Recently I noticed that my chili plant was dropping all its fruits even though it looks OK. It was in a pot and I decided to dig it up. I was shocked to find lots of these grubs in the soil. Yuks!!! ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) Yuks!!! ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) Yaki!!! ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) YUks! YuKS!! YUKS!!! ( photo / image / picture from KK Ng's Garden ) I usually get some of these grubby thing in my compost and I just pick them up and leave it somewhere where the birds can get at them. They look so disgusting. I googled it and I think they are Japanese beetles but I am not sure. They are bad right? Is there anyway to prevent this?
They feast on roots of plants, grasses, anything that grows. The ones I find are all brown, we call them June Bugs but they have several other names and are of the Genus Phyllophaga. The Japanese beetle larva is also a white grub that eats plant roots. I don't know what treatments are available and legal in Malaysia but there should some there that will kill the beetle and some that will help control the grubs.
KK, I don't think they are J beetles. Gross though. Feed them to the fish or birds. Is your plant dead? Try using some diatomecious earth if you have it available either for this plant or your new ones. Mix it into the soil and leave it there. I have seen it as an automotive product for oil spills, but you need to be 100% sure it is that and not clay. Health food stores may carry it as a natural additive for parasite control or for trace minerals in your diet. Maybe others will have some other ideas, too. But over here the J. Beetles feed on grass roots as grubs.
From the photos I have found it is difficult to differentiate between the Japanese Beetle grubs and the 'June Bug' grubs but either way they will kill plants in both the beetle and grub stages. The beetles themselves are easy to tell apart. Be sure the diatomaceous earth is food grade and not for swimming pools.
They look like what we call here - Leatherjackets. Not something I'd want to see in my garden. I hope you can get rid of them whatever they are.
Thank you all for your confirmation, what ever it is they are bad news. OK food grade diatomaceous earth it is ... it might be difficult to get it here but I'll add in my shopping list. Thanks again
You might also wish to look for Milky Spore powder. It is a soil treatment that infects the grubs. Said grubs then foster the milky spore as it multiplies. Voila, dead grubs, and inoculated soil. I buy and spread some every year, to cover previously untreated areas. It isn't cheap by any means. My Japanese Beetle/Jewel Bug problem has been significantly reduced.
I too have had good luck with Milky Spore for control of Japanese beetles. (Assuming that is what you have.) The latin name for milky spore is Bacillus popilliae (commercial preparation) or Bacillus thuringiensis (the naturally occurring bacterial form). It is expensive but you spread it on your lawn area and it grows in the soil and then infects the grubs, killing them. I think it is considered very safe as it is not a pesticide, but rather a biological control. BTW I am not an expert but those grubs look like Japanese beetle grubs to me. They definitely have the EEEWWW!!! factor going!
Thanks FBG, Cayuga Morning ... I was out the whole of yesterday morning looking for diatomaceous earth but no luck and spent the whole afternoon unearthing all the old pots to rid them of these yukkie critters. Milky Spore sounds much harder to get here but I will go hunting for it after the Chinese New Year.
KK try an experiment. I assume you can get plain old baking soda can`t you ? Sprinkle some on one of those grubs and see what happens. I have used it for some things and it seems to work.Might even add a teaspoon of granulated sugar to make it scratch more. Soft bodied critters don`t like to crawl on things that scratch. The DE can usually be found at health food stores. You might try there.
KK--If what you have are Japanese Beetles, I remember reading about a simple control: putting a bucket of water under any outside light. If you can reduce the beetle population in your yard, you will reduce the grub population in your soil. The idea about the bucket is that the lights at night attract the beetles, they are clumsy creatures, bump around & sometimes fall off the light into the bucket of water where they drown. I have done this & have found carcasses of drowned beetles. Of course, I don't know how effective it really is in making a dent in the beetle population in your yard. I don't remember where I read that, and in looking for the source, I came up with this website. It might be worth your checking out: http://www.gardeners.com/Control-Japane ... lt,pg.html It also has a photo of a Japanese beetle in beetle stage & that may help with identification.
Mart I'll pass on the baking soda and granulated sugar because those grubby thing cannot be seen until the earth is dug up. Yes I have tried pharmacy and health food store and they have no idea what DE is. Cayuga Morning, thanks for your suggestion and the link. I remember seeing this method being used in some rural area open air eateries to trap all sorts of insects. Instead of buckets, the make use of plastic bags filled with water and hung it just below the light bulb. The plastic bag looks disgusting filled with all sorts of flying insects. Now that I am just beside a primary jungle, I think I'll give it a pass. The link to the site is very informative but the materials are not available except by hand picking and neem oil. The neem oil is for cosmetic use and it cost about USD10 for 1 oz. I guess I'll have to continue with what I am doing now - seek and destroy!!! Hmmm ...maybe I should make a trip to Singapore.
