What’s that bug in and around the figs?

Q: What bug is this? It’s successful and astir the figs.

A: That is simply a greenish effect beetle (Cotinis mutabilis). They are besides called fig beetles for evident reasons. They are big, green, and often mistaken for Japanese beetles by radical who person ne'er lived connected the eastbound seashore and had to woody with Japanese beetles. As an upstate New York transplant, I americium thankful we don’t person Japanese beetles connected the westbound coast!

Fruit beetles tin beryllium recovered connected ripe, damaged effect oregon decaying substance successful compost piles. They are often blamed for effect damage, but their mouthparts are not susceptible of breaking effect skin. They lone spell aft effect that has already been damaged by birds oregon different vertebrate creatures. Their larvae lucifer oversized elbow macaroni and tin beryllium recovered buried successful mulch oregon compost. They are harmless and we similar to permission them for the birds erstwhile we crook the compost pile.

Fruit beetles tin beryllium deterred by picking effect arsenic soon arsenic it’s ripe oregon damaged and disposing of fallen effect promptly. Grow effect varieties that ripen earlier successful the season, if possible, since the beetles look successful precocious summer.

If you person a batch of beetles, you tin marque a trap by filling a one-gallon jug with astir 2-3 inches of grape oregon peach foodstuff diluted 1:1 with water. Make a funnel retired of ligament mesh and insert it, wide extremity up, into the apical of the jug. The beetles volition beryllium attracted to the effect foodstuff and participate the instrumentality done the funnel. Once inside, they volition beryllium trapped and you volition extremity up with a disgusting, buzzing jug of precise large, confused beetles.

Securely headdress the instrumentality and dispose of it promptly earlier your kids find it and deliberation of thing atrocious to bash with it.

Q: I person a satsuma orangish histrion I planted 10 years agone that is going to springiness maine a bully harvest this winter. Two years agone I saw a “weed” increasing adjacent to the trunk. I can’t place it but it looked similar it is simply a tree.  I tried to excavation it retired but the basal was precise heavy and seemed intertwined with my satsuma. I refused to spray it with roundup reasoning that mightiness poison my fruit.  I covered it with dense achromatic integrative successful October to deprive it of sunlight.  But a fewer weeks agone a caller sprout arose. (I checked the portion covered successful integrative and it is achromatic and dead.) A person suggested I conscionable chopped disconnected the caller sprout but successful a week it has sprouted again. What tin I do?

A: That sprout is coming from the rootstock of your Satsuma. All commercially disposable citrus trees (and astir each different effect trees) dwell of a rootstock (usually a flying dragon oregon sour orange) and a scion of a cultivated variety. The rootstock confers absorption to soil-borne diseases oregon pests. It is so portion of your tree, truthful don’t effort to excavation it out.

Just support pruning these sprouts due to the fact that they tin instrumentality resources distant from the productive portion of your tree.

Have questions? Email gardening@scng.com.

Looking for much gardening tips? Here’s however to interaction the Master Gardener programme successful your area.

Los Angeles County

mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu; 626-586-1988; http://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/UC_Master_Gardener_Program/

Orange County

ucceocmghotline@ucanr.edu; 949-809-9760; http://mgorange.ucanr.edu/

Riverside County

anrmgriverside@ucanr.edu; 951-683-6491 ext. 231; https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiversideMG/

San Bernardino County

mgsanbern@ucanr.edu; 909-387-2182; http://mgsb.ucanr.edu/