Beetle traps...ya or nay?

Just looking for some insight. Some say they attract more beetles some say they work. I want to save my Lord Baltimore hibiscus if I can this year. They are starting to get bad!!!

I am hesitant to answer either way but....LOL The beetles are awful!! So I happen to see the beetle bags at the store. So I grab one and bring it home and stick it smack dab in the middle of an area full of potted plants. Then someone else posted about them and how you don't put them right in the middle of the plants cuz they'll eat there on their way in. WHOOPS!!

So..........I move the bag out about 100 feet from the plants. Now the bag is 1/2 full and the beetles are all over my plants. A friend stops by and says the bag needs to go out even further. So..............I move the bag out about 200 feet or so. I look after another day and it's full to the top. And the plants are still covered with them. Ugh.

Hubby bought me two more bags. One is where the one at 200 feet was and we put another about 200 feet in another direction. Both bags are 1/2 full in one day. The plants are still covered. Hmmmmm. Am I doing a great job killing the ones here or just attracting them from the whole county?? LOL

I did discover today if you leave about a gulp of beer in the bottom of a longneck and add some water, you can fit a whole bunch of beetles in there and put the lid back on. They don't even try to get out. They either like beer or are just too stupid to climb back out.

The traps do eliminate some of the Japanese beetles!! It is best to start early and use the dual lures that draw the egg laying females. I trapped about 280,000 of them 3 years ago. I do believe that the pests are less this year after trapping, collecting them by hand, using Sevin on edges of beetle infested soybean fields bordering sod, using Sevin on wild grape vines, and using a bit of Milky Spore..

Yes, put traps upwind, but some things like rose blooms, tender plum leaves in the top of the tree, and red, yellow, and purple raspberries along with hibiscus blooms and hollyhock blooms will draw some.

Badseed that's funny. Maybe the beetles get stupid after they drink the beer!!

Indy I read somewhere about the traps helping to lessen them for the following year. I try to knock off as many as I can.

*&%# devil bugs is what they are!!!

Those bags full of beetles in hot weather smell like dead rodents. You could cover your hibiscus with some mesh and save it. I have the same trouble but am not putting up a bag with pheronomes in it. It is just too stinky and they still attack everything.
They are only around a short while, and then dig into the ground to lay their eggs. I had thought of pruning everything to bloom after their visit is over.LOL
They say the best place to put the bags is in a neighbors yard. LOL

I say no to putting out the beetle traps. If you can endure about 3 years of them, they will finally move on. I was infested about 3 years ago, to the point they ate everything in sight, this year there are a few, but not near as many.

I put the bags up-across the road---not advised by the local garden center--after I bought them and used them.
collected hundreds of thousands-emptying bag every day into plastic bag-stored in a covered large coffee can and put in the sun--dead after a few days-just kept on adding them and when dead, dumping the bags in the trash.
Haven't put traps up this year- doing hand dispatching-hope to limit it to that.
If get larger infestation will set up --way down the road.
Joy

I guess I didn't get to the dead rodent stage because the bag filled in a few days. LOL The ones we just bought are 1/2 full already and were hung on Sunday. Hubby closed up the bag and tossed it then took it to the curb Monday morning. He said it was still buzzing. Giggle. I wonder what the sanitation guy must have thought?? If they were only doing a bit of damage, I would not worry but there are so many of them mating and eating their way through my gardens and my canna are starting to look awful.

I have a lot also. They are bad this year. Last year it was a mild invasion and I thought this year we would have less than last year. WRONG!
They do like to eat a certain amount of weeds, which is nice as that draws them away from the plants growing nearby. I can't wait until they leave as I have a stand of weeds that I just can't wait to get rid of.
My neighbor sprays indiscriminently and kills everything including the beneficial bugs.
He offers me his veggies and fruit but I make up excuses because they are probably full of pesticides.

