I’m waiting with baited breath on the Japanese Beetles…none yet, but I expect them any day/moment. Thank god that they show up after everything gets really leafy. I can’t imagine if they showed up earlier in the season when everything is just getting going…that would be a nightmare.
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We’re still getting them. Sevin spray works but takes a while.
I’d rather find something that makes them burst into a tiny flame.
If I can reach them they get the big squeeze.
It’s especially satisfying if I can get catch them inflagrante delicto.
They’ll do the dirty deed on anything but for food they do seem to prefer roses, of course, and a few fruits to skeletonize.
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For a good time, buy an electric flyswatter from Harbor Freight and shake some JBs onto it instead of into soapy water. If you hold the button down they start to fry. And, no, I did not pull the wings off of butterflies as a child. OTOH, if butterflies did to my fruit and nut trees what JBs do I might be tempted!
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for those curious like me
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Excuse me while I form a mental image. AHHHH.
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Okay, I’m back.
The only question is that, as you know, they tend to drop off a half foot or so and then quickly scoot so are you able to get most of them to drop onto the flyswatter?
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I thought they were gone too until this weekend’s rain washed off the Sevin and tonight I witnessed the largest japanese beetle orgy I had ever seen. Needless to say out came the Sevin.
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Same here after the rain. The poor Red Heart plum is looking like a lace dress from the 1880’s. I did three gallons of Sevin to get most of the fruit and nut trees, the grapes and the asparagus ferns. As to the electric fly swatter, I have caught as many as ten of the buggers on it. You hold the button so it is charged and they get zapped as soon as they hit it. I have one I got at Menards that doesn’t work as well for the JBs because it has too fine a grid. The HB style has bars over a grid and the JBs go right in. Hold the button until they start smoking!
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Japanese beetle season just started here.I noticed more beetles today after rain last ni
ght. I did not use any spray,just patrol the yard often and crush any beetles I see,trying you use less chemicals if possible
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They even eat basil! However, they seem to be stunned by eating it. They remind me of some of my doper friends from the old days when they scored some particularly good weed. You can pick them off the basil and they just stumble around on your hand. So I fed one to Matilda, the assassin bug that hangs out on the screen of the kitchen window. I just hung it on the screen near her and she got right to it. She seems to like JBs with pesto flavoring.
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They just showed up here yesterday. Supposed to rain tomorrow. Saturday they’ll get a good dose of Imidan + 150% Carbaryl…we’ll see how they like that.
I got busy and let them get out of contol this year. I’m not sure if I can afford to treat seveal acres for grubs but I might try a small area and see if it helps. I was short on time and skiped spraying areas not in production where I did not see allot of pressure. So much for an IPM approach. Any fruit tree without poison here is getting stripped.
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Damn. Thats bad. That looks like more than beetle damage.
I’m less than an hour from @39thparallel and can verify the JB population is off the charts. They are coming from elsewhere and moving in large groups sweeping through here. If you spray them the next group will quickly replace them. I’m controlling them but picking my battles. They need a good natural enemy.
If you set up a JB monitor trap here it will be 100% full. I do suspect they are coming in from neighboring fields but may try to kill grubs anyways. I would think the birds would feast on them but, maybe they were to busy eating blackberries this year. I just ordered the 2.5 gal jug of sevin. It is gratifying watching them fall dead by the thousand.
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I’m sitting here at work eating my lunch in my car to enjoy the day before it really heats up. Reading this thread on Japanese beetles and what flies in my window and lands on my red shirt -
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They are slowing down here. I’m catching them with a cut out milk jug with water in it and a stick. I’ve been catching less lately, AND like others mentioned, I should have started when I first saw them. Another mistake was using one of those attractant traps and thinking that would take care of them. Nope. I think it drew them from afar and most of the ones I saw/caught were mating beacuse that was the smell in the air.
Last year I put down Milky Spore and I have lots of moles so I thought I would be in better shape than last year. Nope again. Here is Sweet Treat (the branches too high to get to)
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Holy cakes… Yeah that is nasty.
My son found 1 today on the milkweed… but its been very light again.
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Mine are winding down now. The damage is not too bad overall, if it was like this every year I would be happy. Anne, those traps have a reputation for doing more harm than good.
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I just looked at my Knock-out roses, having a 2nd bloom, and there are no JBs on them
Haven’t bother with them this year at all, except for squishing the ones I just run across
Whatever happened, I hope it keeps up
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Mine have been done for about 3-4 days now. I may see 1 or 2 flying around but for the most part they are gone. I still think the attractant in the spring/summer + Sevin Grub Killer in the fall/spring did the trick for me.
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