Carol promised you a gardening tip, and I get to deliver.
Steve Meggos hosted a garden walk for a variety of garden clubs last night, including the Central States Dahlia Society. Steve is one of the best dahlia growers/hybridizers in the nation, while his brother Louis grows exemplary roses. What a talented family.
Two of the topics of conversation were the incredibly poor weather for dahlias, and Japanese beetles. While we are particularly incapable of altering the weather, I find I am again having success in the battle against the beetle.
Japanese beetles do a lot of damage, so I offered up what I use, and that I find it very effective — Bayer Advanced 3 in 1 Insect disease & mite control.
My strategy:
- Mix 3/4 oz to 1 quart of water.
- Put it in a spray bottle and leave it in the garden.
- When I see a beetle, I give it a mist/spray right between the eyes and walk away.
That’s it! I check in 10 minutes or so and find the bug dead, and the bloom sees no other bugs for the rest of its term. You can also give each bloom a preventative shot to avoid them “from the get/go”. You don’t need to drench the flower or plant. One shot for small flowers, 2 shots for big ones will do it.
[…] had to deal with Japanese Beetles, so I just happened to have last year’s posting on Beating the Japanese Beetle in the wings. You’ll see that we resorted to chemical warfare, a rarity in our garden. We […]