I've seen beetles like that here that appear to chew on the terminal grow
on new shoots on rootstock (budded or grafted) and elongation growth stops while
the plant regenerates and then starts new growth. The beetle doesn't stay
there and we are not overwhelmed with them but they are kind of nuisance.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 7:53 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] Click Beetles
Ignoramous Murph here again;
I forgot to mention these other weird bugs I found on my 1 year old
cherry trees. As best I can tell from available resources, they are called
'Click Beetles'. See photos Click Beetle 1 & 2.
During an inspection of the trees, I noticed something odd. About one out
of every 10 leaves had a beetle on the petiole. See the hand-drawn sketch
"LeafBeetle". Each beetle was perched as shown, not appearing to do anything
but sit there staring at the leaf. They all had their head near the little
nodules where the leaf meets the petiole. Not eating the leaf; not doing
anything. That's why I didn't kill them. Also, not one of them flew away.
I could flick them off with a finger.
They shook off the branch very easily, as they
have wimpy little legs. As I collected a few samples in a jar, I noticed these
things could jump really high, like a grasshopper or a flea. They do not jump
using their legs. They seem to 'buckle over', then straighten out really
quickly, launching themselves into the air. None of my Fruit Pest books
carried this bug in it. Also, they weren't interested in the apples (100
trees) or pears (60 trees). Just tart cherries; I think Benton or Surefire,
can't recall. I don't think the Evans had any.
Further reading says they may eat nectar or
pollen or leaves, but some of them may eat aphids. As with beetles, there are
a bazillion kinds of Click Beetles. Even my Vietnamese friend at work was
familiar. I hope they are predators. They did not appear to be causing any
damage. Can these guys just eat the sap and then go away? Has anyone else had
these bugs? Should we kill them?
Richard Murphy
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