Who's eating this plant...and what's the plant? - Ask Extension
Just discovered small beetles eating top new leaves of this plant in my front yard (along with so many weeds and some flowers) in Denver's, West Wash ...
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Who's eating this plant...and what's the plant? #643263
Asked May 29, 2020, 10:27 PM EDT
Just discovered small beetles eating top new leaves of this plant in my front yard (along with so many weeds and some flowers) in Denver's, West Wash Park area.
The bugs (beetles?) are munching on the top new leaves. They aren't interested in lower leaves. What are they, and how to get rid of them? They don't seem interested in any other plants in the yard, just this one plant.
Plant is single stem, 2' tall, lanceolate main leaf,with two sets of much smaller leaflets at stem, growing at 90° to each other. The smaller leaves develop into more opposite leaves from that "node."
Some main leaves are opposite, some have three leaves at a "node," and sometimes there's one leaf.
Denver County Colorado
Expert Response
The bug is a flea beetle Haltica foliaceae Apple Flea Beetle and the plant looks like some sort of Oenothera species (Evening Primrose), probably not an ornamental one but rather a weedy one. They mostly attack only a few closely related plant species. There are some controls, however, if the plant does not have great value to you, it might be best to remove the plant.
Flea Beetles
