I wouldn’t have given it a thought if I had not experienced it. I think the population grew exponentially from last year because of the traps. It drew them to my yard where they ate, mated, and laid their eggs for next year. Maybe the Milky Spore will get them - I understand that folks may not see a dif the 1st year (TRUE). “Next year will be better” (<- the gardener’s antidepressant)
I hear that constantly about traps with the complaint that it attracts JBs from far away. That is not my experience. I can be trapping beetles and then move the trap 100 ft and get none. If I move it back to the original location I start catching them again.
At times the JB population may be so large that the traps can’t kill enough of them or not enough traps have been used. One more thing about traps. I purchased Specticide brand traps and they did not work for Oriental Beetle which are similar to Japanese Beetles. Rescue brand works for both and is very long lasting.
For those that don’t like trapping the Milky Spore application is a good option. When I used it I didn’t have a problem with Japanese Beetles for over ten years. Don’t use grub killer when using Milky Spore since some grubs are required for the Milky Spores to work.
Grup killer applied to the soil works but I prefer to avoid poisons when there are other options.
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A general question about the JB traps, do they have insecticide in them to kill JB’s? My chickens find JB’s and their grubs delectable and they certainly would be a good protein source especially if I could attract them and have them fall in the chicken yard.
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Hey Phil, I had 2 dif kinds. Neither bag has poison in it. It is just impossible for the JBs to get out once they’ve gotten in it. I think because the inside of the bag is slick and they are kinda clumsy. I’ve had the Rescue for 3 years and got the Spectrcide this year. I think the Rescue is better (I wrapped the scent container in plastic and put it in the freezer to save up for the following year and like @danzeb said it lasts). The Spectracide had a MUCH stronger scent (wonder if the neighbors could smell it) and maybe that is why I had so many.
Actually I didn’t have much of a problem with JBs until I got some fruit/almond trees 3 years ago. 
Edit: And they are alive in the bag so, to feed them to your chickens, you might want to empty the bag into a shallow pan of water - they are clumsy swimmers too.
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I haven’t seen traps with insecticides. Usually they just fall into a plastic bag.
yep. They just fall into the bags. When I was actively trapping I was getting to the point where the bags would overflow within an hour or 2. I was getting walmart, target, etc bags and placing the trap bags in them to prevent dumping the JB from just falling out and flying away.
Sean,
I found Sevin dust is more effective because JBs drop like flies.
Tony
yeah… thinking back I probably could have used that when they hit the bags… but the pleasure I got by trapping them in the bags, closing the bags up, then leaving the moving bag on the driveway on a 100 degree day was just too much to pass up.
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I’m considering luring them to another part of my property like over the fish ponds. The traps look reasonable . Thanks for coming up with the chickens idea! I bet it would work as good for fish! https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008JDRV98/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468601930&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=japanese+beetle+trap&dpPl=1&dpID=61tJmfh4zuL&ref=plSrch#
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I agree Tony, for whatever reason the dust does seem to be considerably more effective than the spray.
I was wondering why my knockout roses hadn’t bloomed recently. Upon further inspection yesterday I noticed that JBs had eaten all the flowers off.
They got a dose of Sevin spray + NuFilm 17 yesterday. Nothing better to see sweet revenge!
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I found where all the Japanese beetles are coming from at my work. At the edge of the parking lot are some spirea bushes being overtaken with some vine weed. The weed is obviously their mating grounds. Can’t believe how many are in there.
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The beetles are horrible here in Central Maine right now. It really ticks me off how much they like Honeycrisp apple trees. Someday, one of the chemical companies will make a lot of money from coming out with a consistently effective product to combat these SOBs.
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All those echinaceas next to the roses - all the bees on them
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You are right, Lois. I had misgivings about the Sevin after I noticed the bees the next day. I only sprayed the roses, though, and it seems the bees didn’t have but this one rose to go to. It won’t stop raining here. 0.6" yesterday and another line headed our way now. Hopefully the Sevin is gone in short order.
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My chickens would dig out all the grubs. Eventually there were very few beetles or grasshoppers. But very hard on mulch as the chickens would kick it all over the yard.
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At my house, they LOVE the Virginia Creeper, so i keep a little bit growing on the fence for the beetles to munch on. They really seem to prefer it to most of my trees. I go out every day and knock them off the Virginia Creeper into a dish of soapy water.
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I have to believe the Scotts grubex has worked well. I have hardly any yet. I know this all can change. I still have August yet! My birds left that have been here every year to eat them. I thought they were Phoebes but now I think they are the King bird. Phoebes are to small. I had a few and they seem to have mellowed because the couple leaves on the tops have new growth above them.
Sprayed everything with Surround and they went away the day after. Haven’t seen a single one since. Lets hope they’re gone for good. And it was so sudden that I wonder if the Surround did anything or it was just some freak occurrence and they just randomly decided to go away. Probably unlikely, haha.
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Surround definitely works. When I hit my plums this year they moved to other trees.
Another thing Surround is great for is stink bugs. Earlier Surround sprays have kept my asian pears pretty much stinkbug free, and they are magnets for stinkers. I am finding a few stinkbugs now but they are only on un-Surrounded things (blackberries and tomatoes).