JB's already... REALLY?!?!?

I’m not ready for this… Just spotted him on a Juliet. Dang!!!

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Dang!! Thanks for the heads up. Damn things.

I wonder how they are deep fried or covered in chocolate? There are always so many… probably could do a good business with them.

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The grubs have been systematically taking out my young lettuce starts. Grrrrr …

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are japanese beetles and june bugs the same thing? our junebugs are colored different here and are bigger but I’ve never seen them on any of my plants. must be related to them. only thing they attack here is grass roots.

Related, but not the same thing.

I have geraniums. They loved it, and when they eat, they get dizzy and fall under it and I squish them!

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Up until this year our ground has been in row crops (corn/bean rotation) and the JB’s dig both of them. The concept of doing something kinda spendy like Milky Spore has been just out of the question. This year we’ve enrolled our crop ground into the CRP and it’s planted to native grasses, flowers & legumes. I’ll have to see what the eventual JB pressure is this season, but I’m thinking maybe I can now give Milky Spore a try. Think I’ll wait and see for now though.

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I would be very surprised to see a large population of Japanese beetles this year due to the extended duration of negative temperatures we had in Iowa. They tend to build up over several years if winters are mild but a cold winter hits them back hard for a year or two.

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That gives me hope anyway!!!

How funny. I spotted my first one today as well. It was on my grapes, which is one of their favorite foods.

I know that is a VERY common belief- that cold winters mean less insects the next year. I know most people believe that and I hear it all the time. It also makes good common sense that a harsh winter would result in a substantially higher mortality rate for insects. But I just am not sure that it is true, and every spring and summer following a harsh winter I pay close attention and have never detected much if any reduction in inspects. I would be interested in seeing if any real studies have been done or if this is just another mistaken believe based on beliefs instead of empirical evidence. I’m sure I’ll be in the minority in questioning this since it is a long held belief and passes the common sense test. Perhaps over thousands or even millions of years insects have developed an ability to survive extreme winter temps. Maybe not. I just know that my garden doesn’t have less insects after harsh winters, I see just as many fire flies and mosquitoes, and Japanese beetles are just as plentiful in my experience.

There are actually no JB’s in the area I’m from so I cant say anything from my own experience. I heard about this from Dr. Harrington a plant pathology professor at Iowa state university.

Keep in mind you’re a zone or two warmer than us in Iowa, we get some serious freezes once in a while.

Oh yea, no doubt about it. And like I said, your statement is most definitely widely accepted as being true, it makes sense, and so I’d say the odds are with you. Its just one of those things that I’ve not seen in my limited observations and haven’t seen any concrete studies or evidence, so I’ve always sort of wondered if it is true or just SEEMS so logical that people accept it. That’s all.

Well I don’t get Japanese beetles here in Central Wisconsin we do get Rose chafer beetles, and even though this winter we had a 10-day stretch of overnight lows below -10 degrees with no snow cover the Beatles are as bad or worse this year than I’ve seen before. So far they have not been very bad on my apple trees, I think due to foliar fertilizers making my apples extra healthy. But they are hammering things like the peony flowers and my mature asparagus.