Tortoise beetle

g8shot1 · May 28, 2011

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ortoise+beetle

These guys are back in our garden in a big way right now., pic and comment from last year in the link above. Not sure if it was word of mouth amongst the beetle clan or the fact that we more than doubled the size of our garden this year.

I plucked and pinched maybe 30 of them this morning before deciding to try a spray. There are several holes in the lower leaves of every plant we have.

Trying a mix of 1/4 teaspoon rotenone pyrethrin with a quart of water in a fine mist sprayer. I read that it takes a few days to work and should be reapplied after 5 or 6 days. If I remember last year, the beetles all disappeared by mid June.

Shari · August 17, 2011

Thanks for that repost - I am new and found this site looking specifically to identify this menace that has appeared on my 3 container tomatoes. Nobody had ever seen one, I googled til my fingers were raw and nothing. Started out as green (camoflauged on tomato leaf) flat oval that looked like it had a clump of dirt on it, have to peel them off the leaf - they stick when smaller than the pic you included. but they are transforning to looks just like the pic. Now I know what they are !! I cannot thank you enough, now to get rid of them. I had jarred them in case they were good bugs, but concensus seems to be - bad bug.

fortyonenorth · August 17, 2011

Never saw these prior to this year. They didn't do a huge amount of damage here, but they were out in force during the early part of the season. Cute little buggers - at least as far as garden pests are concerned.

May 28, 2011	#1
g8shot1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Gardiner, NY Posts: 121	Tortoise beetle http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ortoise+beetle These guys are back in our garden in a big way right now., pic and comment from last year in the link above. Not sure if it was word of mouth amongst the beetle clan or the fact that we more than doubled the size of our garden this year. I plucked and pinched maybe 30 of them this morning before deciding to try a spray. There are several holes in the lower leaves of every plant we have. Trying a mix of 1/4 teaspoon rotenone pyrethrin with a quart of water in a fine mist sprayer. I read that it takes a few days to work and should be reapplied after 5 or 6 days. If I remember last year, the beetles all disappeared by mid June. __________________ Zone 5a

August 17, 2011	#2
Shari Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: SE Michigan Posts: 2	Thank You! Thanks for that repost - I am new and found this site looking specifically to identify this menace that has appeared on my 3 container tomatoes. Nobody had ever seen one, I googled til my fingers were raw and nothing. Started out as green (camoflauged on tomato leaf) flat oval that looked like it had a clump of dirt on it, have to peel them off the leaf - they stick when smaller than the pic you included. but they are transforning to looks just like the pic. Now I know what they are !! I cannot thank you enough, now to get rid of them. I had jarred them in case they were good bugs, but concensus seems to be - bad bug.

August 17, 2011	#3
fortyonenorth Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NW Indiana Posts: 1,150	Never saw these prior to this year. They didn't do a huge amount of damage here, but they were out in force during the early part of the season. Cute little buggers - at least as far as garden pests are concerned.