Pollen Beetle

[Snip]

Has anyone come across these?

http://www.lathyrus.com/culture/pests.htm

They are in my sweet peas which is a pain as they produce more if you pick them but I can't bring them in the house. I have planted them in with my veg to make more of a potager, kitchen garden look so am loathed to spray them as my 4 yr old uses the garden as a picnic site and doesn't wash or have anything cooked.

Help needed....again!

[Galatea]

Hi Snip,

Pollen beetles are always about in large numbers at this time of the year, and particularly in areas where Oil Seed Rape is being grown. We have them feeding on the pollen of virtually everything that is in flower right now.

They are completely harmless though, and, like many other beetles, simply feed on pollen. In fact they are amongst the oldest of all pollinators - they evolved well before most flying insects and are crucial pollinators of many summer flowers as well as all "primitive" flowers like Magnolias, definitely not the sort of insect you should be spraying.

I'm not clear what problem are they causing with your Sweet Peas though? If you want to avoid bringing the beetles into the house with the cut flowers then simply leave the cut stems in water in a dark place (garage etc.) and they should disperse overnight.

[Chantal]

Morning both,

My sweet peas are full of them too, but I find that once picked if I spend a few minutes shaking the flowers and picking off the beetles I can just about eradicate them. Curiously, most of those that I miss commit suicide by jumping into the water when the flowers are in a vase and although I've found one or two dead ones around the vase, they don't seem to go further afield.

Keeping them somewhere else overnight may work, but I'd miss that glorious scent from the freshly picked blooms.