Pests & diseases › Bean Leaf Beetle

Bean Leaf Beetle

Yellow, tan or red beetle with black spots and triangular black mark behind the head. Holes in bean leaves and pods.

Symptoms

  • Round holes through bean leaves
  • Feeding scars on pods
  • Pod damage causing fungal entry and rot
  • Worst on seedlings, can wipe out a stand

Lifecycle

Two generations per year. Adults overwinter in leaf litter.

What to do

  • Hand pick
  • Insecticidal soap
  • Spinosad

If it's bad

  • Pyrethrin

Stop it coming back

  • Floating row cover for seedlings
  • Delayed planting (mid-June) to avoid first generation
  • Clean fall cleanup

Crops it goes for

Plan the plot, track every sowing, cook the harvest

Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.