Does anyone have easy and successful means of truely combating these destructive pests? I'm not as concerned about the grub as there seems to be various controls for that. I'm talking the bettle stage when they are mobile and all seem to come to my garden for dinner. And I put in "easy" because spraying with soap every other day or picking them off daily and puting them in a pail of soap water is labor intensive. So I'm looking for a proven means of keeping them from eating the leaves -- defoliating may be more descriptive but what they do is much worse. Anyway would like to hear sucess stories if you have any! thanks! BTW no need to guess how I spent my day :(
Hummm no takers yet :( OK I'll start ... 1) long curly hair seems to work as the bettles get entangled and can't seem to get free ... don't know how I can apply this to garden thugh. 2) Traps were fun -- by the time I got them set up I was choaking on a cloud of bettles ... and they followed me angry hornets. But can't say it made a dent on the ones eating my plants. 3) Grub control only works if everyone does it -- grubs are local but bettle are mobile and spread. However, if you have the bettles, grub control is on you list. 4) I tried various mixtures of soap, garlic, mouthwash, bettle juice ... I have had some success but they must be applied almost dayly. 5) Contact sprays, well these kill the ones you have but they come right back. And you can use it when there is wind so not always a choice --- and I also really don't like using the stuff. I'm about to give up, but I would really like to win this battle!
Hi, what plants are you trying to protect? If it is not ediable crops maybe you can try this http://www.bayeradvanced.com/garden/products/PDFs/treeAndShrub.pdf There are various products that Bayer makes and they target Japanese beetles, but it seems to be treating adult forms only. http://www.bayeradvanced.com/garden/products/
Thanks, but many are fruit berring. I put in the garden with the idea of incorporating edibles into the landscape. For example uing blueberry as hedge along a path and for fall color, grapes along the fence for greenery, or strawberry, lingonberry, cranberry and wintergreen as ground cover etc. The bettles start off with the grape. Then quickly move on the rose (30 ft rose tree but seeing as I was cutting, I choped it down -- thousands of bettles! Drastic maybe but I'm tired of these buggers), cherry, and plumb. Once they devour them, they move on to the peach, blueberry, nut trees, and buterfly bushes ... then to rose of sharon, any flower buds, and ornimentals ... even rhododendron and azalias get hit although they are about last. They don't seem to touch juniper, apple, or pear, or groundcovers. I may be able to selectively use systemic as I don't get a chance to eat some fruit like peachs (buggers love them too). But I do enjoy walking along the paths and picking cherries, blueberries, strawberries, lingon berry, wintergreen... when in season. And because it is incorporated into the landscape, It would be bard to be selective in some cases. If it comes down to me eating or saving the garden, I'll go with saving the garden, but I have to consider the birds too. Let me do some lable searching and see how persistant these are....
Please experiment! I have clouds of these beetles-they love everything in my garden. I am currently using the beetle traps which have to be replaced daily they are bulging with beetles. Now how do I get rid of the grubs? How do I find their location? I want my garden back-most everything I have is food for me so I don't want to use poison. Help! Leeta
I've been experimenting with shake -n- trees. you shake the tree and they comit sucide as they bobbard the house. Well, I've been having some luck with 5gal buckets half filled with water sitting under a beetle trap. Gave up on the bags as they fill up minutes. Problem is the buckets get a fresh smelling. Now I noticed a different beetle I havent seen befor where I have dump the buckets -- some sort of dung beetle is my guess.
