Disappearing buds / I found the culprit
 

Currently I have 8 dendrobiums in spike or bloom. As I was watering them yesterday I noticed a few specimens with random buds either damaged or missing. A thorough check for pests turned up nothing. While fertilizing today I noticed even more missing buds. As I was feeding the last of the dendrobiums I found this florescent green guy crawling on the surface of the lava potting medium. I spritzed him with a little Raid Max after taking his photos and he won't be munching on my chids any more. :evil:

This scarab beetle is a Cotinis notida, commonly known as the Green June Bug. Their grubs eat grass roots, decaying material and dung. The adults eat a variety of fruit and vegetation. His appetite for dendrobium buds led to his demise. :whip::tombstone:Attachment 48973

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Pretty bug, but he just had to go and ruin it by eating your buds.
Bad Bug!
R.I.P Mr Scarab Beetle

Edit: btw is this bug taking the micky out of your user name :lol:

It is just me or does this thing look hungry in the picture :roll:
Oooh dat is a big boy eh?!
We work hard on our orchids its hard to see them get chewed up like that -- Glad you got'em :D

:lol:Funny coincidence, isn't it? His identity was a mystery until I did a Google search. These scarabs are commonly, but mistakenly referred to as June Bugs too.

Initially I felt bad about snuffing him because he was so beautiful. When I discovered the coincidence in our names I felt even worse. Further more, my early research results described the grub stage as the evil root eaters, but described the the adult beetle as being no real threat to foliage. It was ironic, because the photos commonly depicted the adult beetle sitting on a chewed up passiflora leaf. A little more digging led me to articles that backed up my hard evidence and I didn't feel guilty any more. ;)

i found out where a lot of my pretty (and commonly) purple vanda flowers were going to/ being used for.... a lining for a birds nest. Looked very similar to the oriental white eye but was brown..... fixed that problem by putting my sister in laws cat in my nursery...I have had previous problems with rats chewing plants.... my eldest dog (17 years old) sorted out that problem too

It usually comes to a guessing game when trying to pinpoint a culprit. I'm glad you were able to identify your pest and resolve the issue.

Be careful .those beetles got lots of brothers and sisters.
Bye.

Thats why i spray Abermectine every week

Really nice look but... but if he was eating orchids then he just had to go :evil:

they eat my tomatoes and my pink hibiscus! i dont like them!

by the way, traditionally a scarab beetle is an egyptian dung beetle ;)