It's that time of the season....

[matoman]

It's come to that point in the Garden Season that I face my two most annoying problems...

The first...Bacterial Wilt on my tomato plants.

My third plant this season is showing those tender new branch wilting signs that can lead to the whole plant going south in about a week. Two of the three plants are in sections of the garden that did not have any plants that are sensitive to this wilt in years...one of the plants is in a newly dug bed this year. It's frustrating to see a 4 to 5 tall tomato plant suddenly start wilting. At this point I keep my fingers crossed for all of my plants.

My second issue....The Asiatic Garden Beetle

I do not have that much trouble with Japanese Beetles (My neighbor has Rose Bushes - Thanks Neighbor....and I plant Marigolds to use the flowers as trap plants. The Asiatic Garden Beetle can do just as much damage as the Japanese Beetle but the difference is they only come out at night. So my neighbors think I'm crazy walking around my garden at 10:30 at night with a flashlight and catch jar. Last nights catch...about thirty of those little pains in the butt. They have a particular fondness for sunflower leaves, basil and zinnia...but if it's green and has a leaf they will eat it. This process will become a nightly ritual until I see reduced numbers. This year is not as bad as a few years back when I had what would be called an infestation...not a good sunflower year that year.

So....tell me I'm not the only person suffering with certain garden nemesis issues. Anyone troubled with bacterial wilt or Asiatic Garden Beetles? Any hints or suggestions....am I doing something wrong?

[Blueaussi]

Originally Posted by matoman

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My second issue....The Asiatic Garden Beetle

*raises hand*

I could not believe the number of grubs I uncovered while tilling this spring.

[aninocentangel]

Asiatic garden beetle? Are they the junebug looking things that I've got flying around?

[matoman]

no they don't look like June Bugs...not that big and they are solid brown. Also you will only see them at night....they have a bit of sheen to them when the light shines on them. Google them there are some good pictures.

[aninocentangel]

We have some big junebugs, and we have some small junebugs. I don't know if they're active much during the day (I'm sure not) but I do know that they're all over the porch when I'm there at night. I put up the bug zapper the other night when I brought a few inside the house with me in my hair.
The things that I was taught are junebugs are solid brown, just about the same color as a palmetto bug, although I noticed one or two of the smaller ones are black too.

[Blueaussi]

What I have always called a June bug is green/gold; it looks more like a Japanese beetle. http://www.jdmpics.com/green-june-beetle-2.htm


Asiatic Garden Beetles are gold/brown.
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/veg/ht...tmsg2007_8.htm

(scroll down)

[aninocentangel]

I'm pretty sure that's what they are. I haven't seen them in the daytime, or under good lighting, but they look exactly like this and are the same color as in the picture from what I can tell. Some are about the size of a quarter, some are about the size of a penny, and some of the penny sized ones are darker brown/black. Having googled I saw the grubs that y'all were talking about, and yes, we've found them both in the yard and in the garden. My mom always called them Junebugs.

[matoman]

The "AGB" catch tonight was 50 - 60, hopefully enough to make a difference. The funny part...as I was locking up my shed I had a very large raccoon scare the crap out of me...I think the feeling was mutual. :-)

[chalstonsc]

matoman-
I've lost two of the four "extras" I put into the ground so far.
Several years ago I switched to growing in containers because of bacterial wilt that won't go away.