Green June Beetle, Fig Beetle (Cotinis mutabilis)




Last night Emery and I went out to the fig tree to pick more figs. Last week I dried a good size batch that I had picked and new that more would be ready this week....what a surprise we found. A total invasion of Fig Beetles on all the choice fruits. It is part of life here at our place, this battle between us and nature to see who can get to the growing food first. We see the neighbor take out his harsh chemicals and spray away the pests but we like keeping our land organic and that often results in what seems like a loosing battle. This year seems worse for us since we are not letting the chickens out all the time, due to Harry's fondness for hunting down the chickens for the thrill of the kill.
I am grateful for the figs we have harvested and for the ones the beetles had not yet visited. But it still was disappointing to see juicy sweet fruit being munched up by masses of green bugs !
pictures from this morning when I went to check on the figs

Comments

Oh, I know that discouragement! I was counting on oodles of squash (who DOESN'T get tons of zucchini?) but the relentless squash bugs quashed that hope. I suppose next year, I'll double the crop - half for the beetles, half for us!
Nasty bugs! WY is having an invasion of grasshoppers--they resemble an Old Testament plague.
susan said so said…
These are like the Japanese Beetles we have here in KY. I HATE them! They descend on the garden and eat everything in their path. They're a plague.

Boo that they got your figs!

xox,
Susan

confessionsofasineater.blogspot.com
Unknown said…
Patty, I wish more people could share your tolerance of the life that you share your land with. Personally, I don't appreciate words like “nasty” and “hate” that are used in reference to creatures that have as much right to feed themselves as you and I do.

Your neighbor's spraying might only serve to increase the beetles' numbers since he might also be poisoning any animals that eat these beetles.
Unknown said…
Patty, I wish more people could share your tolerance of the creatures that we all share you land with. Personally, I don't appreciate words like “hate” and “nasty” when referring to creatures just trying to feed themselves, creatures that have as much right to do so as you and I.

Your neighbor might be doing nothing more than increasing the green fig beetles' numbers since he's probably also poisoning any animals that might eat them.

This beetle is often misnamed Japanese beetle, which is somewhat similar but considerably smaller.

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