Japanese beetles

[Rocky]

Milky spore works well, in my experience. And, I know people hate the beetle bags, but I have to say I've had success with them. They have to be thought of as more of a preventative than an instant solution.

We live in the middle of 21 acres, so no neighbors' gardens to pull the beetles into our garden and bag, which may be different from those who live in urban areas. A few years ago, though, my husband saw one and got it for me, just a spontaneous gift. I inwardly cringed, but hung it up so as not to hurt his feelings. It was nearly full in a week. Great - less beetles, I thought.

The real surprise was the following year - there were very, very few beetles in my garden. I thought about it, and realized that all of those beetles that were captured the year before were not alive to propagate! So, I got another bag and hung it up. The next year, even fewer beetles.

So, I now get a bag every year, and since I started using them, my flowers are beautiful and nearly beetle free.

Interesting perspective on the "beetle bags." I think it has merit. Thank you.

 

[Vern]

Saw first JB today, invasion and war begins.

 

[Steve Wargo]

Anybody seeing jap beetles? Every year they appear around June 24, but happily none yet. I’m not going to spray insecticide till August so the predators can do their job. Then I have to spend at least 2 weeks in isolation with my wife as she recovers from a stem cell transplant so the bugs will have free reign for a while.

There was some leaf damage on a few grape leaves in a specific area. At first glance no beetles. While turning over leaves to the bottom side, hiding, the arseO beetles. They committed suicide. So far haven't seen any other noticeable damage. Yet.

 

[memnosine]

Here in Aurora -near Denver-they showed up 3 days ago, really late June. Still just a few per day.

 

[wood1954]

Maybe that’s what I’ve got going on. Last year I counted how many beetles I picked off my vines around 2000 plus all the ones I killed on my trees seems to have made an impact. So far only 6 beetle.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

They've been here for a week, but in small numbers. I thought about setting some traps, but their numbers have been small and I just picked them off by hand. Three things I've done over the years to minimize their impact:
1. When I do use pesticide, I use liquid Sevin from Garden Tech. This is the one that is NOT Carbaryl based.
2. I set traps out and away from the vineyard. Not all folks can do this, but I have 56 acres, so there's a little room. The idea to to draw them away from the grapes. Don't let them stop for a snack on the way to the promise of sex.
3. I have treated large areas with milky spore. Not only does it minimize the numbers or JBs and june bugs, but the moles moved to other areas. I do have moles starting to show in our orchard, so it's time to renew the treatment.

I used to have JBs show up by the bus load. Now their numbers are small. Check out the image below. I had the change the bags on traps daily back when the issue was bad.