Eclectic gardening style, drawing from 45 years of interest and experience. Mostly plant in raised beds and containers primarily using intensive gardening techniques.
Alex
Mine are much worse this year also. I'm just being more aggressive with picking and smashing the critters. One hand over the top of the leaf, one hand under and then either pick the beetle or he drops into your lower hand. another technique that I'm using is to simply bend the bush over and tap it. Then lift and there are usually a few beetles running around which get smashed. They generally hide very quickly under any piece of cover, so smash quickly! I probably have the equivalent of 30 feet by 40 feet of bean rows, though most are planting in little groups and scatterings. The beetles are definitely bothering the rows and the block plantings more than the interplanted groups.
I've got quite a few holes in the leave of most groups of my beans, but don't think that will affect the crop very much.
Eclectic gardening style, drawing from 45 years of interest and experience. Mostly plant in raised beds and containers primarily using intensive gardening techniques.
Alex
Sorry I can't give advice about the beetles. I am a beginning gardener. But, my parents live in Camden and I grew up there. I was just checking out this forum for advice about mulching in my veg garden and saw you were in Camden. It's a small town. You may know them!