Sechelles beans and Japanese Beetle resistance

wodehouse · August 12, 2021

Seems to be a bad year for Japanese beetles...beans are getting badly chewed, EXCEPT for the Sechelles pole bean. It's a round snap bean with pretrty good yields and nice flavor, but the biggest virtue, for me, is that the beetles pass it by! Has anyone else had this experience, with Sechelles, but also with other varieties?

brownrexx · August 12, 2021

I have grown several different kinds of beans for drying and I have noticed that the JB prefer some kinds over others.

This year I am growing Lazy Housewife pole beans right next to an unnamed variety of pole beans and the JB are eating the Lazy Housewife but not the other one.

Last year they ate one kind of bush black bean but not another variety of bush black bean.

Zeedman · August 19, 2021

JB's are bypassing the most vigorous pole bean in the garden (Jembo Polish); eating mostly just the flowers of the white-flowered runner bean; and attacking Fortex so badly that they may kill some, despite my best efforts. They will attack a soybean, and leave the adjacent pole bean alone... then in another location, attack Zebrina flowering mallow & leave the adjacent soybeans alone. There doesn't seem to be any pattern (other than their fondness for flowers, and for tall plants) and their preferences change occasionally. I put out 3 beetle bag traps & have caught literally thousands... but nothing seems to help. They are really bad this year; I'll have to treat the lawn with Milky Spore, or next year the beetles will be intolerable.

Tormato · October 20, 2021

I've heard that Milky Spore in near useless in the north, as the soil doesn't get warm enough.

August 12, 2021	#1
wodehouse Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: NY/VT border Posts: 12	Sechelles beans and Japanese Beetle resistance Seems to be a bad year for Japanese beetles...beans are getting badly chewed, EXCEPT for the Sechelles pole bean. It's a round snap bean with pretrty good yields and nice flavor, but the biggest virtue, for me, is that the beetles pass it by! Has anyone else had this experience, with Sechelles, but also with other varieties?

August 12, 2021	#2
brownrexx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 1,420	I have grown several different kinds of beans for drying and I have noticed that the JB prefer some kinds over others. This year I am growing Lazy Housewife pole beans right next to an unnamed variety of pole beans and the JB are eating the Lazy Housewife but not the other one. Last year they ate one kind of bush black bean but not another variety of bush black bean.

August 19, 2021	#3
Zeedman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 313	JB's are bypassing the most vigorous pole bean in the garden (Jembo Polish); eating mostly just the flowers of the white-flowered runner bean; and attacking Fortex so badly that they may kill some, despite my best efforts. They will attack a soybean, and leave the adjacent pole bean alone... then in another location, attack Zebrina flowering mallow & leave the adjacent soybeans alone. There doesn't seem to be any pattern (other than their fondness for flowers, and for tall plants) and their preferences change occasionally. I put out 3 beetle bag traps & have caught literally thousands... but nothing seems to help. They are really bad this year; I'll have to treat the lawn with Milky Spore, or next year the beetles will be intolerable.

October 20, 2021	#4
Tormato Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MA Posts: 4,971	I've heard that Milky Spore in near useless in the north, as the soil doesn't get warm enough.