I just finished reading a novel where the heroine ran a flower farm in Hawaii and someone was trying to shut her down and released a whole jar of jbs to wreck all thir plants...now I know this was just a fictional novel but the entomologist that was called in to offer ideas(he was correct on Neem, milky spore, bucket of soapy water) mentioned to plant geraniums among your plants, preferably white ones, when the jbs eat it they are poisoned.
I wonder if it really works????? Anyone heard of this?
HELP...JAPANESE BEATLES HAVE ARRIVED!!!!
The book Otherwise Normal People: Inside the Thorny World of Competitive Rose Gardening has an amusing section on a rose grower in Maine who is training birds to eat JBs. First he ground them up for the birds, then built perches near his bushes and sprinkled the pureed JBs around the roses. At the time of publication, he was still working on it.
All the more power to him!! I hope he succeeds!
You guys must be getting all the Japanese Beetles this year. I've only found one a week ago. I thought it strange because usually my roses and morning glories are covered with them by now. Also didn't see many "tent caterpillars" this Spring that usually defoliate many trees in this area. Aphids also haven't been showing up since Spring. This is the first Summer we can sit outside at night without being eaten by mosquitoes. Maybe the bugs are taking a holiday from this area. I'm not complaining....I just find it very unusual. The only infestation I got so far was the annual Ladybug hordes that cover my house in Spring and usually repeat in the Autumn (some even manage to get inside, somehow.)
Unfortunately, I've seen very few "fireflies" in the evenings for many years and I miss them at twilight. I think it might have something to do with the spraying program that the local government carried out when there was a threat of disease carrying mosquitoes in this area. There are several ponds around here and I remember the trucks spraying in the evenings and the warnings to stay inside on the evenings they were spraying.
Has anyone else in this area noticed the lack of bugs this summer?
I certainly don't have a lack of bugs here. Mosquitoes can pick you up and carry you away.
I'm with you upstate. More bugs than I've ever seen at once. I come in looking like I'm wearing polka dots after I water. Now we're getting alot of rain and there's slimey creatures EVERYWHERE! Don't you just love that underfoot crunch when your walking down the sidewalks?
disgusting!! Slugs everywhere! No end insight for the next 2 weeks. I'm surfing the net for ark plans!
Lotsa storm damage last night, spent almost an hour running around and fetching potting plants that had been tossed across the yard, adding dirt and setting them back out. I'm going away for 4 days, so I placed everything on ground level, figuring that if they fall, at least they won't get hurt too badly.
The veggie garden looked ok, but the peppers in the window pots got pretty beat up, one even got ripped right out of the soil! I hope everything survives until I get back!
I've had lots of fireflies! I'm happy; lots of bugs but loads of birds, so my ecosystem seems to be a happy one. I squashed 1 jb this morning. The mosquitoes are no worse than any other year. I am lucky to have hungry Phoebes nesting on my deck light- I see them w/ their beaks full of bugs! I had visits from Luna moths earlier this year, too- so pretty!!!
We have bats that take care of most of the mosquitos. Lots and lots of lightning bugs.
I love bats. I think they are cute! I don't see too many, but I'm sure they are there.
Lately, I have had the pleasure of a juvenile black crowned night heron at my pond. He's too far away for me to get a picture. He must believe in the "early bird" theory; he's a night heron, but he comes calling around 6 pm!
Strange thing, in the 2 years I have lived at my new house, I have NEVER seen a bat. I don't love them but I appreciate what they do to the mosquito population!! Oh, and I live in a wooded area!!
SabraKhan . . .almost no Japanese Beetles here either. I credit my good friend Mr. Mole for that. When I moved in three years ago and started to dig, the ground was ugly with grubs. But Mr. Mole followed my digging with great interest. Where ever I dig , without hours, Mr. Mole is there assiduously creating feeding channels for himself. We were at war for a while as I lost some spring bulbs and seedlings to the tunneling but now we have entered a period of detente. This may not last. If Mr. Moles lets Mr. Vole into any of his tunnels, the truce is over and the traps are coming out again.
Beetle have nearly gone away from my whole area this year for unknown reasons. I have Milky Spore in place over all. I have used Merit in the flower beds in the past but not recently. I added nematoads called Nemaseek by my supplier. These actually move to the larva but I used them only on the pumpkin patch. They do not move great distances but did some good in the pumpkin patch. The larva have been clobbered by this combination as best I can determine.
