zillions of scarabs

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kabocha Alpine, TX(Zone 7b) Jul 13, 2006

Help! What are these small (1/4 to 3/8") brown scarab type beetles that are trying to denude my little peach trees in the night? Last year I spent many hours late at night pulling them off the branches and dropping them in a bucket of water, but more always came the next night. Should I spray the trees with Neem - or spray it right on the bugs? No poisons, please. There are so many, they cluster on the screens at night, trying to get in to the light.

Hey - maybe a light trap could be constructed. Anyone know anything about that?

kabocha

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CarolJeanie Monon, IN Jul 13, 2006

If you do a google image search under peach beetles you may find the bug you are trying to identify. I get great big orange and green shiny beetles flying around my garden, but they never seem to land on and eat anything. Seems like maybe they just want to tour my garden!

I think what you have are some kind of June beetle.

Hmmm...I just reread your message. Maybe those beetles I just mentioned do their feeding at night. But nothing in my garden is chewed up...?

Sorry to hear about your little peach trees. Anyway, try the search under "peach beetles." Identification is the first step in figuring out how to control a pest.

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kabocha Alpine, TX(Zone 7b) Jul 13, 2006

Hi CarolJeanie,

Thanks for the tip - I did a search, and the word defoliating brought up something: they are a type of June beetle called the European Chafer, mostly known for grub damage in lawns. Only discovered in the U.S. in 2001. Since I have no lawn - its just a continuation of the prairie - I never noticed grub damage, but that explains why skunks keep digging holes next to the walkway, and what that humming swarm was in the cedar tree above it a few weeks ago. Apparently there is a predatory nematode that has some effect on the larvae, I'm on its trail now.

kabocha

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CarolJeanie Monon, IN Jul 13, 2006

Yup. Either nematodes or bacteria. Two different ways of parasitizing those nasty grubs. Wish you luck with it. I understand it can take a couple of years for the nematodes or the bacteria to multiply to the point where the grubs are being hurt badly enough to make a real difference.

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