Japanese Beetles

We have put grub killer on our lawn in the spring. We have used several products & we are still plagued by these pests. They are eating my roses & crepe myrtles. Does anyone have any suggestions? Help!!!

I used Bayer All in One, got the idea from another thread....it worked great.

I have used that & it works for a short period. I mean days & they are back. Any other ideas?

I wish I had a permanent removal suggestin, I'm still looking for one myself.
I have tried different methods. I use the beetle bag traps and hand pick them off. There are people who don't like the bags and say they attract more beetles, but I like it. I also get a bottle or container, fill partly with water, and pick the beetles off (with gloves). Once they're in the water they don't fly away. This method has kept them down enough to not cause any significant damage to my garden.
In the past I used strong concentrations of malathion to kill them, but don't really like spraying harsh chemicals all over my plants anymore.
I think that damaged leaves from the beetles attract more beetles, so you could maybe try pruning the ones that are really damaged.

Thanks Melissa. I hate using harsh chemicals now since I have a puppy. Someone else told my husband that they picked them off. We might give that a try but it seems overwhelming. I did trim off the damage limbs after the first attack to make them look better. It is good to know it will help with attracting more beetles. We moved here 3 yrs ago & heard about the beetles but had no idea as to the trouble they would cause. It does not help that no one else on our block keeps their yards. Thanks again.

I use the bayer systemic and also the bayer spray or epsoma spray. You have to be proactive and anticipate JB. They usually hit this area around the 4th of July. So far this year the bayer systemic has seemed to really have helped. The JB have bypassed my roses but I found them destroying the malva. I sprayed the heck out of them too.

I do spray regularly even though It has been hard this year with the rain.

I have a bed of over 40 roses and I have only found a few JB there.

I talked to my brother in law last night and he said that in NC the beetles only seem to be a bad problem for about 2-3 weeks. He was out picking them off the rose I sent my sister for her birthday.

They destroy so much but they really are one of the more attractive beetles.

I'm having trouble keeping up with picking them off. Someone suggested putting a hot pepper garlic spray on the plants - the japanese beetles don't like the taste of it. I wanted to test it out and report back, but it's raining this week, so maybe next week will be a better time to test it.

They're primarily attacking my pole beans. And my sunflowers, to some extent. I grappled over whether to just let them have the pole beans, or use the pepper spray and risk them moving to other plants. If I can get a sense from the test that it's working, I might end up buying a bucket of habaneros and spraying everything down! I'll report back if I get this figured out.

They're a horrible insect. The moles are tearing up the yard, but they can't seem to eat enough of the grubs to get them under control. They still show up in large numbers. We saw tons of assassin/wheel bugs hatch, but I'm not sure if they're mature enough at this point to put much of a dent in the japanese beetle population. And the praying mantids - well, I've read I-witness accounts that even they won't eat them. Grrrr!

hey dividedsky maybe you should tell those japanese beetles your garden is g-rated lol
yikes!

Our local nursery told me milky spore is the way to go. Japaense beetles overwinter, that's why they come back every year. Milky Spore applied according to the directions will kill the grubs. I don't have that serious of a problem, so I haven't tried it. A guy I work with has a horrible problem with them and he finally bought some. Just reporting what the local nurseries have told both him and me.

4 o clocks are a natural killer to japenese bettles. i have them in my yard and very seldom see them on anything but the four o clocks which kills them. here is a good site to read below is from the site.

http://www.ghorganics.com/JapaneseBeetle.html

Control Methods:
* Use interplantings of four o'clocks (Mirabilis), larkspur, white geraniums, red (and dwarf) buckeyes whose flowers attract and poison the beetles. The leaves of the castor bean plant also poison them. These plants are poisonous to people to so be careful using them around children or pets!

* Good plants for trap crops include: evening primrose, soybeans, wild grapes, African marigolds, borage and knotweed!
* Make bait traps of water, mashed fruit, sugar and yeast. Place on the perimeter of the garden at least 1 inch off the ground in plastic jugs with an entrance hole cut at the top. Choose sunny spots and strain the bodies out of traps every evening.
* For easier handpicking : In the morning spread out a sheet under infested plants. Shake the plants and the beetles will fall onto the sheet. Dump them into a bucket of soapy water. Dew on their wings in the morning keeps them from flying away. The cooler air also makes them more lethargic.
* Use pheromone traps keeping them at a distance from victim plants so you won't attract new beetles.

