Purple-striped green beetles, 8mm long, congregate among the leaves, which they feed on. The beetles lay elongated eggs beneath the leaves from September and continue to do so on warm days right through winter. These hatch after a couple of weeks and the larvae feed on the plants for about three weeks before entering the soil to pupate. Two weeks later the adults emerge and continue munching through the leaves and laying their eggs.
Solution
Organic
Pick off the adult beetles and larvae by hand and destroy.
Chemical
Spray with an insecticide - bifenthrin, thiocloprid or imidacloprid - between late summer and spring. Avoid using insecticide when the plants are in flower as bees may also be killed.
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Before using thiacloprid, imidacloprid, acetamocloprid or any other neonicotinoid pesticide, I recommed visiting the Buglife website, to read their report summarising independent research on neonicotinoids. They kill bees & other non-target insects - eg. butterflies etc. Miniscule amounts impair the ability of insect to function resulting inevitably in death. Also, seek out the fact sheets from the US environment agency -you may get a shock! We used to manage without them & can now.
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kaycurtis rated and commented on this article
02 April 2009
4 out of 5
never ending battle all these bugs, need more of the good guys
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