Japanese Beetles

When is everyone expecting Japanese Beetles this year? Seems like things are hitting early on the east coast this year due to the mild winter. Anyone expecting early Japanese Beetles? I have my calendar reminder to start looking 6/15.

I remembered last year it was June 19 here in Omaha.

We usually have them by early June in my North Carolina location, but so far they haven’t appeared. Could the milky spore and beneficial nematodes I applied last year have actually worked? I doubt it, but keep hoping…

I think our cooler than normal spring has delayed them a bit.

Edit June 12th: They’re back! Found two on my grapes this morning.

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We’ve been picking 3 and 4 Japanese Beetles off of some of the pomegranate blossoms this week. I got some Diatomaceous Earth to dust those plants with beetles . . . and in the process, may have figured out what is causing the curly disfiguration of my tomatoes.

Found on Google:
“The Organic Pesticide for Aphids, Crawling-Insect Diatomaceous Earth is great for your garden and deadly to the aphids killing your plants. Aphids feast on plants by piercing the plant and sucking its moisture. In doing so, they actually transmit a virus into the plant which makes it curl and distorts its growth.

Great! The tomatoes and cucumbers were crawling with aphids a few weeks ago. Then they just disappeared. ? But the damage sounds like the virus described in this blurb I found on Google.

Some of the tomatoes seem to be ‘growing out of it’ - but the tops of a few of them remain all curly and thick - and just plain WEIRD!

So I put in a couple of Better Boys and Bonnie’s Best - for tomato insurance.

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I didn’t do anything last year and my cherries got destroyed. I’m going with some standard traps found at my local hardware store. I’ve seen the ones rigged with bigger bags or a trash can. I’m going to try to standard bag this time and see how it goes.

Here they show up generally by the first of July

I’ve had them the past couple weeks. Is this large beetle a Japanese one? Is it possible for them to get that big look at the others.

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I posted this in the Pomegranate thread . . .
not sure I want everyone to know how goofy I get - but here goes! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

We have a new ‘hobby’ - a sport we call ‘Bop the Beetle’.
We go around in the evening, when the beetles are more lethargic, and bop them into open jars containing about an inch of isopropyl alcohol! Just holding the jar under a leaf with a beetle or two, and shaking it a bit - or flicking them off the leaf . . . they fall right into their last bath! D.O.A.! Our plum trees are loaded with JBs, and offer lots of ‘playtime’!!! LOL (Doesn’t take much to entertain us these days!)

We have nuked hundreds of them in the past few days!

I went out this morning, before it got too hot - and catching them was more difficult. I still got about 50 in my jar in about 20 minutes. Most of you probably have too many trees to mess with this crazy method . . . but it is very satisfying to catch the damn things!

Update! We ran out of rubbing alcohol. And there is none to be found in the drugstores right now. So we came up with an alternative.
Now the beetles are being dropped into ‘extra dry gin martinis’ - in a jar. It worked and . . . They’ll go out ‘happy’. :cocktail::cocktail::cocktail::cocktail:

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The beetle pic is a beautiful photo! Would make a great puzzle!

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Green June Beetle, I believe

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I am currently dealing with the rose chafer’s this week here in Maine, which means the Japanese beetles will be out in force in a few weeks time.

Rose chafer:


Also heads up on these guys, they emit a toxin so don’t let your poultry eat too many of them!

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I remember those, they were all over the place when I was a kid, but I haven’t seen one since.

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Nice, thanks for the heads up. Still waiting for them in western PA

My son found a Japanese beetle 2 days ago. I hope they aren’t bad this year.

Rose chafers were horrible this year. They still don’t do much damage, but it was the thickest i’ve seen them in a long time. They did chew up some nectarines before i could get some pesticide on them.

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Started seeing them last week in 6B Virginia. Started in on the plum and peach leaves pretty good. Sprayed for them yesterday. Bag traps have been filling up fast. Need to get the trashcan traps put together and put out.

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Thanks!!

JBs came out here today. Sprayed the plum and cherry trees.

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What are you spraying for them?

As it happens I was out spraying with Bonide’s Tree and Plant Guard against the late PCs on the plums when I first saw the JBs. So I used that. But if the JB pressure gets really bad, I’ll switch to acetamiprid, esp on the trees not bearing any longer this year. I don’t like to use it, on account of the bees, but the JBs can defoliate a cherry tree. I might try netting the smaller plum with the Big Bug net.