Yesterday, I went out to collect some of the German Queen heirloom tomatoes that have been so abundant in the last few days. I've been pretty impressed with them, overall-- even though the plant itself grows rather unruly, the few fruits it does produce grow to be very large. I measured one, pictured left, that was 1.4 pounds (and the size of my hand)! I guess it has all that unruly foliage for a reason.
The German Queens also have a soft look to them, often having gradient streaks of green, yellow, and orange. Although they aren't as pure red as most tomato cultivars, these 'pink' tomatoes taste no different. I do wonder about how comparable their general level of lycopene is though, since it is associated with the red color, but I'm willing to bet that overall they are no less nutritious. And also, they taste just as great!
On my way outside today, I checked my beloved plant to see how it was coming along, only to be surprised to find a fat, green beetle feasting on one of the fruits. It turns out that the day before I had inadvertently shaken one of the heaviest tomatoes from the branch and it opened up a few wounds upon meeting with the ground. (But of course, I somehow didn't notice.) So there it was, this inch-or-so long beetle with its little beetle behind sticking out of an open wound, just feasting on this gracious tomato.
I didn't want to just shoo it away, since I imagined it would fly pretty well, being that I have rather limited experience with beetles. So instead we covered the entire tomato, with the critter, for observation. And then it died. Which, I'll be honest, I can't say I didn't intend. It did, after all, make the unfortunate choice of being so caught up in being a glutton that it did not notice the peanut gallery standing around it for five minutes. I gave it a chance to outsmart me, sure I did. It just chose not to. As it stands, I always intend 10 - 20% of my garden to be 'for the insects' anyway, so I'm sure I've been feeding some of its cousins.
As for it, I took it inside and believe I have identified it as the cotinis mutabilis, also known as the figeater beetle. It's also been referred to (mistakenly, depending on how you look at it) as a June Bug, or a Chinese/Japanese Beetle, along with a handful of other species. These little guys love the fleshy parts of fruit, and are found in the Southern portion of North America. I also recognized some photos of their larvae, which are commonly found in the warmth of compost piles and near the roots of plants, but they can be dealt with simply by bringing them up to the surface in order for birds or other predators to find them. And, helpful to know, but they aren't actually the most graceful fliers, either. They are commonly found flittering around in swimming pools, and sometimes even dog dishes, after accidentally landing in them. I even read one story about the beetle flying into a someone's mane and frantically buzzing around all tangles up until someone was able to liberate it from the girl's locks. Dare I say... cute?
The SDNHM article, linked below, attributes their rapid growth within the last 30 years to the rise of organic gardening, but also notes that the species presents little economic damage in California. Although, I imagine that the measured 'economic damage' considered is mostly how it affects California agribusiness, what with their expensive petro-chemicals and whatnot, not the damage to the organic gardener's backyard lot. If it is true that the boom of organic gardeners have created a boom of these insects, at least it is clear that their numbers could easily be cut, if need be, by simply turning the compost to expose their larvae to predators.
Attention to soil and compost, after all, is simply one of-- if not, the-- the most important things a truly good gardener is responsible for!
Simple articles/photos can be found at:
The Firefly Forest
San Diego Natural History Museum
Bug Guide (photos)
Wikipedia
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