Japanese beetles on fig tree

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Daisy142 Rome, GA Jul 25, 2009

Does anyone know of a safe insecticide to spray on figs that will keep off Japanese beetles? Is Sevin a safe one?
Thanks for any help.

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jcoakley Chicago, IL(Zone 5b) Jul 25, 2009

Safe for who? There's nothing out there that will kill only Japanese beetles and nothing else. I haven't tried Sevin because I don't have a very severe JB problem, but from what I've read here on Dave's it works. It'll kill all the good bugs too though. Sorry & good luck!

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flowAjen central, NJ(Zone 6b) Jul 28, 2009

Just spray soapy water on the beetles, better yet hand pick and drop in bucket of soapy water.

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jcoakley Chicago, IL(Zone 5b) Jul 28, 2009

flowerjen, soapy water definitely works (that's what I use) but may not be practical for treating trees? Unless you could attach a sprayer to your hose . . .

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flowAjen central, NJ(Zone 6b) Jul 28, 2009

I didn't check first to see how tall fig trees were...are they talll??

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jcoakley Chicago, IL(Zone 5b) Jul 29, 2009

Hm, probably depends on the variety and age. Either way I hope Daisy finds something to help get rid of those buggers!

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Daisy142 Rome, GA Jul 30, 2009

Thanks for the suggestion of soapy water. The trees, however, are really big (10 feet or more) and I am not sure how to do a soapy water spray with the hose. Wouldn't the soap make the figs taste bad? Has anyone ever used Sevin 3 or 4 days before harvesting figs?

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flowAjen central, NJ(Zone 6b) Jul 30, 2009

Soap would taste a whole lot better than Sevin and it won't kill ya.

You do wash your dishes with soap?? What's the diff?

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jcoakley Chicago, IL(Zone 5b) Jul 30, 2009

Yeah, I would think you'd just have really clean figs. :) I wonder if they make a spray bottle with a nozzle that could hook up to your hose, like the one my Ortho comes in, only it would be empty (obviously) so you could put your own concoction in it? Check at HD or Lowe's or your local garden center. Seems like somebody might make one. I don't think I'd put Sevin on anything I was going to eat . . . it's like one of the most powerful pesticides out there.

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jcoakley Chicago, IL(Zone 5b) Jul 30, 2009

Oh, and just to clarify . . . the soapy water won't REPEL the beetles. It will kill the ones that are already there. But you'll have to keep spraying it to keep killing them. And you really have to coat them. The soap basically suffocates them.

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Jiny Tokyo, Japan(Zone 10a) Jul 30, 2009

Soapy water works very well on all sorts of bugs I don't know why people waste their money on nasty insecticides. Best to spray after sundown and at a time when no rain is forecast.

Jon

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