I do not know. I have noticed, however, that it really helps to eliminate weeds around the plants they love to attack. And, frankly, if I get hit with a really BIG infestation, I'd be willing to hit them with Sevin. But so far, I've only had a few this year and I still follow the relatively risky practice of hand picking them. I just crush their heads and always have a bucket of water nearby, where I can rinse my hands.

George

Dorothy,

I haven't tried DE with blister beetles, but think it might work.

An old folk remedy for blister beetles is to dust plants with a 50-50 mix of flour and agricultural lime. I haven't tried it either though.

I have not seen many this year, so I've just snipped them in half with scissors when I saw one. I've only seen 4 or 5 though, so that worked for me. It would be hard to kill a lot of them that way.

I'd try spraying with Serenade and see if that works. It is organic. I think Barbara may have used Serenade for blister beetles in her garden. I have some Serenade and I was prepared to use it for blister beetles, but after I killed the initial 4 or 5, I haven't seen any more. I found Serenade at a nursery and I believe the concentrate I bought was made by Green Light.

Dawn

I read a post somewhere that a poster claimed they used a spinosad spray I believe and it worked on them. I have never tried it on them but did read that not too long ago. Don't remember where I read it either. Jay

Jay,

Ooops! I said Serenade (an organic fungicide) and meant Spinosad. Thanks for catching that!

Dawn

Thanks, I'll look for the Spinosad, but here in Stilwell, organic products are hard to come by. I'll see if I can find it online if the DE doesn't help.

I have invasion of blister beetles and also hornworms this week on my tomatoes - I did try the DE on the blister beetles because they were so thick...it didn't slow them down at all here - maybe you might have better luck. I picked worms till I was dizzy, then gave up and used some BT. The BT works on the worms, but doesn't bother the blister beetles.

Been growing tomatoes for many years and got the first large infestation of these critters this year in NC... strange weather.

Didn't take the time to identify what they were but saw the damage they had done on the Better Boys (stripped leaves etc) and figured something must be done.

Decided to use the garden pliers on them (works on hornworms)and got gunk on my arm and red areas later. Their "blood" is poisonous! Bad move!

Bought a Bernz-o-matic butane charcoal lighter today from HD and went on a hunting mission... Those blister beetles usually drop from the leaves as a defensive maneuver, but they didn't stand a chance against the blue flame... at least it's organic.

If you don't have too many infested plants this might be an option.

Mike,

Aren't the blisters awful?

I haven't had blister beetles on my tomatoes before ever, either, here in Oklahoma, although others further north of me in central and northern OK have. In previous years I have had them on ornamental plants but this is the first time they've popped up in the veggie garden. I've only had black ones this year.

Spinosad spray appears to work pretty well on them from what I've heard, but since I cut up the first few with scissors, I haven't seen more so I haven't mixed up any Spinosad to spray on them. It is organic too.

I'd be afraid to use a flame on them in my garden for fear all my straw and hay mulch would go up in flames! (It is, however, actually raining here this summer, so the mulch is not as dry as it usually is.)

When I am cutting blister beetles in half, I wear disposable latex gloves and, at least so far, I have avoided getting any blisters from them. I do immediately clean the scissors afterwards too so that the blister-causing liquid isn't on them.

Dawn