Beetlemania — and not the good kind
Shiny little beasts can destroy your roses
When I was a teenager, the mere mention of the name Beatles would cause my heart to skip a beat — they called it Beatlemania.
Today, there’s a different form of beetlemania on my block — Japanese beetlemania — and it is not pretty.
Japanese beetles are slightly more than a centimetre long with metallicgreen heads, copper backs and spiny black legs. Don’t be fooled by their shiny coats, they are not friendly visitors like butterflies and bees. They usually feed in small groups, it’s not unusual to find two (or more) beetles engorging themselves on a single rose.
Before you spot a single Japanese beetle, you might find clues that they have invaded your garden. Look for ‘skeletonized’ leaves (only the veins of the leaves remain), or ‘dirty’ looking rose blossoms. Within a day or two of sighting the dirty looking buds and flowers, copper and green beetles can be found burrowing right into the heart of your choice roses, leaving a disgusting trail of beetlejuice (excrement) in their wake — I warned you that this would not be pretty.
Mature Japanese beetles lay eggs in the soil in the late summer which develop into dirty white grubs with brown heads; they will live underground and feed on the roots of lawn grasses and garden plants until the following summer. They emerge from the ground in June (rose season) and live for about 40 days; needless to say, they are prolific breeders. One generation occurs every one to two years, according to “The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control.” The grubs can leave your lawn marked with brown patches of dying grass.
Japanese beetles were inadvertently introduced into the United States from Japan in the early 1900s. Entomologists believe the grubs were present in the soil on Japanese iris roots imported into the country. Today, in order to prevent similar infestations, you cannot import plants with soil.
Japanese beetles feed on many plants (some 300 varieties of flowers and crops, according to the Farmer’s Almanac), but they particularly favour roses as well as beans, grapes and raspberries.
Once a rose is infested, you will see the beetles tunnelling right through the lush petals, nose down into the heart of the rose, butt end up. Occasionally, they will drop to the ground if they are disturbed, but once they are committed to eating through the lush rose petals, they dig in their claws (and jaws) and stay put. What can you do? Arm yourself with a bucket of soapy water and a pair of sharp secateurs. No harsh chemicals required for this task, just a good squirt of liquid dish detergent in eight to 10 centimetres of water in a tall bucket. You want the bucket deep enough that they can’t fly or crawl out. Cut the affected roses one at a time and shake the flowers in the bucket of water — usually the beetles will fall into the water and drown. If they are persistent, swish the rose around in the water and tap the flower against the side of the bucket. If the beasts will still not loosen their grip, plunge the rose into the water and leave it be. Inspect all of the open roses and treat any affected ones with the soapy water. Leave the bucket in the garage or shed overnight, then discard the water.
In an attempt to thwart the infestation, I stripped all of the clean buds off my roses a few weeks ago and brought the flowers inside to enjoy — there’s no use leaving a buffet for the beasts. As the next wave of roses appeared, I vigilantly monitored them for unwanted visitors. I discovered a few more beetles over the weekend; the contaminated roses were cut and treated to a bucket of soapy water.
For what it’s worth, hand-picking (however disgusting) is the most effective way of getting rid of Japanese beetles. It takes time, but it works. There are recipes for home brewed insecticides, but they are not very effective and may damage your plants. Traps can be helpful, but they may attract more Japanese beetles to your site, and that just defeats the whole purpose.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac suggests growing geraniums as a natural deterrent. Japanese beetles eat the blossoms, get dizzy from the natural chemicals in the geranium, fall down and then you can just pick them up and dispose of them. It could work so long as you can sit around and wait for them to get dizzy and drop, but who has that much time? Just pick up the beasts and drop them into the soapy water.
Mid-summer is a light blooming season for my roses; I will continue to cut the flowers, give them a rinse in fresh water and bring them inside. After all the work I’ve put into my new roses, if anyone is going to enjoy them, it will be me and not some freeloading beetle.
So much for beetlemania.