Monday, August 11, 2008

Mystery pest

These beetles were eating the shrubs outside Al Johnson's. They're pretty big, about the size of my pinkie fingernail.
I haven't seen them in Colorado, but maybe I haven't been looking, either.

Do you know what it is?

10 comments:

  1. Sure looks like a Japanese beetle to me. Unless I've been misidentifying them all my life --- always possible. I can remember years from my childhood (in MD, decades ago) where they were thick on the bushes around my house. I still see them from time to time but not like in days of old.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Does this mean Japanese beetles aren't common in CO? From where I sit you are lucky, lucky to have bees and relatively few Japanese beetles!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The best way to get rid of these beetles is just to pick them off into a bucket of soapy water. Don't get a Japanese Beetle trap as they just attract japanese beetles from the entire area

    ReplyDelete
  4. It looks like what we called June bugs in Arizona when I was a kid. It's very possible that a June bug and Japanese beetle are one and the same??

    We were awful, I guess. We used to catch them and tie a thread to a leg and fly them around like toy airplanes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh run away!!! Can't get them out of my back yard, they eat everything. So very happy they aren't common enough that you recognize them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks, Pam. That helps.

    Apparently the Japanese beetle is not common in Colorado, though it has shown up in a couple of places. It's very destructive!

    Peggy, if I see any, I will definitely be getting rid of them. Thanks for the tip.

    ReplyDelete
  7. (Sorry, there was a delay on my comment. I'm out in the hinterlands of Net access.)

    Kathi, too small for a June bug, though we do have those. Such as the 10-lined June beetle, which I've seen a few more of since I saw my first one last summer. They are big and bumbling and would indeed make good amusement for kids.

    Alecto, I will cross my fingers that they don't become common here. We have enough other things that eat our gardens.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ugh. I haven't seen these things since we left Illinois. They ate up all my dinnerplate dahlias. The best way to get rid of them is to drop them in hot water.

    After that? Eat them? Ewwwww!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Manisha, I'll leave the taste-testing to you! Looks like we're free of them in CO anyway.

    Kathi, definitely!

    ReplyDelete