Rosemary beetle

[beeter]

Hi,

First ever posting...

...I've just found what i'm fairly sure is a Rosemary beetle on my lavender in the garden. What should i do with it?

Kill or leave?

[sunnydale]

Hi beeter and welcome

I wouldn't kill it personally, as it's not the beetles fault that it likes to eat Lavender!

It's best to remove it from your garden pretty quickly, if you want the plant to survive the Summer!

Perhaps take it somewhere and release it, then hope it finds it's way to someone else's garden instead of yours!

Tracey

[Deb London]

I have been told I should squish them. I don't though.

They are welcome in my garden, but I haven't seen one yet this year. All the plants they like didn't do too well this time. (Will have to ferret around for some Rosemary seeds.)

[aeshna5]

A couple of years ago I was seeing plenty of these but the cold winters do seem to have knocked them back a bit. I tolerate them +it's only when there are a lot do they seem to make any real impact.

[jeremiah]

I "tolerated" the little blighters on my rosemary for over two years. They chewed it to bits. Last October/November when I saw the grubs and adults again I sprayed the bush. (Drenched it).

This spring, for the first time in three years, my rosemary has flowered and I've had two sorts of bee-flies, bumblebees, honey bees and some very tiny bees that don't stay still long enough for pictures.

I don't normally spray anything, my "garden" has plants that have survived snails, slugs, greenfly, caterpillars, and never being watered, but if I ever see rosemary beetle again, I won't hesitate to spray. I think the rosemary is more important as a food source for bees, especially in an urban area.

[Deb London]

I had a look this afternoon and found just the one, and the bush appeared to be healthy. So no need for action. It'd be by hand if required, and I rather lose the lavender plant than spray.

[jeremiah]

My rosemary was infested; it would have been too difficult to find all the grubs among the leaves.

I should have said, I would never spray at this time of year, it would have to be late autumn when other insects are dormant. Rosemary beetle breeds actively during the winter (I've seen them. )

[Kayleigh]

The blue-tits and sparrows seem to pick grubs off mine all the time so I would never spray anything and let them do the pest control for me.

[jeremiah]

"The blue-tits and sparrows seem to pick grubs off mine all the time so I would never spray anything and let them do the pest control for me. "

Sadly birds don't come near mine (maybe it's too close to the pavement.)

I took these pictures in the middle of January 2009:

[Klaas Reißmann]

Before you kill those beetles it would be nicer to send them over to me. *rofl*

Regards
Klaas