Grow Your Own Magazine

Please tell me this isn't a cockroach...

I found this beetle-thing sitting on the frame inside my greenhouse in full sun - it was a dark red/brown colour and was perhaps the length of my thumb.
I freaked out and disposed of it but now I've found a dead one in the sink in my garage (which is behind the greenhouse).

I've googled pictures of cockroaches but it doesn't look exactly like the pictures I've seen.

Does anyone have any ideas what this could be / want to tell me the worst?

I have a picture on my phone, but I haven't managed to work the software to get it onto my computer yet!

I've only seen one cockroach; just to keep to stereotypes it was in New York.

It crossed 23rd Street, hopped onto the pavement, and strutted across our path and went down a nearby alley. I was definitely on a mission, clacking it feet and there was nothing else really to do but stand and watch it. It was the size of a teaspoon length wise.

Unfortunately it was about 30 feet from our hotel entrance; but what can you do? We are surrounded by all sorts of insects and beasties; if I thought about it too much I'd never get to sleep. Esp living in the country now, where spiders spin webs in a matter of minutes it would seem.

I don't know what yours was, have you tried googling beetles with tails?

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Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

could be a maybug?

Maybugs


Cockchafers - Melolontha melolontha - UK Safari

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Kernow rag nevra http://www.cornishnotenglish.com/

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits
Albert Einstein

Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water and when your'e tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand
Bruce Lee

I have seen 'german cockroaches' in Spain (must have got lost) and they are slender beetles about 3cm long, plus antennae. The ones found in a few places in American cities are bigger and broader (judging by the ones I saw on that TV program). Neither sort have noticeable tails.
The ones I've seen in Spain it was a brief glimpse, before our lovely geckos ate them (who needs insecticides?)

Sounds painful...

It could have been a devils coach horse if it was thin,or maybe a stag beetle!!!

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The greatness comes not when things go always good for you,but the greatness comes when you are really tested,when you take,some knocks,some disappointments;because only if youv'e been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

Agree with Cloud - could be a Stag beetle at this time of year. We get them colliding with the kitchen window at night if the light is on.

Does it look like this?

Stag Beetle

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Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it.

Oh god, don't get me started on cockroaches. I hope for your sake that it's not. Sitting in bright sunlight doesn't sound very cockroachy. Ewwwwww. I'll spare you all my cockroach and rat stories. Way too gross.

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The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it. -John Ruskin

http://wormsflowers.blogspot.com/

Oh, could also be a junebug, they're like chafers, they look a lot like roaches except they fly. It's extremely scary when they take off, especially if it's inside!

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The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it. -John Ruskin

http://wormsflowers.blogspot.com/

That's it exactly! Thank goodness! Thank you all for the replies, I'm so relieved!!

I just feel slightly guilty I killed the first one now

Now I know what the larvae look like.When I dug my plot in the winter I had a few of these and didn't know what they were.

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The greatness comes not when things go always good for you,but the greatness comes when you are really tested,when you take,some knocks,some disappointments;because only if youv'e been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

I might ask Madmax to relate a story of me and a cockroach. I cannot bring myself to share the tale sorry.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

*feels very relieved i dont live in the south of England* those things FLY eeekkkkkkk *faints*

kill them, it says on that site they eat your veggies, and when they have finished all them they start on humans *nods*

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sometimes i do talk complete and utter rubbish ...... just ignore me if i do ........i'll go away eventually

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hehe, i hate to break it to you but I don't live in the south of England, they must be moving north!

Sounds scary Shirlthegirl, do tell!

NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO kill them kill them all

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sometimes i do talk complete and utter rubbish ...... just ignore me if i do ........i'll go away eventually

http://teachy.myminicity.com/

Did it look like this?



This one has a feathery bit on it's side, might be related...

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Tuscany update - 27th September

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We were inundated with Maybugs a couple of weeks ago - now the stag beetles are hatching .... havent seen any on the lottie or the garden plants as such tho? Are they nasties where veg are concerned? I thought the stag beetle was in need of protecting?? Or am I having one of my 'moments'?!

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

The stag beetle is rare in the UK due to loss of habitat. It is included in the Biodiversity action plan to try and increase its numbers, but I am not entirely sure if it is protected.

I have a large log pile in the garden to try and attract them but I live in the midlands which is too far north. But you never know with global warming.

So you southerners, please make a log pile in your garden/plot, the larva takes 7 years before it emerges as an adult, so be patient.

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Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

I wish!

Capsid - I'm in South Bucks and we have hundreds of stag beetles! I have a big mock orange in the garden and they seem to love it. I didnt realise they took so long to emerge though, so maybe in future years we'll see the decline, as less lava are around?

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

I'm so envious. You must have rotten wood nearby for you to have that many. If that is maintained then it should ensure that the larvae have somewhere to live.

My parents found a female laying eggs in a tree stump in their garden last year, they live in Hampshire. The adults only live from May to August.

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Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

We have them around here.My daughter found one under a mobile classroom at school.

__________________
The greatness comes not when things go always good for you,but the greatness comes when you are really tested,when you take,some knocks,some disappointments;because only if youv'e been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.