Mint leaf beetle

Symptoms

Holes in leaves, made by iridescent green beetles and their and fat, black grubs.

Find it on mint, pennyroyal
Time to act May-September

Overview

The mint leaf beetle, Chrysolina herbacea is a native, iridescent green beetle that feeds on the leaves of the mint family in the south of the UK. Both the adults and their fat, black larvae feast on the foliage.


Solution

Holes in leaves, made by iridescent green beetles and their and fat, black grubs.

Organic

Mint is a prolific plant, so there's no need to control the beetles. If you're worried, you could try growing pennyroyal, Mentha pulegium as a sacrificial crop, or simply remove beetles and larvae by hand and squish them.

Chemical

Again, there's no real need to control the beetle, but you can kill them by spraying with a bug spray that contains imidacloprid or thiacloprid. Both imidacloprid and thiacloprid are systemic pesticides, meaning they are absorbed into the plant and can be present in concentrated forms in the nectar and pollen of flowers. If you do use these chemicals, remove any flowers before they open, as they will also kill any bees that visit them.



Discuss this problem

Talkback: Mint leaf beetle
Your comment will appear after a quick registration step