Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

VLB Adult

Pyrrhalta viburni In less than a decade, the invasive Viburnum Leaf Beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni) has spread throughout most of New York State. They devour the leaves of viburnum species, key understory plants of our woodlands; a couple years infestation can kill the plant. I’ve seen the damage they do in Prospect Park, skeletonizing every leaf on a bush. In Brooklyn Bridge Park they’re trying to control things by hand.

But this was the first time I’ve run across one of the adult beetles. Yesterday in Prospect Park.

mthew

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One response to “VLB Adult”

  1. Don Recklies

    Parks has been very laissez-faire about what has become a scourge – probably from lack of an easy control method. On Staten Island large patches of Arrowood Viburnum have become dead sticks. Just cutting the egg bearing twig ends from viburnums in the late fall and winter is an easy solution. Just cut those ends off and let fall – the tiny hatched larvae have to get to newly open leaf buds in the spring to survive. See the Cornell web site for more info.

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