Show Off Your American Gamefowl and Chat Thread!!!

[centrarchid]

The beetles are causing real damage to trees, crops and turf. Lots of plants denuded of vegetation last which worst to date. This year may be even worse.

 

[centrarchid]

I'd prefer dealing with water than enough beetles to harvest 100s of pounds per day sounds extreme

Side q. Is that the average size of crawfish out your way?

What we caught was not industrial scale, rather research scale. We were trying to protect about 10 acres of blueberries and elderberries, on three different sites. In my opinion, the trap deployment made things worse.

Cow-calf herd production I think is closely tied to what happened. Missouri is a big producer of beef cattle raised on pasture.

 

[1cock2hens]

did you place the lures by the plants you are trying to protect? i believe you are supposed to place the lure away from the crops to lure them away and catch them. have you tried nematoads to help control the population?

 

[centrarchid]

Crayfish (some where crawfish) in commercial production ponds are directly comparably to what you have in Louisiana. One of our species (Long Pincered Crayfish) gets a lot larger than any Red Swamp Crawfish or White River Crawfish of dreamed of becoming.

Mess above based on sub-market size where we are playing around with increasing harvest-able edible product. The smaller critters I prepared above are ~70% consumable while the larger boiled crayfish are between 20% and 25% edible as most of carcass is thrown away after tail meat and sometime green gland (hepatopancrease) are consumed.

The standing crop of smaller animals is much higher than premium size, especially when you average in River Otter visits.

 

[centrarchid]

did you place the lures by the plants you are trying to protect? i believe you are supposed to place the lure away from the crops to lure them away and catch them. have you tried nematoads to help control the population?

We normally place the traps at perimeter of area to be protected. With low infestations that works just fine. Last year I think it made problem much worse as it seemed to call the beetles into area where were trying to protect. Traps became saturated and beetles began moving onto crops.

 

[1cock2hens]

yeah, that was a mistake I made the first time i used a japanese beetle trap. commercial traps draw in much more then they catch, it is recommended you put them somewhere away from what you are trying to protect to lure them somewhere else.

 

[centrarchid]

We followed the directions but traps still funnelled beetles into general location of crops. It was like one continuous swarm of honey bees flying by during peak.

 

[1cock2hens]

try it my way this year if you decide to try again and i bet you will have better results and like i said earlier, look into nematoads, they will kill the larva in the soil before they have the chance to grow up and cause all the damage

 

[centrarchid]

try it my way this year if you decide to try again and i bet you will have better results and like i said earlier, look into nematoads, they will kill the larva in the soil before they have the chance to grow up and cause all the damage

I can see how the nematodes can be used to protect yards from grubs. The grubs growing up in pastures will be another matter and adults can fly many miles in a day before encountering traps or crops. I hope to play around with another design using a fan to see if more beetles can be called in.

 

[1cock2hens]

every little bit helps IMO, if every person helps a little they can make a big impact. it surprises me how few people actually know what a nematoad is and how beneficial they can be.