Here they mostly eat the younger leaves and don’t show so much interest in leaves really hardened off.
Alan,
I’ve gone through three quarts of concentrate from three different sources…I just bought it when I rembered as I was at Wallyworld, Lowes, Menards or where ever. Mites? Don’t know. I’m not much at this I guess. However, I do believe we are talking apples and oranges here. You seem to have been spared the truly Biblical plague some of are seeing. I will attach a pic of my Red Ace plum, their favorite food at my place, and you may be able to see the damage. The entire tree looks like this limb, with very nearly every leaf damaged. I shook the tree before taking the picture and a small swarm flew off even though I sprayed it yesterday and the day before. I can’t tell if they are dying after dining, but in the past I thought there was some anti-feedant effect as the trees would be almost entirely free if JBs for a week. I noticed this new pattern as soon as the damned things really got started this year, and I have gone through at least three quarts of concentrate during this invasion.
Of course your pressure could be different than mine, but Sevin is supposed to keep killing for at least a week when applied at highest rate. If it doesn’t and it is good Sevin, than of course, you are experiencing pressure I know nothing about. I would try combining it with something else- maybe Triazicide. I often combine Asana, another pyrethroid, with Sevin to get longer results.
Thanks Alan. I’ll give that a try. It could just be that I have so many of the JBs that I am seeing suicide attacks on the sprayed trees. They may well be dying from the residue and I just seeing them before they croak. I’m talking LOTS of beetles here. When I shake a tree I get clobbered by the buggers dropping off. I sprayed a pecan tree that overhangs one of my wife’s flower beds and when she went out to work that bed she kept hearing something falling. Finally spotted the dead beetles all around. I hope they av leastmake good fertilizer.
I’ve had infestations at sites where it is like a scary movie- a hard rain of thousand of beetles when you try to harvest fruit, but maybe you have unlimited reinforcements.
These bugs, Japanese Beetles, what we call June Bugs down here, are they like the plague? I see them every night with my spotlight hunting armadillos and coons. They are all over my apple, pear snd sour cherry trees. I look at the trees in daylight but not a whole bunch of damage that I can see. Y’all scare me talking about them being so destructive. I mean, there is literally hundreds flying around me with the bright spotlight getting in my hair and clinging to my clothes. My trees still look ok, though. Should I be concerned?
Japanese beetles are genetically similar to June bugs but they are not considered June bugs. They are much more destructive, they seem to have a higher metabolism and they can get to scary high densities. They are also active in the day as opposed to night.
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I bought 3 cans pack of Sevin from Walmart for $12.80. I sprinkled some on the Beauty plums, sweet cherries, roses, and persimmons. Killed about a couple hundreds of JBs. Now they stay cleared from those trees and bushes.
Tony
tonO,
I had that same experience in the past with the liquid Sevin. After spraying a tree I would see essentially no JBs on it for a week or more if there was no rain. Now they come back the next day. I don’t think I have all that many more this year than in previous years, but the weather was interesting this year, with way more rain than usual, and it may be that the JB hatch is just longer this year so I keep getting new swarms. At any rate, I am ready for them to go away. It is in the high 90’s now and it is no fun to be out there pumping away at my little crappy sprayer when I would rather be sitting in the shade watching my fruit ripen as I sip on…make that chug…a cold beverage.
Chuck
I read that moist conditions is the best thing for them.
Chuck…I’ve seen the same thing here more or less. There isn’t anything wrong with your Sevin, it’s simply the JB concentration this year, and the duration in which they’ve been active. The Sevin is killing them, but for every one killed, two more arrive.
I also can relate to your angst about spraying in the heat, especially when you can see no clear cut benefit. I feel the same way. Forget the Triazicide, you might as well mix in extra water…it’s absolutely and totally useless. If you had Asana like Alan has you’d likely see some benefit, but, take it from me (I’ve likely sprayed more Triazicide than any regular on this forum), it will do nothing more than waste your time and money. JB’s are too tough and persistent for such a weak concoction. Double up the Carbaryl and expect damage anyway.
That sounds bleak, I know, but that’s apparently the way it is.
If anyone has any better real world first hand advice, I’d love to hear it.
Appleseed has much,much more experience with Triazicide than me, but I wonder why its’ active ingredient has absolutely no efficacy against JB’s if they ingest it. Maybe it is about the temps where it is used. Pyrethroids are supposed to lose potency in hot weather and I haven’t used Asana much where temps got into the 90’s after application. Summers have been rather mellow here the last few years.
I was at a site yesterday that I sprayed 2 weeks ago with an Asana, Sevin cocktail and there were no J beetles, which really surprised me. This is a bad year for them and the site has bad infestations even on normal years. There was a hell of a lot of them 2 weeks ago and they always have required at least two and sometimes 3 sprays there. I also included some Portal miticide, because the Sevin has caused mite flare-ups there in the past. Maybe that somehow helped as I’ve never used that in the mix before. It is extremely foul.
I think the very rainy weather here in central MO may have contributed to my JB problems. I bet they were slowed down early on because of the rain and then have come in waves as the rain subsided. I think (knocking on wood here) that they may finally be on the downhill side of the infestation. I am seeing them on things I did not spray, but they seem fewer on the trees I have treated now. I have damage on just about all my fruit and nut trees, but I did manage to keep them from defoliating the small and vulnerable trees. Had they been allowed to concentrate on those I could have had some completely stripped of leaves. They use a pecan and a tall crab apple near my orchard for refuge when I spray, and I know they also go for an elm tree in the yard as there are lots of lacy elm leaves falling now. I don’t know if my damaged trees are likely to put out new leaves this late in the season or not, but I haven’t lost any trees at least.
Chuck
I think you’re right (also knocking on wood), I too am noticing their numbers diminishing. I think the plague is nearly over for this year.
I have some beetle damage here but nowhere near the levels you guys are experiencing. A couple of years ago, I found a 3 pack of Sevin at Walmart for $1. I’d love to give it away to you guys. But I’m quite far at San Jose, CA! 
That’s an awesome deal, but it’s probably the dust right?
Seems crazy but I seem to have better luck controlling insects with the dust rather than the liquid. It’s a PITA to apply but since my trees are young and small it doesn’t take to much longer.
Yup.
