Yellow beetle damage to orchids
One of the most dreaded of insect pests of orchids in tropical countries is the yellow beetle Lema pectoralis.Insecticides don't seem to deter them - even if they die after eating the orchid flowers, the damage would already have been done to the blooms. They remind one of the Roman orgies, feasting and having unrestrained sex at the same time. They outdo the Romans by laying eggs too at the same time! After damage to your flowers they leave just enough for their voracious larvae that hatch after a few days. Their appetite is so insatiable that I believe they feed day and night. In less than a week a new generation of the blighters is ready to cause further havoc.The only way to control them is to catch them by hand while they're at it (i.e feasting and coupling) and squashing them or breaking off their heads (which - forgive me - gives me a certain satisfaction). Even catching them needs special skill because they don't take off into the air like any respectable insect but drop down like a stone into the grass or foliage beneath and just disappear.The trick is to touch them with the finger of one hand while holding the palm of the other hand just beneath them and hopefully they'll drop into your palm.Instead of using your palm you can hold a plastic bag below them.
Forgive me if I seem to be raving and ranting like a demented person; the yellow beetle does that to you.
Some of my catts are in bloom and I was ready to take a group photo of these but the yellow .......... has put paid to all that.
Pix #1 & #2 Thwaitesara Sweet Treat - After & Before - minimal damage- Yellow Destroyer executed before too much damage. However mate escaped.
Pix #3 Yellow Terror caught red-handed.Beheaded. Must be a bachelor.
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Originally Posted by walingwaling
