It seems like every year I have a new pest problem to deal with when it comes to my hibiscus. Two years ago it was spider mites, last year it was those stupid stink bugs, and this year it is Japanese beetles!
But here is the weird thing... They seem to be attacking only one CV... And of course it had to be the one I was most excited to get this year.....Winter Wonderland!
I have about 40-50 hibiscus, and about 60% of them are producing buds and flowers at the moment. But for some reason, these damn beetles only seem to be ruining the buds on Winter Wonderland. Last week it had a bud that was going to open in a few days.... I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas morning to see this one bloom. Then one morning I was horrified to discover that there was a hole bored all the way through the bud!!! I wanted to cry. Upon closer inspection, I saw two beetles inside the bud. (God, I hope they weren't making baby beetles in there!) I quickly sprayed them and disposed of them. The bud eventually fell off. So this week another bud was forming, and I again was watching it like a hawk. I even sprayed all of my plants with Bayer 3-in-1 hoping to prevent the same problem. However, I woke up one morning to find that the same thing happened again!! I WAS LIVID!!! I again sprayed and killed the beetles. This time the bloom opened, and it was going to be soooo beautiful!! (Photo 1) So last night, I was checking on my babies after work, and damned if there wasn't yet another beetle on the bud of WW! (photo 2) I went postal on it! LOL Luckily it seems like there wasn't any damage.
So my question is why are they only attacking the buds of this one CV? The beetles could care less about any of my other 40-50 hibiscus. Could there be something about this CV that is attracting them?
Has anyone else noticed that certain CV's attract pests more than other CV's?
Paul,
Japanese beetles love hibiscus. They will eat foliage, a bud, or they will munch on a flower from behind. It seems like they hit the plants that are exposed more or easier to get to. They don't like worm castings and will stop eating or move on to something else.
The hibiscus that I have that were grown in worm castings usually send Japanese beetles on their way after a few bites. The CV's that I recently transplanted into castings seem less resistant to attacks from Japanese beetles.
Last year I had a big box store hibiscus that I planted in plain dirt and mushroom compost and the Japanese beetles devoured it. All my other cv's grown in hvh soil ( with worm castings) were barely touched or nothing at all by the beetles.
Bonide makes a Japanese beetle killer spray that seems to work pretty well against them, although if you don't spray well they will find somewhere on the hibiscus to eat like the foliage, buds, or flowers that are right about to open.
The Japanese beetle season begin now and ends by Labor Day for me, and is more an East Coast thing but spreading West fast as if they didn't have enough problems.
They are easy to kill and sometimes all it takes is a good ping, if you catch them early late morning or early afternoon.
I don't care for those Japanese Beetle bagged bait traps, I swear they attract them and make things worse.
kyle
