Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Going on a Beetle Hunt

Yesterday, Carolyn Parker of Rose Notes asked if I would please send her a photo of a Japanese Beetle.  She doesn't have them in California, and she needs a photo of one for a blog post she's working on.  Since I'm such a generous soul (grin), I was happy to oblige.


"Portland from Glendora"


I saw my first beetle this year on Friday, June 4, and I have only seen a few dozen since then.  There still relatively few in the garden today, almost two weeks later. 


Mlle. Augustine Guinnoisseau


Many of the ones I found were happily in the process of making more beetles for next year.

Pink Gruss an Aachen


Chief Seattle


Others were still single, probably biding their time till a suitable mate could be found.



Shot Silk


They tried, but they couldn't hide from me.

Madame Abel Chatenay


Compassion


The name of the rose in the photo above is quite ironic, considering I had no compassion for any of the beetles I saw.  There is great satisfaction to be had from the 'crunch' of squishing these nasty critters. 

Tomorrow should be a good day to teach the Grandson my favorite garden game of skill ... using a chopstick to knock beetles into a jar of soapy water.  You can bet that his proud grandmother will be right there with her camera to document the whole thing. 

(written by Hartwood Roses.  Hartwood Roses blog.)

9 comments:

  1. I could do the jar thing, but the idea of crunching them makes my skin crawl.

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  2. I suppose they have some purpose on this earth other than to just annoy anyone with flowers in their yard, but for the life of me I have no idea what that would be. *shrugs*

    Love the compassion shot!

    Di

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  3. We've been spotting these beetles all over our backyard & didn't know what they were, so thank you for this post! We've been feeding them to our chickens who find them a wonderful treat.

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  4. Being a little boy, he probably won't mind touching those awful beetles! Maybe you should get some chickens?!?

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  5. We wage war with the beetles each year too! I can still remember my grandfather walking around his property with an old coffee jar full of kerosene going toe to toe with these destructive insects!

    I'm betting your grandson will be a beetle catcher extraordinaire! And I loved your pictures as always!

    Kat :)

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  6. These Japanese Beetles look much like what we call June bugs in Texas. I always thought they were harmless. Do you know if they're one and the same?

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  7. Dreadful little bastards they are. I do not get them here in the city, but out at work it is another story. I keep a bucket of soapy water near the roses to knock them into, where they writhe briefly before drowning. I have no problems crushing them with my fingers either and smearing their parts onto the rose canes as a biological warning.

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  8. I've been able to crush them in my bare hands. I hate them so much. A few years ago, I put out the traps. I had so many JBs I had to spray. We must have killed thousands. They were all over the roses, crepe mytrles and cherry trees. Since then, I haven't had many. I wonder if I wiped out the local population, LOL.

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