# japanese beetles, the war is on.



## wzazdzez (Jun 16, 2011)

I'm in north Alabama and japanese beetles are getting bad now. I've got 17 vines and I caught 10 beetles this morning. How does everybody feel about seven dust, or is there a better solution.And what should I use latter on when I have a vineyard?


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## wzazdzez (Jun 16, 2011)

I went ahead and seven dusted. The beetles were really bad today. For the past couple weeks I've been seeing two or three a week, but this morning they were everywhere.


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## Julie (Jun 16, 2011)

They do sell beetle traps that work very well or you can plant hops near by, the beetles seem to enjoy hops better than grapes, I thank my husband all the time for planting hops


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## grapeman (Jun 16, 2011)

When you set the pheromone traps out, be sure to place them near the neighbor's place so they all go over there instead of calling them to your vines by placing the traps near your vines. 

Seriously 2-3 sprays per year with Sevin (carbaryl) will keep them in check.


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## Larryh86GT (Jun 16, 2011)

Julie said:


> They do sell beetle traps that work very well or you can plant hops near by, the beetles seem to enjoy hops better than grapes, I thank my husband all the time for planting hops



I have 6 hops vines next to my 2 Marquis grapevines and my Japanese beetles prefer the grapevines by far. But this makes the beetles easier to reach and kill in my annual war with them.


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## Julie (Jun 16, 2011)

Larryh86GT said:


> I have 6 hops vines next to my 2 Marquis grapevines and my Japanese beetles prefer the grapevines by far. But this makes the beetles easier to reach and kill in my annual war with them.



Well the hops are not beside the grapes so I guess Mike's choice of where to plant was in my best interest.  They hit the hops and don't bother going near the grapes.


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## wzazdzez (Jun 16, 2011)

I was tryin to stay away from pesticides, but they were all over my vines. After the seven dust they're still in my yard but not on my vines. And that stuff has been around for decades. My Dad used it on his garden when I was growin up. It's not like one of these chemicals that come out and get banned by the government the next year.


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## Stefani (Jun 16, 2011)

Don't those Japanese Beetles eat aphids?


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## Manimal (Jun 16, 2011)

I was talking to a vineyard manager here in Niagara who likes Japanese beetles. They generally emerge about the same time that we need to hedge and they only really feed on the new young growth at the top of the canopy, so they basically do the hedging for you and save you the work. Sure, the vineyard looks like crap for about two weeks and you would swear that serious damage has been done, but things recover and the beetles are not an issue for the rest of the season. 

I'm sure that this guy's opinion is not shared by most other growers in the area, but I thought he had an interesting point and one worth considering. I think that too often we see some bugs on our vines and some feeding damage and we think that the only rational answer is to wipe them out, but there may other solutions.

In regards to Sevin, don't kid yourself about the toxicity... it may not be the worst out there, but it's a carbamate and they are pretty serious chemicals. As long as you wear protective gear when you're applying it and you wash up good when you're finished, it'll be fine, but it's not something you want to be too complacent about. Repeated exposure can be particularly problematic... it is basically a nerve poison. It is also highly toxic to bees which is not good. Google the MSDS for Sevin if you want more detailed info.


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## Larryh86GT (Jun 17, 2011)

The Japanese beetle is probably the most devastating pest of urban landscape plants in the eastern United States:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef451.asp


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## deboard (Jun 17, 2011)

I use sevin on my plants, I started out using the dust, but I find the concentrated liquid more effective and cheaper. Just get a cheap pump sprayer at wal-mart and mix up a batch when you need it.

I imagine the japanese beetle problem must be a little worse here in the southern US vs Canada. I've seen years where they will eat every leaf off of just about every plant I have, and then the plants die.


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## Dougxox (Jun 26, 2011)

Checked my grapes last Sunday and saw a few beetles, went out on Monday and they were covered with them. I use Seven spray in a one gallon pump up. I have 100 plants in tubes and another 100 in there second year, about 2 gallons covered them with the first spryaing. Did another spray a week later ( yesterday) Only saw about a doz or so but mixed up another gallon and did a light spray where I saw them, most were in the grass between the tubed plants.
Had one plant with a tomato worm on it, he cleaned it of all leaves, that was last week, this week ther were new leaves already popping out.


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## FTC Wines (Jun 26, 2011)

The JB war has on here for 3 weeks. I only have 16 vines so I use a Windex bottle to spray only the bugs themselves. They love my Merlot Vines but don't do much to the Catawba's. roy


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