Saw my last Japanese Beetle about a week ago so I’m assuming that they are somewhere reloading for next year. The numbers appeared to be less this season than last year. There are a few advantages to being small time. Most every morning during my walk through I am armed with a sprayer of soap water. I’m not sure if the soap really damages the beetle but they sure don’t like getting their mouth washed out with it. The ones I could easily reach I gave them a hard thump. Now I’m back watching for aphids.
I still have beetles around. My first control this year was to flick them into soapy water. But I couldn’t keep up. For me, Sevin Dust has worked extremely well. I tried the liquid spray which didn’t work but the dust is working great. The only drawback is that it needs reapplied after it rains. My trees are small so not a big deal. But for now they are under control. I’ve read that I should put down some grub control after the beetles disappear but I need to do more research in the timing and the larva lifecycle.
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Saw a few this past week and promptly ended them, but SO FAR the numbers seem down here too. Maybe cuz I flopped down several applications of Milky Spore over the past couple years…
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The JBs are active right now for me. I killed about 100 each evening. I placed a tropical fish net under the branch and lightly tapped the branch. They just fell into the net and I then put them in a bucket of soap water to drown.
Tony
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Not sure i even noticed JB last year. I think i’ve counted a couple so far. Hoping it is a light year again.
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I’ve got a friend that also said liquid Sevin wasn’t working for him. He even wondered if something had changed in their formulation. But I’ve found even the brand new bottles of Sevin work for me, and are about the only thing that drops JB’s in their tracks that I’ve used. (Maybe other stuff works eventually, but I never waited long enough to learn that. I’d spray them with Triazicide and it was as if I was doing them a favor, cooling them down or something. I told a buddy they do the back-stroke in that stuff and just laugh at me)
Dusting is out of the question in my case, but if I recall it calls for a good amount of product - like 3 oz per gallon. A bottle doesn’t last me too long, but my cherries, peaches, Juneberries, and asparagus (that I’ve let fern out and looks like a jungle) were all getting hammered. I was in the harvesting cherry mode, almost done when they showed up here, and since my focus had been on finishing up my cherries I’d not even noticed the peaches were getting hit so hard. I worked up a batch and watched them drop in droves.
I don’t think it takes a lot to wash it off if it rains, but with a spreader sticker it seems to have worked for me. I don’t spray the asparagus as the bees work it daily, so I too have been knocking JB’s into soapy water every day. So what JB’s remained after the Sevin spray would eventually find their way to the 'gus, which I would knock into soapy water, and as of yesterday that was less than a dozen.
I had a few gallons left in the tank so went over to the apples and I don’t think there was a single JB on them. But they’re maybe a 1/4 mile away.
I finally bit the bullet on milky spore last summer. So far this year I have seen three of them plus one small spot of damage with no bugs. Who knows if it was the spores or the climate. Last year was my worst year ever, the only time they were a serious nuisance.
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Apples are the last resort for Japanese beetles in my orchard. I’d rank them in order from most susceptible to least susceptible (Cherry, Plum, Apricot, Peach, Pear, Apple.).
The liquid Sevin spray kills beetles that get hit with a direct stream. But in my orchard I can flick all the beetles into soap and 15 minutes later more beetles appear on the leaves. When I said liquid Sevin was ineffective I was talking in terms of keeping beetles off the trees without a direct hit of spray. I’ve sprayed liquid sevin on my trees and a half an hour later there were beetles crawling all over them. They don’t seem to go anywhere near the powder.
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I find the spray bottle of soap more effective than carrying around a bucket, but it only gets the beetles there at the moment, not the ones flying in the moment after
I find the same general order of preference that speedster does, except of course roses are the favorite
Here, they showed up about a week ago, which is early - normally their season is July, but this time they came before I’d finished picking the cherries. When the population is really high, I use the cherry as a trap and spray it with something systemic
They’ve been here for about 3 weeks now, but in lesser numbers than last year. I’ve been knocking them into soapy water like everyone else. They were doing some serious damage to my Asian persimmons that were planted last year and are only about 3 feet tall, so I covered them with tulle to keep them off. That was my wife’s idea and it has worked well. I’m hoping once the trees get bigger I won’t have to worry about the damage, but they would’ve defoliated them if left unchecked. They haven’t found my Juliet bush cherries yet, but those are next to some large Crepe Myrtles that the beetles seem to favor as well. I read somewhere that if it is particularly dry when they are out and actively mating, the larvae will have a hard time burrowing into the soil and more of them will perish. I believe we were quite dry last year at this time which would explain my reduction in numbers. I need to look into milky spore!
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I forgot to mention that after I sprinkled my trees with dust the beetles seemed to focus on my ornamental burning bushes near my front porch. There were hundred of beetles on just bushes. Those I hit with liquid Sevin and then sprinkled dust over the bushes. They did considerable damage before I noticed them and protected the bushes. My neighbor actually put a net over his roses to keep the beetles off.
I can see them mating near me, and they are becoming a problem now. I’m gonna have to finally cave in and get myself some Surround.
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I used BT for Japanese beetles last year, and I’m going to use it again this year. i have yet to see any, I know soon though! I wanted to use the BT because unlike Milky Spore, these bacteria attack all beetles. June, Potato, Cucumber, etc.
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that the beetle-jus? I guess i may have to try it.
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For me the Japanese beetles aren’t too bad this year, but worse than last year when I maybe saw a half dozen. The worst I ever saw them was when I lived in the Chicago suburbs and they wiped out my sweet corn crop by eating the silks when it was tasseling.
They are using some wild grapes on the edge of my yard as a meeting place to get their thing on. I am using them as a trap and kill crop, spraying the congregating hordes with Sevin every time I see a few there.
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Scott, it was you and me! We killed 'em all!
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I did use that last year. This year I’m using the product in the form of a grub killer. So near the end of the season, like Milky Spore. I’ll treat the grass. gardens, beds, etc… I’m going after the grubs this time.
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Does anyone know how long the beetles stick around?
They are mating on my almonds and have turned the leaves into lace. I have some attractant bags which do catch a lot but I use the bucket of water approach too. It seems they got bad all at once.
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I’d say their season is like a month, tho there are lingerers who last longer
I think of July as JB season