Saturday, July 2, 2016

Before, During, and After

When I was out in the garden early yesterday morning on my daily mission to drown Japanese Beetles in a bucket of soapy water, I spotted this beautiful bud on "Fredericksburg Cemetery Tea".  (I grew this plant from a cutting taken from a large Tea rose in a cemetery in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia.  It resembles 'Madame Lombard'.)



A couple of hours later, as I was making my twice-monthly rounds with my sprayer full of fungicide, I passed this spot and saw that the bud had opened ... and it was being visited by one of the honey bees from next door at Hartwood Winery.  



Later in the day, I passed this spot again and found this scene.



You wouldn't know it from the concentration of Japanese Beetles on that poor flower, but it seems that I may have fewer beetles this year than I did last year.  There are only certain rose bushes that are getting decimated, while many others are relatively untouched.  It's still pretty awful, and I imagine that it will probably continue to be that way for the rest of July, if prior years are any indication.  

22 comments:

  1. Have always smashed J. beetles with my fingers, left their dead bodies, at the 1st hint of trouble. Never had major infestation. Aphids, the same.

    Of course this was my city girl life. Don't know yet how it will work rural. We are still getting necessities done before planting the garden.

    Probably to 102f tomorrow. Love everything about my new life, excepting the heat/humidity. Had to leave a jobsite last week, finish in my office. Sweat would not stop pouring into my eyes and stinging. Had found huge oak to work under, but can't outsmart humidity.

    Happy 4th.

    Garden & Be Well, XOT

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    1. I use your method, when I am working outside and my bucket is not nearby. According to distribution maps that I find, Japanese Beetles are not as much of an infestation in the lower portions of the South.

      Learning to live and garden in the country has been a wonderful challenge for me. Never seen anything like the way plants and weeds love this sunshine and soil!

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  2. Replies
    1. I didn't have my bucket nearby, so I carefully gathered these beetles into my gloved hand and tossed them into the closest beetle trap.

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  3. Oh.my.word!!! It started out so beautiful, to be so ravaged!

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    1. Fortunately, it's not like this all through the garden this year.

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  4. I would hate having to deal with those.

    Have a nice holiday ~ FlowerLady

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    1. You have your share of other challenges, gardening in the tropics like you do. I don't think Japanese Beetles can live with your heat and lack of seasons.

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  5. Omg! How maddening.
    Makes me think of the Zombies in the Walking Dead!
    :(

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    1. I get my revenge by making sure that I destroy as many of them as I can. They pretty much have a Zombie mentality, driven by instinct. That tendency leads many of them to their deaths in traps, and makes it relatively easy to drop them into my Bucket of Death.

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  6. I didn't put up my deer fence this year, slowly getting things weeded and mulch, and frankly haven't been here, so the deer have trimmed my rose bushes of all buds, except the climbers, which are where the beetles are. They seem to be bad this year, which is annoying as always...how frustrating. Beautiful rose though...

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    1. The deer did you a favor and saved you a bunch of garden work. I have been working my way through the garden cutting off flowers and buds to limit the bait that the Beetles respond to to find the roses. The plus side of this is that it puts the plants into really good condition to grow and flower later in the summer and fall.

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  7. Wow! What a progression in a single day. I'm so glad that you got to see parts 1 and 2---before part 3---and that you shared them with us. Hoping that beetles are gone soon, Connie.

    Shirley

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    1. This wasn't even a whole day .... it all happened by about lunchtime. The only positive thing about Japanese Beetles is that they are only here for a few weeks, and the garden isn't its best at that time. It's hot and a lot of my roses aren't flowering. It's heart breaking to see the flowers eaten like this on the ones that are blooming.

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  8. Just read a column done by a Master Gardener in our weekly newspaper about those nasty things. Oh, how I HATE when I see the first one each year!!! She said they are mostly attracted to burgundy/ pink/ maroon colored flowers, plants, and trees. 3 years ago they completely ate every leaf of my Flowering Cherry tree. They killed it. I saw the first ones this year just 2 days ago. Out with the soapy bucket in the morning here, as well. ugh.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I have one rose, Basye's Purple, that the beetles swarmed and completely defoliated. They do that with grapes, too, which is why the winery next door makes careful use of insecticide to deal with them in the vineyard.

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  9. My bucket is filled with soapy water and dead beetles. ☠ #hatethem

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    1. I hate them, too! It's infuriating to watch summer roses be destroyed like this. I tell myself that it's only for a few weeks, and I do what I can to keep up with them without using insecticides ... and I look forward to the time when they have finished their cycle for the year and the garden can recover.

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  10. Those @$%$# beetles!!! How dare them! Hope they all drown in the rain! ♥

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  11. Oh MY!!! I cannot fathom........

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    1. All regions of the country have their own gardening challenges. Japanese Beetles are the most prominent one that we have here ... and Blackspot, and Rose Rosette Disease. Other than that, rose growing is a joy. :)

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