We've got these on some of our plants - the lily pictured

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l17/Number774/100_0678%20Little%20beetles_zpsao970u2q.jpg

AKA

http://tinyurl.com/ocr7n5v

and on some other plants - notably roses and peonies. I have a feeling
that this is the reason the flowers are getting a bit dog-eared. The
lily has also had a few go brown without even opening. So 2 questions

- Are the brown, not opening, flowers likely to be the beetles? Another
candidate is drought...

- Is there anything I can spray the little b**s with that won't kill the
bees? I'm kind of reluctant to try to get them all off with a pooter,
there are _hundreds_!

Andy
--
For those who don't know
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirator_%28entomology%29 is a pooter.

"Vir Campestris" wrote

We've got these on some of our plants - the lily pictured

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l17/Number774/100_0678%20Little%20beetles_zpsao970u2q.jpg

AKA

http://tinyurl.com/ocr7n5v

and on some other plants - notably roses and peonies. I have a feeling that
this is the reason the flowers are getting a bit dog-eared. The lily has
also had a few go brown without even opening. So 2 questions

- Are the brown, not opening, flowers likely to be the beetles? Another
candidate is drought...

- Is there anything I can spray the little b**s with that won't kill the
bees? I'm kind of reluctant to try to get them all off with a pooter,
there are _hundreds_!


Well they certainly are not Lily Beetle which are much larger and bright
red. They actually look like Flea Beetle but I understood they confined
themselves to brassicas (or my wife's bright yellow blouse!)
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 05/07/15 21:35, Vir Campestris wrote:
We've got these on some of our plants - the lily pictured

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l17/Number774/100_0678%20Little%20beetles_zpsao970u2q.jpg

AKA

http://tinyurl.com/ocr7n5v

and on some other plants - notably roses and peonies. I have a feeling
that this is the reason the flowers are getting a bit dog-eared. The
lily has also had a few go brown without even opening. So 2 questions

- Are the brown, not opening, flowers likely to be the beetles? Another
candidate is drought...

- Is there anything I can spray the little b**s with that won't kill the
bees? I'm kind of reluctant to try to get them all off with a pooter,
there are _hundreds_!

Andy

Looks like they could be pollen beetles.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=799

--

Jeff

On 06/07/2015 07:52, Jeff Layman wrote:

Looks like they could be pollen beetles.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=799

There are other reasons why that would match:

"Heavy infestations of pollen beetles are more likely to occur in rural
areas in the vicinity of oil-seed rape crops."

And the nearest oilseed rape is a good 10m away! Since it's no longer
flowering they will of course be heading for any flowers they can see.
And it also seems they are harmless, so I'll put the brown flowers down
to drought. The lilies have certainly picked up since I gave them a good
soaking - and then it rained. Not much, but a bit.

Thanks

Andy

Ah yes, they certtainly do look like pollen beetles.
I live in rural Lincolnshire, surrounded by rape fields and at this time of the year they are everywhere.
Mad the big mistake of going in the garden yesterday wearing an orangey yellow t-shirt. Was covered in the little blighters within minutes!
Harmless things

John

In article ,
Johno wrote:
Ah yes, they certtainly do look like pollen beetles.
I live in rural Lincolnshire, surrounded by rape fields and at this time of the year they are everywhere.
Mad the big mistake of going in the garden yesterday wearing an orangey yellow t-shirt. Was covered in the little blighters within minutes!
Harmless things

A nuisance in flowering brassica, being eaten, but harmless even in
quantity :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 07/07/2015 11:30, Nick Maclaren wrote:
A nuisance in flowering brassica, being eaten, but harmless even in
quantity:-)

A few days have passed, and I'm backing off on the harmless.

We seem to be suffering a lot of plants not flowering well. On close
examination of a rose there were several hundred of the little
blighters, and the petals are all chewed up

Andy

On 14/07/2015 21:39, Vir Campestris wrote:

A few days have passed, and I'm backing off on the harmless.

We seem to be suffering a lot of plants not flowering well. On close
examination of a rose there were several hundred of the little
blighters, and the petals are all chewed up

It isn't just me.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/bug-s-life-billions-pollen-beetles-thrive/story-26891832-detail/story.html
AKA
http://tinyurl.com/qc4jwhj

Andy