Beetle-friend or foe?
Stephanie newish gardener
Posts: 516
Does anyone know whether the beetle in the pic is worth putting back onto my twisted willow tree or should I squash it as a pest?
Each year the tree gets attacked by something, and in previous years we have found caterpillars on it. The leaves get stripped off the tree very quickly so now we try to keep an eye on things. Since we last had caterpillars we have moved from Fife to Aberdeenshire and I now think we have a different set of pests.
Today I found a number of little shiny beetles on it, as well as what look like greenfly (tho could be green eggs?) and already there are black spots (could be more eggs?) and white patches and holes in some leaves. The white patches seem to be left after the black spots have gone
I have trapped a number of beetles in a jar ready to either squish them or put them back on the tree, so any advice would be welcome.
Posts
I am not sure, but possibly it is a member of the Sphaeritidae family. Apparently, when disturbed they pull their legs into groves in the body and play dead. If so, they are predators and therefore harmless to your plants,
These beetles will be after the aphids and caterpillars so put them back on the tree and let them do their work
Any idea how I stop the black spots that then become the white patches? The caterpillars we had in Fife were from the tiger moth but we haven't had them up here in Aberdeenshire so I'm not sure what the pests are apart from probably greenfly (rather than green eggs!)
the patches could be caused by thrips