Biocontrol Beetles Help Bump Invasive Plant

Volunteer Efforts Raising Beetles Help Reduce Invasive Purple Loosestrife

Mid-summer means long sunny days and memorable weekends on your favorite waters. But it also means the start of the blooming period of the invasive plant purple loosestrife. You might be seeing some of these plants along roadways with bright purple flowers. While a beautiful plant, purple loosestrife makes over 2.5 million seeds each year. Very quickly, these plants can start to dominate landscapes.

Luckily, there is a beetle that only eats purple loosestrife plants. These biological control beetles help to control the size and spread of purple loosestrife plants. To help increase the chances of a large beetle population each year, Fox-Wolf volunteers help to raise beetles away from predators. By the middle of summer, the raised beetles are then brought back into the wild places that are suffering from too many invasive purple loosestrife plants.

Recently, raised beetles were ready to be released! Check out some of the photos below of these beetles in action! Want to raise beetles next year? Learn more on our Volunteer page!