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July 2nd, 2008
Holy cow, I had gone out to upright the potted chicory that had blown over and noticed a number of ladybugs on the butterfly weed. That made me happy, because I removed most of the oleander aphids the other day, but left a few for the ladybugs and other beneficials.
I was particularly interested in two ladybugs that were apparently coupling. I don’t know what else they could have been doing for crying out loud. I seem to come up on a lot of bug sex, probably because I’m so into seeing what bugs I have. I suppose the female was on bottom and the man was on top (I did get pictures…lol, but have to get the film developed). Then they began to travel up and down the leaves…and she carried that other guy on her back as she moved around. It was the oddest thing.
So I’m enjoying the mating ladybugs and some others, then there was a big fat bumblebee I enjoyed. He was taking in the last of the nectar from the Mexican Bush Sage.
Then I look up and there’s a small Japanese beetle on my butterfly weed. Oddly enough, just yesterday someone asked me if I’d seen any this year and I said no. I guess I jinxed that!
I’m keeping a latex dishwashing glove tucked under a plant out back to use on the aphids. It’s such a juicy process that I didn’t want the aphid guts leaking through a garden glove, hence the latex. But I was barefoot, so couldn’t step on the Japanese beetle. That’s what I’ve done in the past, then I display the body in the garden. Supposedly that sends out a message to the others that it’s dangerous, go somewhere else.
I ran all the way back to the house (and luckily didn’t step ON a bee) because I had a small coffee can with dish soap water that I’d used for the aphids. I was pondering where to dump it, because squooshing them with gloved fingers was a lot more efficient than swiping with a Qtip and then dumping that in the can.
I got the can, ran back to the butterfly weed and I’ll be darned if there weren’t TWO Japanese beetles. And they were having the sex! It was cute when it was ladybugs. Not cute when it’s those nasty Japanese beetles. They’re kind of pretty with their metallic green, but they do damage.
What’s worse is that when you see your first one, you need to pick it quickly, kill it and put the body on display. That first one is a scout and he sends out a scent to let the others know to join the party. I’m frantically trying to get that gross rubber glove on my hand (gross because it’s now stained with the remains of orange aphids against yellow rubber) and all of a sudden….more Japanese beetles. They’re just flying in and landing with their friends!
It was a pile of Japanese beetles. It looked like they were all just having lots of sex, but maybe they just land in a pile like that. It was horrific, whatever the process. I got my glove on, got my can of soapy water and scraped them in. And those little buggers were trying to climb out, so I had to shake the can to drown them.
It was awful and traumatic and I guess there were six or seven of these guys. Now the coffee can with floating dead Japanese beetles is displayed next to the butterfly weed patch. It’s not attractive, but I’m hoping the message gets back to the clan. Stay away or the gloved monster lady will add you to the can.
And I guess this officially means tansy doesn’t do squat in keeping them away. Last year I saw my very first Japanese beetle – MUNCHING on the tansy. It’s supposed to repel them, and he was eating it. He was the guy that ended up on display. And I’ve got two tansy plants near the butterfly weed.
The nice thing about these beetles is that they’re easy to hand pick. I just hope I don’t see an attack like that again. It was really freaky and made me frantic.
Possibly Related PostsThis entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Organic Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.