The Blister Beetle Has Arrived
Every year around this time, a black beetle shows up on some weeds in our yard. This portends the arrival of many more of its kind. Our garden seems to be a favorite place to fill up their little stomachs and they don’t waste any time but get right to work – decimating an entire tomato plant in just a few days.
This year I am determined that they will not get my 4 beautiful tomato plants so as soon as I saw the beetles had arrived I became proactive and covered my tomato plants with row cover.
Going out to the garden yesterday I found the little pests on my bean plants. Not good. Not good at all. I then started catching them in a cup and feeding them to my chickens. The chickens enjoyed the change in their diet for a while but I guess they reached their limit because they would completely ignore the beetle even when placed right in front of them.
Controlling the Blister Beetle
I then gathered my weapons together and prepared to fight the enemy in a new way. Here are my fancy tools.
A can filled 1/3 of the way with water (you can add soap, too. it seems to kill them quicker than straight water) a stick and a smashed cup.
When the beetles arrive, you will find them first on this weed.
The weeds aren’t destroyed like my garden plants, which is a crying shame.
After they receive strength and nourishment from the weed, 🙁 they then move on to my garden plants. I found them yesterday on this hot pepper plant.
I started doing some research online as to what kind of beetle it was but could not figure it out. I finally called the local nursery thinking that if they were in my yard, they had to be all around the area. The lady gave me the names of 3 different beetles that we have problems with in our locale. One of them was the very beetle I have – the Blister Beetle.
I am thrilled to finally have a name for this nemesis.
As I found the blister beetles clinging to a plant leaf, I would knock it into my cup with the stick and then dump them in the water where they can’t escape.
Today when I checked my garden I found 1 instead of 30! I plan to be very vigilant and guard my tomato plants, beans and peppers with my awesome aresenal of weapons – a can, a stick and a smashed plastic cup. Organic pest control all the way! 🙂
8 Comments
Lily
The book I reference in such cases is, “The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control”. Sounds as if you are doing all the right things!
Anna
You sound very much like my mother. :D) (And that’s a very good thing.)
Emily
I’m relatively new to your blog – where do live? We don’t have blister beetles in north TX, and I don’t remember them growing up in MN either.
Elisabeth
I’m in Arizona, Emily.
I read that Blister Beetles are actually throughout the U.S. They may or may not look the same as mine. Thankfully, they are only a problem for about 2-3 months for me. As of now, I haven’t seen one for the last few days. Good news!
John
Those beetles look rather large so I’m not sure if it would work or not, but have you considered placing some praying mantises in your garden? Might be a natural way to help keep those beetles at bay and even if they didn’t do the trick they would still help with other pests.
Elisabeth
I have a hearty dislike for preying mantis’s so I don’t think I could bring them to my garden. We do have them here at our house. They eat our screens. 🙁 We collected some for a terrarium one year for us to watch and learn about nature. We never looked at them the same way ever again. It was quite an experience. http://treasuringthemoments.net/2013/07/08/a-nasty-surprise/
Arielle Sproul
Im a Pest Control owner. This bug looks like the American Oil Beetle which is one type of a Blister Beetle like you found out. Your method is actually very good but takes time so I salute you for that. 🙂 reminds me of taking of ticks from a pet dog
Jake Smith
It is my first time to see that kind of Beetles, i seem like i want them to include to my insect collection, haha just kidding,