We're waging war on Japanese Beetles

[Mark & Nique]

The pheromone traps actually bring more Japanese Beetles to your yard than were there to begin with. Plus, not all the beetles make it into the traps.

They are devouring our blooms (both flowering plants in the front and vegetables in the back) like mad, so you're not alone. The best thing I've found is to hand-pick. I know, it is a lot of work...

Good luck!

 

[Camelot Farms]

The one that I bought has a pheremone range of about 5000 ft and I put them on the edges of my property to draw them away from my trees, roses and grape vines.

I also spend about 30 minutes every morning with rubber gloves on pulling them off and squeezing them.... just think of it as 'jelly filled'

 

[schmije]

Mark & Nique :

The pheromone traps actually bring more Japanese Beetles to your yard than were there to begin with. Plus, not all the beetles make it into the traps.

They are devouring our blooms (both flowering plants in the front and vegetables in the back) like mad, so you're not alone. The best thing I've found is to hand-pick. I know, it is a lot of work...

Good luck!

I've heard this theory before, but we were inundated with the beetles before we started to trap them. I can't say that they've gotten worse, in fact, I think they're a little better. They're more concentrated near the traps, but I think there are fewer in our garden. Plus it makes me feel better to know that I'm getting rid of my share.

Hand picking really isn't an option on 5 acres with a large garden and several fruit trees. We're dealing with thousands of beetles a day. We've used Sevin Dust in the past. It works well, but needs to be reapplied pretty often, and I'm not too fond of using those chemicals in my yard - especially in the garden and on the fruit trees.​

 

[purr]

My ducks love to eat grubs and the chickens take care of the beetles , I do intend to get a few guineas but I have to say I'm glad I don't live in IL

 

[bald k9]

I tried the JB traps and all they do is attract them from other yards and fields, last year I used them and I was outside one day and looked up a the tree line and there was just a swarm in a line heading towards the trap, I acutally filmed it but i cant find it right now, I will never use these traps again , I might try Guineas tho!

 

[MysticScorpio82]

Geraniums are supposed to help repel Japanese Beetles if you plant them near the plants that are under attack. I never tried but that is what I read (and I plan to do next year). Lol Then again I know it would repel me...stinky geraniums...

 

[lceh]

Based on some ideas from BYC, this year I rigged up a Japanese beetle bag trap to a 1/2" pvc pipe. I cut off the end of the bag and used a hose clamp to attach the bag to the pipe. Now when a beetle hits the trap and falls into the bag, it shoots down the PVC pipe and falls out the other end into a dog bowl filled with water in my chicken tractor. The girls get a good treat and I get the satisfaction of watching my buggy enemies meet their doom.

I will say we applied milky spore for 2 years and our beetle problem is not an epic one anymore (it used to be!). In fact I was a little disappointed this year that there weren't very many since I so enjoyed watching them shoot into the coop to be gobbled up.

 

[Keara]

Mark & Nique :

The pheromone traps actually bring more Japanese Beetles to your yard than were there to begin with. Plus, not all the beetles make it into the traps.

They are devouring our blooms (both flowering plants in the front and vegetables in the back) like mad, so you're not alone. The best thing I've found is to hand-pick. I know, it is a lot of work...

Good luck!

Ditto this!

Experianced gardeners know not to use any type of "Lure" trap. The really bad news it the beetles will continue to come to the area the trap was for years after you staop using it. THe best thing you can do is put a lure in someone elses yard far away. There are some plants like Rue, that the beetles will avoid if you co-plant with things like roses and Philberts.​

 

[theFox]

Milky spore takes several years and isn't exactly cheap.

We've been dealing with them, we had a major infestation the first year we were here so we got some milky spore and applied according to directions, the second year we got the birds and the infestation wasn't as bad so we would knock the beetles that settled on our fruit trees and veggies into a deep container with just a bit of water in the bottom which was kept in a constant swirling motion. After we had enough in the container we would continue shaking it while walking over to chicken run, the girls knew what was coming, the container got upended and the beetles met the girls. End of beetles, happy girls. This is our third year, and two years after the milky spore application and we seem to be gaining.