Japanese Beetles

[centrarchid]

Beetles here not in force. Will try to take some chickens and lures to work and test there. In my locality the beetles are concentrated in river valleys when not feeding in tree-tops. We seem to only see them when they are aggregated at eye level or on ornamental plants. Tree-tops is where most are located.

 

[sayccrn]

I am in Rising Sun MD and the beetles in my yard are in the 100's right now. I had heard that chickens love to eat them so I catch them in a jar early morning or evening when they are not active and dump them in the run. The chickens gobble them up. Early morning or evening the beetles are sort of doormat and don't fly away. I have a huge yard of flowers and plants that they are attracted to and I have tried many ways to get rid of them. Their favorites are roses and the blackberry bushes but as the summer progresses they move on to Hibiscus and others. Milky pore seems to work the best but it doesn't last very long.

I am in Ga, and last year the Jap beetles desimated my poor cherry, I was not sure it would survive. I sprayed neem like a mad woman, on the trees and the ground around the trees. Neem does not kill the beetles, but it stops their larvae cycle. This year, the beetles are considerably less. I only have been seeing one or two at time, instead of clusters on each branch/leaf. I belive the neem is what did that for me. They are still here, but I only saw one today on my raspberry. This year I netted the trees and bushes it gets the most, and I used captain jack's dead bug brew. they have one that kills them. It's a powder and I spray with neem to moistion the leaves and then dust with a puffer, so it sticks. It has even rained since then and there is still a lot on the leaves. I think it's helping keep them at bay. But I really belive it was the neem. I did not get the neem for plants that is watered down. I actually got organic neem 100% neem, nothing added, and I mix it with soap and water and spray it like that. Unfortunately, I think the lady I got the neem from has gone out of business or sold it to another company, so I can't tell you who it was.

 

[Sueby]

My chickens won't eat them.

 

[centrarchid]

I am in Ga, and last year the Jap beetles desimated my poor cherry, I was not sure it would survive. I sprayed neem like a mad woman, on the trees and the ground around the trees. Neem does not kill the beetles, but it stops their larvae cycle. This year, the beetles are considerably less. I only have been seeing one or two at time, instead of clusters on each branch/leaf. I belive the neem is what did that for me. They are still here, but I only saw one today on my raspberry. This year I netted the trees and bushes it gets the most, and I used captain jack's dead bug brew. they have one that kills them. It's a powder and I spray with neem to moistion the leaves and then dust with a puffer, so it sticks. It has even rained since then and there is still a lot on the leaves. I think it's helping keep them at bay. But I really belive it was the neem. I did not get the neem for plants that is watered down. I actually got organic neem 100% neem, nothing added, and I mix it with soap and water and spray it like that. Unfortunately, I think the lady I got the neem from has gone out of business or sold it to another company, so I can't tell you who it was.

The beetles you have are likely coming from off you property sometimes miles away.

 

[Birdielee]

Anyone seeing Japanese Beetles flying yet? I am prepping elevated pens for juvenile chickens to take advantage of the the beetles attracted to lures. This year I will have enough chickens to eat all the beetles we can lure into barnyard area.

Im in central NJ. We don't have a ton of Japanese beetles yet, but i have been seeing them for about 2 weeks. Rose leaves are very holey already

 

[Birdielee]

I gave one to my hen yesterday. She liked it.
Ive seen a few mating pairs.