When I said Beetle I mean literally all white grub or larva. This is very important because the pumpkin or squash family is larva heaven most years. This year is an exception or the combination of Milky Spore and Nematoads is working better than ever in my experience. This is the third year following the re-application of Milky Spore. I expect the spore to be active for up to fifteen years. However with the extremely low larva count this year the new spore will not be created nearly as well as when there are some "fly in beetle", to create new eggs and larva. There are very few larva that could have been the support for even more spore in the next cycle when the eggs hatch into larva.
Gardening can be very interesting. My book indicates that I have been spraying the beetle of all types with great gusto by this time for many years. This year Neem Oil has been all the warfare I have used............even on the grapes and the pumpkin patch. The grapes, peaches, pumpkins and crab apple tree are my plants that seem to attract them most. This year is a relief for me and the plants. Literally no or very few beetle. Why..........not sure!
Another observation....There are two bad outbreaks of powdery milldew as a result of the rain and high humidity but not even a little showing on the grapes and squash and pumpkins. Go figure! Neem Oil to the rescue!
Just found a total of 6 Japanese Beetles on Hybrid Tea Roses and wild Virginia Creeper vine. Maybe they're just coming later this year, but usually by now my roses are covered with them. I too noticed an increase of moles, voles and field mice scampering around. This could explain the decrease of JBs in the yard. Still no lightning bugs. I'm sure the town's spraying program killed them off along with most of the "skeeters".
I never see lightning bugs here in Maine. Boy, I remember chasing after them when I was a kid visiting my grandparents in Ohio though...they were absolutely all over the place back then.
I have never seen a Japanese Beetle in my yard but I think it must be that what I have doesn't attract them, because I know others here have them. And I have seen grubs in the lawn when I dig from time to time. I was just at the local nursery looking for trees and saw JB's swarming all over the leaves of the Himalayan Birches there. Never seen them on the leaves of my paper birches. I'd actually like to find a listing of plants/trees JB's go for so that I'll know what to avoid planting.
I like bats...Anything that keeps mosquitos down are cool with me. I'd like to get a bunch of dragonflies and tether them to my yard with little leashes!
One thing I don't understand about Neem oil...or insecticidal soaps...don't you pretty much have to make direct contact with the insects and the oil or soap? It's not preventative, right?
Slugs are bad for me this year, but that's pretty typical.
Info on neem
http://www.neem-products.com/neem-benefits.html
JB info
Japanese beetles can feed on about 300 species of plants, ranging from roses to poison ivy. Odor and location in direct sun seem to be very important factors in plant selection. The beetles usually feed in groups, starting at the top of a plant and working downward. While a single beetle doesn't eat much; group feeding by many causes severe damage. Adults feed on the upper surface of foliage, chewing out tissue between the veins. This gives the leaf a characteristic skeletonized appearance.
Japanese beetles can fly as far as 5 miles but 1 to 2 miles is more likely. Usually, they make only short flights as they move about to feed. Local infestations spread as beetles move to favored food and egg-laying sites.
Insecticides for Japanese Beetle Control
Many insecticides are labeled for Japanese beetle control on landscape plants. Examples include acephate (Orthene Turf, Tree & Ornamental Insecticide), carbaryl (Sevin and many other brand names), cyfluthrin (Bayer Advanced Garden Multi-Insect Killer Concentrate), lambda-cyhalothrin (Spectracide® Triazicide® Soil & Turf Insect Killer Concentrate), esfenvalerate (Ortho Bug-B-Gon Garden & Landscape Insect Killer Concentrate), and permethrin (Spectracide® Bug Stop Multi-Purpose Insect Control Concentrate and many other brands). Neem extracts (Bon-Neem) deter Japanese beetle feeding but may not be adequate against high populations.
Direct spray applications of insecticidal soap kills Japanese beetles on contact but does not provide any residual protection.
Here are some points to keep in mind when using insecticides for beetle control -
Japanese beetle flight is greatest on clear days with temperatures between 84o and 95o F and winds less than 12 miles per hour. This can bring new beetles into your landscape to challenge any control program that you may have. When these conditions exist, check plants frequently to see if beetles are starting to feed again.
A few beetles on plants, or some moderate damage, will bring in more. Japanese beetles apparently produce aggregation pheromones that will attract more males and females to feed and find potential mates. In addition, volatile odors from damaged plants may attract more beetles. These conditions also can keep beetle numbers high. Keeping numbers and damage low can mean fewer new arrivals.
