Blister Beetles: Good Bug or Bad Bug?

A few years ago the blister beetle was so bad that they chewed plants down to the ground like my anenomes, asters, amaranth and clematis. They came out about the middle of July as an adult and did the above ground damage. So bad that they were worse than Japanese beetles.

Blister beetles hatch in the fall and the larvae go in search of grasshopper larvae. So in this sense they are a good thing. Blister beetles are a common field and garden pest best known for the welt-raising secretion they release when injured or crushed.

There are some 250 kinds of blister beetles, members of the family Meloidae, spread across the U.S. Various types of the beetle are common in the east, south, and midwest.

Coloring can be bright and variegated, striped or flat. Striped blister beetles are shades of gray and brown with yellow stripes running lengthwise on its wing covers. The ash-gray blister beetle is completely gray.

Adults begin laying clusters of eggs in mid to late spring. The emerging white larvae have relatively long legs which they use to seek out grasshopper egg pods to eat. Others attach themselves to bees and are also referred to as bee lice. They feed on the grasshopper and bee eggs and larvae.

How to get rid of them?

In the fall spread a insecticide around the base of the plant that they were feeding on, which will kill the larvae. Use products used in a dust or granule containing Permethrin, or carbaryl. There are others out on the market as well.

Know that a few of all insects aren’t bad, Its part of nature. Its when they turn into a big problem that you should treat. You don’t want to eradicate everything which will throw off the balance of nature.