Managing Picnic Beetles (Sap Beetles)

Don’t share the harvest with picnic beetles this summer. Regular harvesting and sanitation can help reduce problems with this garden pest.

Picnic beetles are small, up to ¼” long, brown or black oval-shaped insects that have a knob on the end of each antenna.

These insects feed on fruits and vegetables in the garden such as corn, tomatoes, raspberries, strawberries and muskmelons. They’re usually secondary pests, meaning they feed on the fruit that was already damaged by another insect or disease. The picnic beetles are attracted to the fermenting fruit and vegetables. Once in the garden, they may also feed on undamaged produce.

Regular harvesting and removal of damaged fruit from the plants and surrounding soil will eliminate their food source and reduce damage.

You can reduce their populations with traps of overripe fruit, stale beer or a molasses-yeast and water mix. Empty the traps and replace the bait every three to four days.

A bit more information: Skip the pesticides. Since these insects are present during harvest, spraying is not practical. The wait time between spraying and harvest means you will have more overripe fruit and vegetables in the garden. And that means more food to attract the picnic beetles.

Tags

raspberries harvest problems-pests-weeds vegetables-herbs-fruits sanitation tomatoes strawberries corn melon

Related

Article

Crops to Grow with Limited Sun

Article

Harvesting Watermelon

Article

Growing Watermelon in Zone 5

Article

Pinching Watermelon Plants to Control Growth

Article

Seedless Watermelon

Article

Enormous Pumpkins

Article

Growing Burning Bush

Article

Vine Crops Wilted and Died

Article

No Fruit on Melon and Cucumber Plants

• ← Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6 (current)
• 7
• 8
• Next →