Japanese beetles begin to feed at the tops of plants and move down as defoliation occurs. This makes damage obvious, in terms of brown leaves and esthetic damage, but also can pose coverage problems on large trees. Hose end sprayers may allow applications to reach the target but spray drift and applicator exposure are potential problems.
Jen, that was very informative. Thanks for taking the time to type that out! I've wondered how they find just the right(or wrong) leaf to destroy!
lol copy and paste....
Noreaster: Back in the fifties when my Mom and Dad had a cottage on Sabattus Pond we stayed there all summer and every year we would see lots of lightning bugs. I now live a mile from the pond and a few weeks ago, on a warm muggy night, the lightning bugs were out, really hundreds of them around the house to as far as I could see in the dark! I'm in zone 5b also. Thought you might be interested. Paul
I think my veg garden has an explosion of bugs this year. Every day I'm picking off JB from the pole beans, huge tomato hornworms(ick!), my squash, cucumbers and pumpkin plants have suffered the most with the squash bugs, some yellow catapillar that is small w/ black hairs, and that orange beatle w/ black spots. I'm still getting great production from the plants but it's a daily battle! Tried K-Neem oil that I sprayed after dark(to protect the bees). Slowed things down for about 2 days! But they're back!
Came across this link from the university of vermont, thought it was interesting.
http://www.uvm.edu/mastergardener/help/tipsarchives2001to2007.htm
For anyone with bug problems. Visit www.GardensAlive.com
I use their Pyola a lot with great success.
Paul
Glad to hear the lightning bugs aren't gone from Maine, gizzosabme. I'm near the coast- not sure if that has anything to do with why I never see any? Or maybe it's just that the time when they come out coincides with the time the the mosquitos like to be out, which means I stay in!
Well I spoke too soon about the JM's- went out today and found three munching on a little Japanese Maple of mine. I guess it's a really bad year for them here , from what I'm hearing.
Jap Beetles are done here finally where I am in NY. Another bad year for them.
Yes, done here too. Awful year.
I use Pyola too but when the JB's were here it was it the 90's and the label says to use it when the temp is below 90.
I haven't seen any this week I guess they're done here too.
Pyola sounds like the latest soft drink to me.
Sounds like something the mob is involved in.
Japanese Beetles are done here as well. Is now a good time to put grub control down or should I wait for the spring for the attack on those pests?
Hey did you all send your JB here?! They must have taken a right turn somewhere and flew into my yard! lol Wait...that's not funny.
flowergen...............does not matter when you apply. You are making an application of live spore. They will cause the Milky Spore Disease by contact with the larva. Larva will be there to complete the support of your appliled spore as soon as the eggs hatch. The eggs are or will soon be placed in the soil. The larva will stop feeding on your plant roots as soon as the larva become effected. This then creates more spore. In many following winters your spore will just lay there untill contacted or touched by the new larva. In each of the following years the application will gain strength as more and more larva die.
Interesting stuff I am reading here. And, I certainly hope that I am in one of the regions that will be done with the JB season soon! My one rose bush as really suffered this year!
I finally noticed the typo in the title of this thread- LOL!
No, I don't have any Asian rock groups on my plants!
I noticed it from the beginning but did not want to discuss Yoko Ono!
doc-I was talking about the pyola, you can't apply that if the temp is over 90 degrees
Every time I want to type "beetles", I have to question myself about the spelling, thanks the The Beatles.
I did the same thing!!
For years we were cursed with oceans of beatles on the Wisteria and the Virginia creeper they would eat every leave,I can't recall if I ever put anything down for them but did have a trap one year .For the past two years we have had VERY few only seen perhaps five this year.
I was just noticing the long hairdos on the JB's this year- plus they seem to be hanging out in groups of four ;0)
With all the rain, I seem to be having a host of different parasites feasting on each leaf of every plant I care about. I use a little bit of spray when things get out of hand; w/ all the rain, I'm sure my measly spray is washed off. The deer are also back w/ a vengeance, even though I used deer repellent. I've seen slugs the size of Twinkies. This is a very depressing time of year for gardeners, IMO.
Jax, it sounds like you are raising bugs for Fear Factor. ick! on the slugs. The rain seems to be bringing on lots of rot on my squash-been picking and tossing.