Re: What's eating my Buddleia?

Go out at night and check again.  I'd almost bet that it's asiatic garden 
beetles that are making holes in your buddleia leaves.  They look like 
slightly smaller, copper-colored versions of japanese beetles and are capable 
of totally skeletonizing plants overnight.  They seem to have a preference 
for aromatic plants, though they seem to eat just about anything.  My 
experience (extensive!) with earwigs is that they like to get inside thick 
new growth, like leaves just forming or blossoms, which they spoil.  They 
don't seem to be as damaging on more mature, open growth.

I don't have information on when or how the asiatic garden beetles arrived in 
this country, but they appeared in my garden several years ago.  
Interestingly, they appear to have displaced the japanese beetle, which I 
rarely see anymore.  They both live in the ground as grubs (yes, the ones 
that eat your lawn and which the crows and skunks dig for), so I theorize 
that they compete for the same niche at that stage, even though the adults of 
the one are nocturnal and the the adults of the other diurnal.  The adults of 
the a.g.b. go back underground during the day and you might find some if you 
dig around your plants a little.

As far as damage goes, there is little to choose between the two beetles.  I 
certainly don't miss the j.b.'s, but it's disspiriting to come out in the 
morning and see the damage.  I occasionally handpick at night, but they're 
harder to capture than the slugs I also look for.  If I used chemicals, the 
usual grub-ex type stuff would undoubtedly help reduce the population.  
Probably milky spore or beneficial nematodes would help.  Actually, damage 
(so far) this year has been lighter, I think because of the extreme dryness 
of our spring.

Vivien
Norwood, MA  (practically next door!)

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index