* Milky spore disease known as Bacillus popilliae can be used against the grub stage as a most effective long term control. This is best done on a wide scale treating entire infested areas in neighborhoods or grasslands. Complete control may take a few years. Once it does take effect the control can last up to 15 years!

they also have other suggestions on making a mix u put out in the yard and other things too

I like the milky spore solution, but treating four acres would cost a thousand dollars.

I can't believe they're suggesting that people plant japanese knotweed as a trap crop. It's invasive and very difficult to get rid of.

I made a hot pepper spray and today I found 2 amorous JB on my malva again. I spayed the plant with the hot pepper spray then I just couldn't take it and hit them with Bayer.

Why should they be so happy??

lol!

If I end up abandoning my organic principles, it's going to be those pretty shiny devils that do it.

Kroger didn't have habaneros, so I ended up going to the Mexican market. They sold me what they called habaneros, only they're bigger than I've ever seen, and have a sweet taste that tempers the hot. More yellow than orange. I'm handling them without gloves and they aren't burning my skin off. Really good. I wish I was eating them instead of making bug juice. I'll have to talk to the pepper people and see if I can grow a variety like that next year.

I know what you are going through as the JB came through and took out my clems, yes they do eat clems.... spiderwort and coneflowers. Totally took them out. so for the first time, I went out and purchase the bayer 3 in 1 also. Didn't do much but made me worry so much over my bees. Then I started noticing that there were as many. Well I found out why today. My next door neighbor had put up one of those beetle traps in his back yard. So I'm feeling better as I'm not using the Bayer again. To much stress worrying that my bees are dieing...

Janet

I wonder if I could get my neighbor to put a trap in her yard. She doesn't garden at all and I go into her yard to weed behind the fence any way. I like that idea.

Well I would say if you were also going to discard of the gross thing when it gets full it would be worth asking her. good luck

I give credit to the reduced beetles is because of that bag, not the Bayer 3 in1 that I used. So much so that I gave the bottle to my neighbor on the other size of me that loves using chemicals....

So now they are down to a manageable amount that I can pick them off. My only revenue is taking my hand (gloved of course) and killing them between my fingers...... I know I'm nuts but....

Also, I was talking with a Nursery Owner they other day and they were telling me that once the beetles land on the flower they spread a marker on the plants so that the other beetles come to it as well. That is why when you take one or 10 off a flower and you go back out there are more on there again. That bloom is doomed so you might as well cut it off, and hope there will be more blooms.

Janet

So, since they've marked my pole beans - and all but destroyed them - maybe I should pull them out? I worried, though, that if I do that, they'll just mark something else and I'll be fighting the same battle with someone I'd really rather not lose.

I don't think I would get rid of it just yet.

That was my thinking if I just cut the blooms on every thing they would be gone, but the guy at the nursery said they would look for something else. So I've only cut back my clem as most folks (nursery and other gardeners) say they never heard of them going for the clems as I did already have blooms and didn't want to loose it for next year as they were working their way to the leaves... My spiderwort and coneflowers and shasty dasies don't have much left. The spiderwort got hit the hardest leaves and buds/flowers gone.... So I'm thinking of pulling them up by the roots and not growthing them again since the beetles were really after them. They are beautiful, but not worth looking at when the beetles are all over them.

Janet

they have not touched my clematis or coneflowers, but I just found one on my harry lauder walking stick...every few days I find one there....probably more if I look harder but I'm too squeamish with bugs.

I refuse to plant any more crepe myrtles (even though I LOVE them) because the Japanese beetles go to them like a magnet. It is heartbreaking to see how the beetles can destroy a plant in hours. I have treated for the grubs with no success. Repeated spraying directly on the beetles was the only thing I could get to kill them. They stripped and nearly killed my ornamental plum tree because it was too tall to spray.

At my new house I would love to have crepe myrtles, but I cannot put up with the beetles. My heart goes out to you... I hope you can find an answer.

I have 2 rhamnus fine line shrubs in pots and I've been finding dead beetles in the pots for a few days...I don't know why, I 've never sprayed them or anything....or these shrubs poisonous to them? they're a type of buckthorn.

I use Bayer Rose and flower spray, kills them almost instantly and keeps on killing for many days later! Nothing like seeing dead beetles standing on a leaf frozen or legs up twitchin'!

