This method has drastically reduced the number of spiders encountered. Blister beetles have been reported feeding in mass on tomatoes in Kentucky. I have also received a report of hundreds of blister beetles clustering on tomato plants and devouring the foliage in a Middle Tennessee garden. Sevin will control blister beetles although repeat applications may be needed if they continue to move into garden areas. Droughty weather will cause them to move off dried up weeds to greener gardens.
Blister beetles derive their name from the blistering agent cantharadin, found in their body fluids.
The larvae of most species feed on grasshopper eggs in the soil and are considered beneficial. Some types of blister beetle larvae live in bee nests. They feed on bee eggs and the food stored with the eggs in the cells. This is just another example of how insects play an important part in nature's complex ecological web. If you have recently gotten internet access and would like to start retrieving your soil test reports from the Soil Test Web Page and submit digital images to the Distance Diagnostics Web Page, notify the Soil Test Laboratory.