Anyone knowledgeable about garden pests?

[Snow mom]

Tonight when I let the dogs out I found my rose bush covered in smallish beetles that were eating all the fresh leaves. The beetles are maybe 6 mm and reddish-brown. There were literally 40ish beetles all on the small rose bush and they had inflicted some major damage. This rosebush has had a good year of growth because we took out a large bush that had been crowding it. Then I remembered that we've had bug damage each year on the fresh growth of our red-leaf photinia and never known what was eating it. I found a bunch more beetles munching on the photinia. Anyway, I knocked as many beetles as I could into a ziplock and put them in the freezer (because I'm not a fan of smashing bugs). Anyone know what these are and how to control them? I generally hate pesticides, but pulling all those bugs off my plants was about at my limit.

[Meatball Mommie]

Do you have a garden center nearby that you can go to and ask questions? I have a nice one that's also an Agway and they are very knowledgeable. Also, I am not sure what part of the country you are in, which would be helpful in identifying your pest...

Sorry about your roses - I hate bugs that destroy plants that you've worked hard on or are finally growing/recovering :( I don't have roses myself, but I do know they are hard to grow successfully without some sort of pesticide - I guess a lot of pests think they're yummy...

[Jo..]

Could be rose weevils. Other possibilities :Japanese bettles, hoplia beetles, june bugs...

Neem oil is my organic insecticide of choice. It doesn't harm beneficial insects, only the ones that actually munch on your plants.

[fortato]

Could be rose weevils. Other possibilities :Japanese bettles, hoplia beetles, june bugs...

Neem oil is my organic insecticide of choice. It doesn't harm beneficial insects, only the ones that actually munch on your plants.

I was seriously coming to tell her to PM you.

Jo is my Go-To girl for any gardening questions!!

[JBaxter]

I was seriously coming to tell her to PM you.

Jo is my Go-To girl for any gardening questions!!

I'll second that. Don't mess with Jo's garden she had an organic resolution to nearly all problems

[Snow mom]

I took my little baggie of dead bugs to a local garden center this morning and they are "little baby June bugs". He recommended that I spray down the plants with water to wash off any bugs and then sprinkle diatomaceous earth around and on the plants. I haven't decided yet if I want to go that far. I'm known for doing things like hand weeding my lawn, so even diatomaceous earth is awfully nasty to me. I'm going to remember that Jo is the resident expert on gardening.

[fivi2]

I don't know what part of town you are in, but the Natural Gardener may have something that can help you and not be too icky. We like to take the girls there because they have chickens and goats and donkeys and some fun gardens to look at. However, they did sell me two bushes that never lived so I don't buy much there anymore... It is down off of SW Pkwy.

[rin]

I took my little baggie of dead bugs to a local garden center this morning and they are "little baby June bugs". He recommended that I spray down the plants with water to wash off any bugs and then sprinkle diatomaceous earth around and on the plants. I haven't decided yet if I want to go that far. I'm known for doing things like hand weeding my lawn, so even diatomaceous earth is awfully nasty to me. I'm going to remember that Jo is the resident expert on gardening.

My understanding is that diatomaceous earth just ground-up fossilized sea critter exoskeletons, so it's really not that bad. We've used it before in our garden, which we also hand-weed, and have never had any problems. You can buy food-grade diatomaceous earth (there's also the industrial variety, which I understand is treated somehow and actually is pretty nasty), and I know some people who actually consume it daily to prevent gut parasites, so I don't think it could be harmful to you or your family/pets.

[Jo..]

I am not an expert at all, but I have adopted a GREAT mentor and teacher on Garden Web, and she knows EVERYTHING and has taught me tons in the last two years.

I also hand weed, won't let DH spray any chemicals at all (weed killer, bug killer) anywhere inside or outside, and I even make most of my own cleaning products. So I lean toward crunchy and research organic measures quite a bit before I spray them in my garden near food my family is going to eat.

Neem is 100% safe (people eat it in some countries!) leaves bees and good bugs alone, etc.

I know little about DE other than it is safe and organic...it's just crushed rocks/fossils. I would not put it ON the plant though, because that would be like dipping it in dust and would interefere with photosynthesis. I could be wrong, but that's my gut thought.

I'd be willing to give either DE or Neem a shot if I were you. I've had great results with Neem controlling stuff that eats my garden. Except stink bugs. Doesn't work on them at all.

[Snow mom]

I don't know what part of town you are in, but the Natural Gardener may have something that can help you and not be too icky. We like to take the girls there because they have chickens and goats and donkeys and some fun gardens to look at. However, they did sell me two bushes that never lived so I don't buy much there anymore... It is down off of SW Pkwy.

Ooh, I :heartbeat: donkeys. Sounds worth a trip just for that.


Could be rose weevils. Other possibilities :Japanese bettles, hoplia beetles, june bugs...

Neem oil is my organic insecticide of choice. It doesn't harm beneficial insects, only the ones that actually munch on your plants.

I'll have to look into neem oil more, not harming beneficial insects is huge to me. The wikipedia page is kind of scary (talks about reproductive issues associated with it, potential liver damage in children.) I don't like that DE kills all insects and that's why I generally avoid it. I also worry about it being inhaled while spreading. Either way I've run out of time for the day so hopefully the roses will survive one more night of munching.

[fortato]

It's crazy that you're already dealing with June bugs.... we still have tons of snow here....


I hope your problem is solved!