more answers!

Comments

[Stephanie]

Great info. I like your sport!