Leaf Beetle on roses

Category: Roses | Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:43 pm

This is a type of Leaf beetle. Because of the exetreme damage it did to my roses Ive decided to start a blog on just this critter.

Damage done to roses

If you see damage done to the rose that looks like the roses above, pull the petals off and you will see this beetle inside.

I was testing different organic treatments on my roses. The Don Juan wasnt treated and it went through the blooms in a matter of two days.

I treated all my roses with a health does of cayenne pepper spray yesterday. I get up this morning and went to check on them. Not a bug anywhere on my roses EXCEPT for this beetle. Over night , it took out the blooms on my Blue Girl, Knockout Rose (which is pest resistant), Gold MasterPeice , Cyrstal Fairy and all my mini roses. It attacks only the flowers and the results are devasting.

I grabbed a few samples of the beetle and headed to the closest pest control company. I had a good talk with one of the tecs. He said that the leaf beetle, of any sort, will destroy anything with a leaf or bloom. But this kind is just on the blooms and he says that he nor his co workers have ever seen this beetle before (he kept the samples). I told him about trying to use only organic treatments and he only shook his head. He says that the only thing that will wipe these guys (leaf beetles) is Melothion Liquid.

Sadly, I will have to chemically treat my roses.

Below is a link to leaf beetles with pics.
http://www.uga.edu/vegetable/beetles.html

The closest I could come to IDing this beetle was the Sweet Potato Flea Beetle and the Bean Leaf Beetle.

Warning! They do bite!

Last edited: Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:21 pm

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