Topic: Beetle ID please and how to eradicate them

[Paulines7]

Last year we were inundated with June Beetles which stripped the leaves off our young fruit trees.  This year we have tiny torquoise beetles that are decimating all our young woodland sapling that we planted in the Autumn of 2007.  The beetles are less than one quarter of an inch long but have done a lot of damage. 

Does anyone know what they are and how we can eradicate them without posing a threat to birds please?

[saddad]

I assume there are too many to just squish...  :-\

[Unwashed]

Looks like a leaf weevil.  Best control is a natural balance.  Just let them get on with it.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Have you got shrubs or hedges nearby? If there's a population of tits, then a feeder should bring them in.

[Paulines7]

I assume there are too many to just squish...  :-\

We have about one hundred saplings all about 1 to 1½ feet tall with hare guards around them.  The leaves are just starting to poke out the top now and to get to the beetles we have to take the guards off.  The beetles then fall to the ground and are lost in the rough grass.  All the ones we have seen so far have been mating so I want to get rid of them before they lay eggs.

Looks like a leaf weevil.  Best control is a natural balance.  Just let them get on with it.

Will the saplings survive without leaves?  There are probably about ten leaves on each tree and some have been eaten so much that there is no growth left.

Have you got shrubs or hedges nearby? If there's a population of tits, then a feeder should bring them in.

Plenty of birds in the garden and trees and hedges surround the paddock.  Here are some more pictures.  I am wondering whether or not to take the hare guards off so that I can get to the beetles.  Then the hares or mice might chew the bark!

[thifasmom]

why not try removing some of the long grass as they appear to be hiding there and what about applying some vasiline on the inside of the guard at the lowest point possible and some on the stake and some in a ring around the sapling to stop them climbing up.

don't know if those would help, wishing you luck.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Tits don't like going that far from cover. Pity.

[Bjerreby]

I'd be wary what I'm doing if I were you. It looks to me like a green tiger beetle, Cincindela campestris. If it is, then it might be there hunting for the real culprits who have eaten your leaves!

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/pictures/showphoto.php/photo/78977

http://www-biol.paisley.ac.uk/bioref/Animalia_inverts/Cicindela_campestris.html

[Mushy Pea]

I don't think the picture of yours is a giant tiger beetle. Looks more like our native green leaf weevil.

http://www.gardenseeker.com/plant_pests_problems/plant-pests/leaf_weevil_damage.htm

Good luck with your trees.

MP

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's definitely not a tiger beetle, I used to see them regularly. They're metallic green, very active, ground-dwelling, with long dark legs.

[Unwashed]

Oaks are pretty neat.  They have a reserve set of leaf buds for just this eventuality.  Establishing saplings is another matter.  Oaks are tricky because unless they're grown from seed in situ their tap root gets damaged and they struggle to take off, and a stressed tree is very susceptible to predators.  Oaks also don't naturally establish best in the open - they're a forest tree.  You could plant some birch to help them along.  Are they locally native?  Oaks from a tree nursary could have come from anywhere, but if they're grown from local natives you're getting a degree of local adaptation which is helpful.  Where are you in Wiltshire?  Oak's do well in places - just take a look in Savanake - but if you're on chalk they won't be happiest anyway.  What are the dominat locals - oak or beech?  If  you have rabbits and deer then they need protection, but you might have to fence the copse rather than use tree guards so that the weevil predators can do their thing - I've never seen a tree establish well inside a tree guard.

[Paulines7]

You could plant some birch to help them along.  Are they locally native?
Oaks from a tree nursary could have come from anywhere, but if they're grown from local natives you're getting a degree of local adaptation which is helpful. 

We have 15 saplings each of oak, birch, sweet chestnut, wild cherry, beech and field maple which were purchased from the Woodlands Trust and are all native trees

Where are you in Wiltshire?  Oak's do well in places - just take a look in Savanake - but if you're on chalk they won't be happiest anyway.  What are the dominat locals - oak or beech? 

We are on the edge of Salisbury Plain but the soil in the paddock is about ph7.  There are oaks and beeches thriving in our village.  We also have an oak tree which is about 7 years old and that is doing really well.  

If  you have rabbits and deer then they need protection, but you might have to fence the copse rather than use tree guards so that the weevil predators can do their thing - I've never seen a tree establish well inside a tree guard.


It is too large an area to fence off and it would be far too costly.  Mice chewed through the bark of two of our young cherry trees and our apple tree last year and the trees died so fencing off would not stop them.

We looked at the saplings again this evening and they now have small red balls on them which we assume are the eggs yet they are firmly attached, almost as if the beetle has pierced the stem and laid an egg inside.  Ants were on the leaves too and appeared to be licking these small eggs.  Any suggestions?

Thank you all for your input into this problem

[MrBean]

Hmmm,........ another subject to study, (makes note to find some time  8) ).

I would see two problems your trees may have. One is the hare guards as they stop birds getting to the leaves and picking off the bugs. the other is the grass growing right up to the base. This will hinder the tree considerably. I put weed fabric down round trees. The bigger area the better, but 2' to 3' across would help. I planted oaks years ago particularly because so many things lived on them. They've been munched and battered, but still surviving. They won't make good timber though.