It's the attack of the beetles!!!
This is why storing your garden seeds properly is a necessity. Otherwise, like me, you'll find a horrible surprise when you are ready to plant. While some of you may laugh and find my peril entertaining, the purpose of this post is to educate others.
THE ORIGINAL IDEA
The original idea was to pick up some seeds from the grocery store and see if they would sprout. This would allow me to both save some money and get some different varieties of seeds. Only four months ago I bought these seeds at a grocery store in their bulk food section. At the time, I had an idea, as I share in this video.
OH NO!
After tucking the seeds away for a few months, the time came to get them ready to plant. It was at this point that I realized I had a problem, as I share in the vlog above.
The paper bag that I had kept the seeds in was riddled with little holes. At this point, options of what caused this were limited, and unfortunately my guess was correct.
The plastic bags inside the paper bag, and a lot of the seeds were chewed up. Many of the seeds had holes in them too and powder was everywhere. When I tried to pick up the bags, they were literally falling apart.
I dumped the seeds out and began to inspect them. I was looking for tiny movements, and soon I was able to see the culprits.
BEETLEMANIA
Inside the seeds were at least two species of beetles. Most likely some larva were in the seeds when I got them and had then hatched and feasted on my seeds. While I normally only care about moisture, sunlight, and heat destroying my seeds, pests can too. The one in the photo above is a little weevil.
Here is another species of beetle that we found in the seeds. On the bright side, this bag had just been kept by itself and was not stored with the rest of my seed collections. That is one way that I lucked out during this potential disaster.
This may look like a lot of beetles in my hand, but it is only a small sampling of the ones that were in the seeds. Another plus is that they only focused on the corn seeds and left the beans alone.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON: MAKING THE BEST OF IT
As usually, options were limited but I'm still an optimist. The first thing that I did was to do a germination test. I grabbed a handful and placed them in a plastic bag with a moist paper towel. Within a few days some were sprouting!
This means that things were not a complete loss! While some seeds have certainly been destroyed and eaten through, not every seed was lost or ruined. Therefore, I'll still be able to plant some of these and hopefully get my own harvest of these varieties! For that, I am both grateful and excited.
I wasn't sure if any of this would work out when I saw how chewed up the bags and seeds were, but it looks like there is a light at the end of this tunnel for me!
After I tried to remove as much powder and as many beetles as I could from the seeds, I decided to soak them all for a few days. I'll drain the excess water off shortly and allow them to sprout, but this should both kill any more beetles and larva and at the same time cause the viable seeds to germinate. The show must go on!
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-surviving-the-attack-of-the-beetles-and-leaving-the-macro-lens-on-for-the-proof-selfie
Until next time…
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This post reminds me of a while back when my wife and I started ordering organic groceries and we would find bugs of all varieties in the delivery, at first I was grossed out, but then I realised something life changing one day.
I realised while I don’t like there being bugs on my groceries, its more weird, alarming and disconcerting that there are NO BUGS on the non-organic. What does that say about that food? Bugs do not want to eat it. Should I be eating it?
So now, if bugs don’t want it, neither do I.
I've learned that lesson too! Good point!
Thinks that be good
Instead of paper and plastic bags, try using glass jars (saved from food you bought, like pickles , peanut butter and so on) - lets see how they chew through that... :) also you can always see whats going on inside that way.
Also, you can try freezing the seeds at -5 to -8 Celsius. I guess the beetles wont like that too much.
Yeah, normally I save the seeds in jars or other things. Learned my lesson this time.
Deep.
This pest must be destroyed,@papa-pepper.
Does this also include pest pests.
I think that I have seen pests like that before!
Yes,I mean if this is also a seed-eating pest.
in africa we have so many ways to store seeds to prevent them from beetles, but first you have to identify the type of beetle if not the prevention control might not work effectively.to me CHEMICAL CONTROL IS THE BEST.
BR
JAVAPOINT
What is that? is it termites or lice ?? Here in my country many stars attack rice and wheat. This is a dangerous pest
beetles can cause lot damage to seeds and it makes it difficult to have a good harvest sorry @papa-pepper
hai@papa-pepper.semoga harimu with family fun.more maize is perfect.semoga can be useful .. i like gardening also@papa-pepper.saya upvote and resteem postingingan anda.jika you wish please visit my blog @pengenkaya
Wow. That is some good detective work you did there. I bet not everyone is that careful. I've never seen anything quite like this.
wow nice food
Oh so sorry to hear that. This beetles can cause a lot of damage to seeds and it makes it difficult to generate when you plant. For this reason it very important to store it in safer place where beetles won't attack it. One will ask how are going to store it from beetle. Well, we have so many ways to do that u can even spray the seedlings with chemicals that will prevent them from destroying your seeds.
Those were some great macro shots. I know how tiny those beetles are. Great job with the camera work.
When you plant, make sure you rotate your crops. Hopefully the new location won't be appealing for the beetles.
Yup, crop rotation is important.
This kinda thing is sad because it disrupts the very nature of compound interest..
