Does anyone know how to get rid of beetles in the yard? All of a sudden, they are swarming our yards at night, eating all the leaves from the Golden Glory ground cover, the dwarf heliconia, the impatiens, bush beans and now, banana leaves. We spray, but it is not a permanent solution. Chinese rose beetle
hard to get out of yardFrom your description, the insect experts surmise the pest is the Chinese rose beetle.
The adult is about half an inch long, dark brown and feeds on leaves at night.
Many people prefer not to spray, and if only one plant is affected, some actually just hand pick the beetles off the bush, said Dick Tsuda, an insect identification specialist at the University of Hawaii's Insect Diagnostic Clinic.
And although you say spraying hasn't really worked, that's the best recommendation for now.
In general, carbaryl (sold as Sevin) works well, said Tsuda, noting Sevin has "general ornamental clearance." Since you mentioned beans, he recommends checking the label to see how many days you should wait before harvesting edible plants.
Also, because Sevin is toxic to bees and parasitic wasps, which are natural enemies of white flies and other pests, timing is important, Tsuda said.
Fortunately, Chinese rose beetles feed at night, so if you spray an hour before darkness "that solves the problem."
Tsuda also noted that the beetles avoid feeding on plants under direct light, such as street lamps.
His colleagues at the UH-Hilo -- Lorna Arita Tsutsumi, Sheldon Furutani and Elda Yoshimura -- have produced a brochure on the Chinese rose beetle, calling it "a serious pest of many agriculturally important crops" since its accidental introduction here in the 1890s. Research is continuing on noninsecticide ways of controlling the beetles, including chemical lures, traps and microbial agents, but, so far, insecticides work best.
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