I wouldn't use the traps at all, unless I was putting them in the next block! And I can't be that mean to neighbors! Ha!
I could be wrong, but my thought on the traps is this:
It's the pheremones (as I understand) that attract the beetles to the traps.
Doesn't it just seem natural that hundreds and maybe thousands are lured to your yard Because of the traps?! I hand pick in early morning when I can, and eventually when they are two thick, I spray with SEVIN-only on my Virginia Creeper "Wall" .Thank God I have that 50 ft. wall of V.C., as they mainly stay on the vine, and for the most part leave my flowering annuals and perennials alone.
I know one guy across the river from here that collects the beetles each day in five gallon buckets. He has put up a dozen traps around his property. I think he is just inviting them there. Anyone else thought along this line?
DeannaV

DeannaV, that is my thought exactly!! I won't spray though, I really don't want the chemicals, and it kills the beneficial bugs too. Not to mention what it can do to us!!!

What you need to do is rid your yards of grubs which mature into Japanese Beetles. Also, moles feed on these grubs. All the beetle traps, or bags as you call them, do is attract more beetles.

Ack!! Bad to hear that. LOL My second and third bags are now FULL and I don't think I'll be replacing them. I guess I felt like I was doing *something* by collecting/killing all those bugs. There sure are a bunch of them!

B-seed, what I used to do was save the bags of bugs and get double-duty out of them. When they start to stink it will repell many of the other beetles so I'd hang them near the plants I was trying to protect. (just the bag of bugs, not the whole trap w/the pheremone.)

Apparently even pesky beetles don't like the smell of their dead kin.

Shoe

You tell me after I toss a bag of bugs?? LOL How long does it take them to get the stink? Someone else mentioned that. I can fill a bag in 3-4 days and the last one did not smell bad. The things we wish for................

Hah! "Magic Genie, I wish I had a big bag of stinky rotten bugs, please!"

The amount of putrid stink will depend on the weather/heat, etc. Guess you should go find the bags you threw out; they oughta be ripe by now.

By the way, Folks...Neem oil has been shown to have affects on JB's. It'll kill some by contact but yet has also shown it tends to offer residual repellent properties as well.

Other than that all I could recommend would be trap plantings of mirabilis, white geranium, larkspur, etc.

And there is this type of trap also (but I've never tried it yet). I can't remember where I got this recipe from but have a feeling it appeared on DG some years back:

Combine
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 mashed banana
1 pkg yeast

and put into a gallon milk bottle. Put it in an area where the beetles gather with the lid off. The beetles get in but can't get out.

Because there is no sex scent (as in the commercial beetle traps) it only attracts beetles nearby and does NOT holler out loud for every beetle in the neighborhood to come.

And now, off to the heat and humidity!

Happy Day to All!
Shoe

I will not go find the other bag! It's been at the dump for two days! LOL I am not THAT wishful for the stench of beetle death. LOL

Thank you Shoe and Jugs too!

Oh well....♫. I just figgered a picnic day at the dump would be a nice break for ya. (There really is some interesting stuff there, ya know!) :>)

But never fear, I'm willing to ship dead JB's for only a small shipping/handling charge if you like! ô¿ô

You nut!! LOL Maybe mine will be rank soon. :)

This "seems" to work for me with the J. beetles. I picked a good many off my new sale Park roses and put them in a shallow container with soapy water. They die right away. On the second day, I left the container with the dead bugs in it at the base of the three roses most affected. So far, I have only had to remove two; and I have just checked for the second time today.

If I find they are bothering the other roses, I will do the same and see what happpens. I think they can smell the bodies of the dead beetles.

Out here there are tens of thousands of the beetles. A dead beetle properly disposed of will not eat or lay eggs [grubs will hatch out of some of the dead beetles].

Sure, some trap crops attract the beetles, but that does not get rid of a single beetle.!!!!

luvsgrtdanes has the right idea..........killing the beetles lessens them for the next year. That just makes sense to me...tell me where that is wrong, huh?

Some trap crops do kill the beetles.

Mirabilis (4 o'clocks) kill them, as do white geraniums and larkspur.

Guess we just have to plan ahead though, eh, and make sure they get planted ahead of JB season. (Them pesky varmints...wish we could add them to stir-fry and make some good use out of them!)

Shoe.

I sure don't think I will use the traps anymore. LOL After filling three of them full in just over a weeks time, I think I had enough. It does seem that I have less but that could either be from trapping so many or getting rid of the bags.