Daisy Beetle – Control

Q: You talked about tiny flower-eating beetles on your radio show and I kind of half-heard your response while driving. When I got home I found the little guys in my brown-eyed Susans and coneflowers. They are really chewing the brown-eyed Susan buds. Could you repeat the information please?

A: The beetle to which I referred is a member of the leaf-feeding beetle family: Chrysomelidae. Other common leaf-feeding beetles include potato beetle and elm leaf beetle.

There are hundreds of Chrysomelid species and since I am not an entomologist I can’t specifically identify the one that afflicts our flowers.

I’ve decided to call it “daisy beetle” since it consumes the flower buds of daisy family members. In any case, spraying with a garden insecticide containing deltamethrin, permethrin or cypermethrin will take care of the problem.