what if any damage are you finding on the plants???

ken

I'm not sure--I just planted seeds in there 4 days ago. Nothing has sprouted yet so I don't know if that's related. I was kinda expecting to see some sprouts starting today but all I saw were the little red beetles running away from where I was watering the seeds. I do have a live little kale sprout on the other end of the bed that is undamaged but I haven't seen any of the beetles on that end.

I did buy lady bugs and dumped the dead ones in the pack into the bed and they've promptly disappeared even though they're where the birds can't get them. Maybe they're the ones that cleaned up the dead bugs?

I don't know anything about scarab beetles but are you sure they are not baby boxelder bugs? They are red and about that size although I have never really measured one. Do you have boxelder trees?

No box elder trees. The trees nearest to the raised bed are date palms and Aussie bottle trees.

The bugs look different from box elder nymphs. They've got that shiny iridescence of scarab beetles and are really small, like 1/8" long. Wasn't sure if anyone off-hand knew anything as I'm sure someone somewhere else must have them too. They're probably fine but I wasn't sure if someone would read this and say "they're a darn pest in my yard!"

Marianne, these little critters are in the soil, is that right?

The scarab beetle family is quite large.

http://www.bugguide.net/node/view/187

kimmq is kimmsr

Yes, they're in the soil. They're a reddish, shiny with black legs. Too tiny for me to get a decent picture on my phone. They hang out in the parts I water.

There's a basil that sprouted but it only has one leaf (that may just be from the 109 yesterday).

Thanks for your help everyone--the fact that nothing snaps to mind means it's probably not a big deal.

yes, I'm very aware that there's a zillion types of beetles.

can you really plant seed in fall ... 10 is so outside my expereince .....

or are you downunder??? ..where spring is coming around????

better yet.. where are you???

ken

Arizona in one of the subtropical zones. Summer is basically the "winter" here and planting for the main growing season starts now. During winter, I'll be in a t-shirt eating an orange in my yard.