Japanese Beetles

[bughunter99]

Honestly for me the greatest success has come from drowning the adults. Here it seems like the all come out at once and if you pick and destroy the first big flush, there are that many fewer the next year. The first year I did this I had sooooooo many. It was gross. Each year since, less and less. I garden organically so there are no sprays used here. We do have multiple bird feeders in the yard but no more than when we did when I had the initial beetle invasion.

The one nice thing about JB's is that at least here, I don't have to check every plant. They seem to favor one or two plant types and leave everything else alone. Usually it is the cherry tree and the climbing hydragnea but one year I could only find them on the stupid foundation bush( I was tempted to let them have that one).

I agree with the other poster that said avoid the TRAPS. Those things are notorious for bringing more beetles into your yard than would otherwise be there.

[NS_Gardener]

I've spent a fortune on Merit to kill the grubs. I have bordering neighbors who do nothing and my roses, vegetables and flowering shrubs attract J. Beetles like mad. I finally invested in hoops and insect netting. I cover just after pollination and leave insect row cover on berries, vegetables, tomato vines and float/drape over rose bushes. A feww little vermin get in under the cloth but don't do the damage of the army I keep off with the cover. Without the cover, my roses are defoliated. I hate the little b*******!

[MissS]

I will be trying Cedar Oil this year. http://www.finegardening.com/item/23...panese-beetles
You can also make a citrus spray by boiling citrus rinds until soft and then spraying the plants. It is short lived and has to be re-applied after rains.
As Beeman stated, beneficial nematodes are supposed to work very well at controlling the grubs in your lawns and gardens. I will be purchasing them this year myself.

[Hermitian]

How about using a growing medium for your vegetables that is not so rich in organic matter! The latter is a fertile breeding ground for beetle larvae. Put some horticultural sand or (expensive) rock dust into the mix and use fertilizer that contains sulfur and trace elements from the electrolyte series (iron, copper, zinc) so that you are growing more plants than soil organisms.

[Durgan]

Probably most of the beetles encountered do not mature in your own yard. The beetle does much damage to my grape vines. I keep them under control by flicking into a pail and use DE with marginal success, but it makes me feel better.

Grackles and blackbirds are the grub eaters and anything to encourage is beneficial.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?HKSUW 17 July 2013 Japanese Beetle
The Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica) skeletonizes the leaves of my grape vines. I have also seen a few on the potato plants in small numbers. They appear every year, certainly over the last three years.This year they are rather sparse and appear ill fed. My local control is to flip them off the vines into a pail of water, or simply squash between thumb and forefinger,or shake the vines on a windy day and they disappear.They are poor flyers.The damage is acceptable if they are not left to feed. They can skeltonize the grape leaves in an afternoon, since they are often in large numbers. Fifty to one hundred is not uncommon. Birds eat many when in the white grub stage.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NCPOI 26 June 2012 Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica)

[beeman]

Originally Posted by Durgan

Birds eat many when in the white grub stage.

If you are seeing the white larval stage, then they are certainly from your garden, and those are the little b-----ers to get with nematodes.
I have used the beneficial ones for a couple of years as they will get coddling moth and other fruit tree pests. Available at 'good' gardening shops.
The important point, the ground has to be wet before you add them in the evening, with a watering can, otherwise they dry and die.

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ZBTKW Japanese Beetle larvae

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XCBHO European Crane Fly larvae

I have an abundance of both of these insects. The birds cleared the European Crane Fly. The adult is harmless and it termed the Texas mosquito or critter. About ten years ago, I had an infestation which wiped out almost every small seedling planted in the Spring. Salvation was the grackles and black birds, which came into the yard about 100 at a time about four times a day for about a week. I watched one bird through binoculars eat about 12 in a minute. In recent years the European Crane Fly larvae (leather jackets) is present, but in not harmful quantities.

[Geezer]

These guys and voles are my two most annoying garden pests. The best way I've found to deter them in my garden is to use the traps.

Buy the traps at your local hardware or big box store. Open the box and throw everything away EXCEPT the little pherome attractant disc. Drive about a 1/4 mile away from your garden and attach the disc to the yellow line in the middle of the road.

I do this at four places on separate roads for East, West, North and South and it has really reduced the adult beetle population in my garden! The little *$^@!s get a whiff of the pherome, land in the middle of the road asking "where's the orgy", then gets hit by the passing traffic!
Even during "non beetle season" there is something very satisfying about seeing these greasy spots in the road, left from year to year.

Evil Ed

[Mbrown9510]

Oh that is so funny!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MissS]

What do you use to 'attach' them with?

[Geezer]

Originally Posted by MissS

What do you use to 'attach' them with?

The ones I've been getting have an adhesive backing on the disc. Just pull the backing off, stick it to the yellow line, and drive away.

[Kazfam]

Collect in a jar with some water and give to the chickens.
I know that's not what you wanted to here - they are a pain in the butt.
At least they are easy to catch and a good protein source for the birds.

[MissS]

Originally Posted by Geezer

The ones I've been getting have an adhesive backing on the disc. Just pull the backing off, stick it to the yellow line, and drive away.

Thank you Geezer. This sounds like a MUST TRY.
Patti

[bboomer]

Spray them with soapy water. I mix about a teaspoon of organic liquid soap (the minty kind) to a quart of water. Test the strength of the mixture on a one part of your plants to make sure it is weak enough not to harm the leaves. Just a little of the spray is enough to send them flying and many fall out of the air to die on the ground.
When they come in clouds there is not much you can do but its satisfying to kill a few of those little b*****s.

[simmran1]

One thing I invested in yesterday- is Surround WP. (Wettable Powder) uses the vehicle of water and kaolin clay in a pressure sprayer, to coat the plants. I got from Gardens Alive, (with the 25% off).
Details

Surround at Home Crop Protectant forms a barrier film, which acts as a broad spectrum crop protectant for home, landscape and garden use for controlling damage from various insects, mites and disease pests, as a growth enhancer and as a protectant against sunburn and heat stress. Apply every 3 to 14 days depending on weather conditions (see label for accurate rates).

Controlsaphids, Japanese beetles, leafhoppers, crickets and thrips, grasshoppers, whiteflies, cutworms, weevils, loopers, rust mites, oblique-banded leaf-rollers, codling moths, apple maggots, green fruitworms, Mexican bean beetles, Colorado potato beetles, flea beetles and cucumber beetles.