This kind of thing generally happens in the winter over here..
Oh gosh! I honestly didn't know this was a problem or that there was a correct way to store seeds! I'm glad you could salvage some of them and learned how to store them moving froward! And thank you for letting everyone else know what to do while we learned from your unfortunate but kinda funny series of events! :) haha
Cheers to having a great harvest when these start to mature!!! :)
Sorry for the lose, but thanks for the heads up.
Haa this damage the maize never see this before thanks for the infor @papa-pepper
I know how depressing it must be to see the time and effort a little wasted. I am glad you salvage some of them. Your experience came in handy. Nothing can waste with Papa. I really like that about you. You put everything to good use and always try to save a dire situation.
Yes, there is light at the end of a tunnel, and it is not from an on rushing train. Hahahaha
Larvae can remain undetected inside of grains, and then spoil a new crop right in the garden. Do not try to save untouched grains, just drop them all and buy new seeds.
I had such a negative experience with beans several years ago. Since then, I keep my beans for planting in the refrigerator, the beetles do not breed in a cold place.
Good idea!
i am resteem
Ouch!
Looks like they had a feast 😐
They really did! That feast lasted about four months!
You should buy Packed Seeds that one are reliable and last for long.
My father love gardening but we buy seeds in packet instead of open pack.
if you ever bought seeds then preserved them in polytheist which are special made to preserve seeds.
You are leaning bro. Happy to see you that your are connection with nature.
Most of my seeds are like that, or ones that I saved myself. This was just an experiment... with some room for improvement!
Good bro. Keep working and one day you will be perfect in these kind of things. Must connect with nature.
bad bad beetle @papa-pepper, I've been through this, we keep the flour with a little time and finally when I open, a lot of rogue bugs are invaded, one lesson for me.
The pest are real destroyers. Sorry for that, I hope you can easily get another seeds to plant
sir @papa-prepper thanks for sharing this great idea.......... keep it up
I've used cedar oil mixed with peppermint and eucalyptus with some luck. So far it has helped with a lot of the invaders we have visiting our seed and grain storage. Haven't had the beetles yet - so can't say if they wouldn't lick this mixture up and become super beetles. But might be worth a try.
Aha! We've got those! Good idea!
"Wondercide" Is really, really powerful cedar oil spray (child and animal friendly - non-toxic). Instant deterrent. Fleas, ants, ticks, mosquitos - they no like!
thank you very much for your very useful experience for those who like to plant in the garden, and hopefully the gardening buddies save the seeds better
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For me the question is were the holes because the bugs were getting in or out? Did some get in then lay eggs?
If I think some of my wool has an infestation, I will put it in a bag and in the freezer for a week or so to kill the bugs. I think insects can survive up to 3 days in the freezer but no more (I am sure there are some exceptions).
Thanks for the reminder to protect our seeds, and to see something positive out of these learning experiences.
Live and learn _hit happens.
That sucks they found your seeds. At least some of them are still good. I'm sort of scared that there would be beetle larva in the store-bought seeds. Shouldn't they be beetle-free? Ack!
Those beetles 🐞 are just horrible.
It's always good to occasionally check up on your seeds and as well place the seeds in tough materials that the beetles can't easily chew through or simply glass as he has wisely stated , also air tight containers.
A very similar case happened with our wheat seeds though I don't have a picture of it here.
I'm so sorry about your seeds Sir and thank you for sharing @papa-pepper and I hope people take lessons from this.
You live and learn. It's good to learn this stuff when it is not life and death so when you are basing all your food on yourself, you'll not make these mistakes.
And it's good to share when tings go wrong so the rest of us don't make the same mistakes as you.
A couple of suggestions that might help you out in the future @papa-pepper. When I buy potential seeds here whether it be from a store or a market, I first freeze the seeds. This kills any little vermin that are inside those seed bags. When I collect my seeds here on the homestead they are dried ad stored in glass jars in the freezer too. I don't want to take any chances of lossing precious seeds. BTW I learned from experience too.
I can see next winter there being a lot more small collections of seeds in bug-proof containers in the shed.
Like the eggs, not all the seeds of one plant will be in one baslet/container
Even though the pests disrupted the process its pretty cool how you got the grocery store food to sprout. I guess Monsanto hasn't got their hooks in those yet! Funny the pattern on the paper bag reminds me of the pattern found on old pieces of drift wood.
Nice post! I will follow you from now on. + UP @papa-lada
Better than rats cleaning you out! Dry, then refrigerate.
For the beans, and if you were using dry seeds, I think I know one trick against bean pests that you may try next year.
When you clean the seeds and before storage, just put them in the freezer on temperature below -18°C and leave it there for at least 48 hours.
The bean pests (in all development stages) die under the temperature of -18°C.
After freezing, dry bean seeds on the sun and then store it in some dry space.
interesting post!
Little buggers. Glad they weren't all ruined. On a buggy note - I found this guy today while doing my curation - @hedac - he has a recent post on ladybugs you might like. Great little animations and stuff.