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RE: Food Forest Update - Late May, Early June 2019

Another thing to remember 😉

It's a bit of a shame that our rosemary bushes are being destroyed by the rosemary beetle. They are an exotic species and have no natural enemies here. So I check the bushes twice a day to take them all off. 10 minutes later, it seems like they're back again... Sad to watch ...

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Learn something every day. I have never heard of rosemary beetle. Will they kill the rosemary bushes if you don't pick them off by hand?

I hadn't heard from them up until 2 years ago. They seem to be pretty 'new' - the first ones were spotted in the UK in 1994. So that means they've spread at warp speed.
They indeed kill the plants (rosemary, lavender, sage, thyme) because they eat the tender leaves.
You can see out plants have been nibbled on... and some stems have just dies. Such a shame...

I found a good artivle about them on Gardening Know How

Wow, this is so interesting! I really thought not much would bother these aromatic herbs. The strong smell of these plants are supposed to deter pests and that's why it is suggested to plant these kind of aromatic herbs around fruit trees. No known natural enemies is definitely one of the reason why they can spread so fast. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I am glad I have included the dying rosemary plant in my garden journal. I might have ever learned about the rosemary beetle if not for you.