Thanks everyone for all the good suggestions. I am overwhelmed by all your response. I will let you know which ones works. I agree with bookreader451 that you MUST be proactive. We have been gone so much this summer that it has been hard to stay ahead of the beetles.

The only thing that I've heard that really kills them on contact was Sevin, which I've not use.........YET.

Best to you and if you find something please report back as I'll use it.

Janet

I sprayed the hot pepper/garlic spray two days ago and did an initial evaluation today. Lots of beetles came back to the pole beans, which had quite a bit of damage on them. However, it looks like there weren't nearly as many beetles on the sunflowers and a couple of other plants I sprayed. I don't know if that's because it's working or was just a coincidence at the time I showed up.

It's supposed to rain again soon. I think I'll reapply and check back to see how it's working. I'm guessing, though, that the beans were so heavily marked that the beetles will keep coming back. I don't see how they can stand to eat that stuff, though.

The best part of the inspection, though, was running across this guy (assassin bug) on my squash. We saw a lot of these hatch and it looks like at least a few made it to maturity and are snacking on (potentially) pests. Yay for nature's checks and balances!

Yes, that sharp drinking straw on its face? That's for piercing the vulnerable parts of exoskeleton and sucking out the bug guts!

My Harry Lauder took a big hit the past day or two, I hit it with chemicals...I hated to do it, but they got out of control. Also, I think they're laying eggs in my potted rhamnus & then dying, that's why I'm finding so many dead ones in there...I'll have to put grub killer in those pots!

I asked my neighbor if I could put a trap in her yard and so said no problem. So I put the trap together and went out front to let her know I was going in the back and I was swarmed.

I threw the thing down screamed for my husband and made him put the darn thing in her yard.

They work

lol bookreader...I'm glad it's not just me...I TRY to hand pick those bugs, I do....I stand there looking at them & then I finally swat them off the plant with my shoe. It's not very effective, I know!

i use the four o clocks. they seem to love them and at same time kill them. i even know crop owners who use them on the edging of crops.

i wonder if you made a concoction out of four o clocks crushed in water would that be enough to use as a spray to kill them?

Dish soap and water in a spray bottle will kill them . . . the soap coats their bodies and suffocates them. Not as effective if you're dealing with hundreds at a time, but if you only have a few it works, and then you don't have to touch them. But I agree that you have to be proactive . . . last year, being a newbie, I didn't know what they were. I saw 2 or 3 in my yard and thought, "what cool looking bugs". But this year I've found about 12, and that's a what, several hundred % increase? (Not good with math, sorry!) So I patrol my yard every day, and if I see even one, I do my best to kill it dead. They may only be a problem in each of our yards for 2 to 3 weeks a year, but if we don't kill them, they go underground, lay their eggs and the next year even more come back. And they keep spreading further & further west . . . imagine the havoc a swarm of them could wreak on a corn crop! I believe we all have a major responsibility to do whatever we can to stop this pest.

I am so plagued with JP that I'm doing everything but the milky spore. I used the spring Bayer liquid systemic. I am currently picking--squishing, soapy water bucket drowning, and Sevin. I'm going this weekend to get the Bayer crystals. I'm trying to source 4 o'clocks that are perennial in zone 4b I even had my husband set up the bags in the developers land down near the county land.

It's war and I refuse to lose.

duck_toller, so why haven't you done the milky spore?

local green house said with a yard of a little more than an acre it would be cost prohibitive with the understanding that it takes 3 to 5 years to have any impact. Additionally we are within 5 miles of county managed land - and that is probably where the bulk of the grubs are coming from. So I need to treat plants more than ground.

Milky Spore takes several years to spread throughout the yard and be effective but it does work. It doesn't stop JBs from everyone ELSES yards from coming to yours.

I use traps and Bayer Rose and flower killer. Works great!

ahhhh, ok.

The only time I had trouble with JB I scattered fire ant poison around every thing and they disappeared over night. Don't know if it killed them or chased them. Don't give a hoot. They left. Had those jokers eat off about 5 acres of soybeans one time. Had to hire an airplane to come in and spray them.

tom----

When you spayed that aren't you worried about the damage to the bees? I'm not much for chemicals but sometimes a person has got to do what a person has to do....LOL

WAR for sure on JB. Too bad the government wouldn't do some half money rebate for those that treat their yard with Milky spore. Be nice to try and get rid of those darn things.

Janet