We are currently waging a battle against a "disaster of biblical proportions" to quote Dr. Peter Venkman.
Okay... maybe I exaggerate a tad. But maybe just a little . The particular beastie is known as the Rose Chafer Beetle. They invade from the ground up with two missions. To eat and mate, voraciously and simultaneously. We have waged war with this enemy before, but this year they have chosen the leaves of the elderberries as their love dens.
We have spent a total of 20 hours hand-picking them off and putting them in buckets of soapy water. Their numbers are less, but we are outnumbered. They have been sprayed with Neem, Neem with Surround and also hand-picked. Next plan of attack is neem with diatomaceous earth.
We have another week and a half, if we are lucky, before these guys disappear again. They are plotting to take on our beautiful crop of ripening strawberries next. Since they are in the ground, row covers are not an option.... so let's hope the Neem/DE combo works....
Okay... maybe I exaggerate a tad. But maybe just a little . The particular beastie is known as the Rose Chafer Beetle. They invade from the ground up with two missions. To eat and mate, voraciously and simultaneously. We have waged war with this enemy before, but this year they have chosen the leaves of the elderberries as their love dens.
We have spent a total of 20 hours hand-picking them off and putting them in buckets of soapy water. Their numbers are less, but we are outnumbered. They have been sprayed with Neem, Neem with Surround and also hand-picked. Next plan of attack is neem with diatomaceous earth.
We have another week and a half, if we are lucky, before these guys disappear again. They are plotting to take on our beautiful crop of ripening strawberries next. Since they are in the ground, row covers are not an option.... so let's hope the Neem/DE combo works....
The First Two Strawberries of the season
RSS Feed