Sevin is what I use and I try to do it very early before the bees are out. I am trying some systemic Bayer for the roses, but I don't know yet how good it is. There have been so many this year, I don't think I could have picked them which I have done in the past.

Last year when I put up my first J. Beetle trap they were mobbing the thing before I could get it hung. This year I bought replacement bait and almost nothing happened. The bait is a pheromone so they can't develop a resistance to it. I think the bait got old sitting on the shelf of the local feedstore. The bags are about 1/2 full but at least 1/2 of what is in them I dropped in after handpicking. So I need to find some fresh bait.

I tried the 5 gallon mix of water, sugar, vinegar and a banana peel. All I got was flies and sweat bees. Not impressed.

I looked for J. beetle bags on clearance last year to put out this year. Maybe it's a good thing I didn't find any. Did the bait you bought have an expiration date on it Mulberryknob?

It seems like I have less this year, but it might just be early. They seem to be spreading out to more of a variety of plants but not as many on any one thing. The first few years that I had them, they all congregated on one of my crape myrtles. Now they're on a lot of different plants.

lol I tried throwing some to the chickens when I was at my folks' place last weekend. Most of them took off flying before the chickens could get to them.

On my way back to the house with the newspaper this morning, I swatted crepe limbs and stepped on all those fallen beetles I could. Felt good. Told them I hadn't even begun this year, but Look Out!
I've never been a killer -- I let flies out of the house, but I've seen what they can do to a rose. Going to have to seriously address a zoysia problem near those crepe myrtles probably caused by grubs last year.
Thank you, Glenda, for the review of one Organic Method. I'm going to use everything lethal I can when the crepe flowers start appearing. Including those traps, which I have never used, thinking they just lure them into my yard. They probably do, but if they come, I'm going to have them. Grrrr....
Sunny

I have a plum tree in the back yard that is swarming with Japanese beetles. I don't like the tree anyway and was thinking I'd take it down. Does anyone know if this will help to not attract so many beetles or will they just move to other plants next year?

I can't figure out if my plum is attracting so many to my property or they're on my property to begin with and just prefer the plum. Does that make sense?

They adore my purple crab tree and my roses, but I haven't noticed any YET this year for some weird reason.

kadasuki,

I'm going to guess that a neighbor has something more appetizing for the time being. Be grateful for now... you're lucky.

They like my banana plants, but it's keeping them off the raspberries and sunflowers.

Mostly people with roses are experiencing the brunt of the damage for now.

Traps tend to bring them in more than anything else, unless you have it 100 feet away or more from your garden. Most gardeners I know who have tried the trap quit using the trap because they find it attracts more and they have to empty the trap twice a day.

The best thing you can do - warning, it sounds disgusting, but it works: find an old blender at a garage sale. Collect your Japanese beetles put them into the blender, fill with water. Strain the liquid. Put the liquid into a spray bottle (you strained the liquid it so it won't clog the sprayer). Spray your foliage with the liquid. It works. Use them against themselves. It's the principle that any species is repelled by their own deceased.

I tried the 5 gallon mix of water, sugar, vinegar and a banana peel. All I got was flies and sweat bees. Not impressed.

My sister who lives on the north side of Springfield told me about theses. She has put up the bag to catch them and it seems to be working for her. Funny that we don't seem to be brothered by them (knock on wood) here at the lake. Keep 'em down there if you can. :)

Pam

Looks like they've invaded your area. There're also bad up in Northwest AR. They'll be worst the first couple of years, then the population will level off. They're also very dependent on the weather late in the summer. If it's dry, the eggs won't become grubs, which are the next year's beetles. Of course, lawns and gold courses will be irrigated, and grubs will do well there.

Here's a pamplet that the University of Arkansas Extension Service put together a few years back. You might be able to get some useful info from this. Good luck!

http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-7062.pdf

Pam, tell me about those bags.

I think she's talking about Spectracide's Bag-A-Bug. My neighbors put one up and told me about them. I have one in my front yard. They have bait that is some type of pheromone that attracts the beetles by the droves where they get trapped in the bag. Supposedly they attract more beetles to your yard than you'd normally have, but I had swarms devouring my river birch and had to do SOMETHING besides watch it die. Since putting up the bag I don't see hardly any in the river birch and gazillions around the bag.

I got mine at Lowes for $4.97 plus another $5 or so for the metal stake.

Hi Gldno1. My sister got her's at walmart...I think two for about $10.00 or so? She hangs it from a tree they were devouring. She has told me that it doesn't take long for this bag to fill up. Kind of a doubt edge sword...do you not put up the bag and have them flying around killing your shrubs or do you put the bag up to attract them and kill them? My sister also said that as that bag fills up it really stinks! Good Luck and please keep those nasty little creatures away from Lake of the Ozarks....pleaaaaasssssseeeeee.
Pam

Thanks ladies. I will definitely be looking for the traps.

Every time I spray something, they move to another plant...or we get sprinkles (not rain, sprinkles) that wash the spray off or dilute it.

I have vouch for the fact that they stink horribly. I bagged them in four walmart bags then a regular trash bag and they were still stinking up the garage. We finally had to start leaving the bagged up bugs outside. I noticed the neighbors kept theirs in a diaper pail.

DH found a trap by Safer at Race Brothers and got me one.
I put it up two days ago and haven't checked it yet. The spray did not keep them off the blackberries!

I think our time here is running out for trapping them according to the box.

I would think they would make good fertilizer if you buried them. Can you tell I scrounge organic material?

I emptied my Safer bags into the compost pile last year after the bugs were good and dead. Then I reused the bag. But those bags had small drainage holes in the bottom that the beetles enlarged enough to get out,so I taped them shut. This year I bought Rescue bags. These don't have separate bait, so will probably empty them and throw them away.

I'm having limited success with them this year. The things love roses, cannas, pole beans and evening primrose and even hanging traps near those plants isn't enticing them to leave them. So DH and I spend time each day catching them and dropping them into the bags, which makes it an expensive method of control seeing that a bucket of soapy water would work as well. In the orchard though, the bags filled almost completely up within a few days enticing the beetles away from the fruit trees, which have no fruit this year due to a late frost. Nothing would get them off the peaches last year, except a board.

This trap came with two bags, so if I can get them totally filled, I will be somewhat happy.

When I got the mail yesterday, I saw they are now on my favorite 'Diana' rose of sharon out by the road.

This won't help you this year, but you might try it this fall and see if it will help next spring.

Japanese beetles' larva are in the form of grubs that live in the ground. If you put down Milky Spore Disease this fall when they feed, you will not have Japanese Beetles next year. Nor will your neighbors. You will also not be visited by moles or voles because they tunnel into your yard searching for the grubs and there won't be any. I treated my yard this last spring.

Milky Spore Disease comes in a powder, you apply it, if I'm remembering right, 2 tsp. in little heaps four feet apart. (I nearly broke my back doing this, then someone suggested getting a length of PVC pipe and pouring the powder down the pipe) Then water it in -- or do it right before a rain. I ordered mine from homeharvest.com but I'm sure you can get it from other places. It's recommended for organic gardeners. Check it out, see what you think.

I wish Milky Spore was practical for us, but unfortunately not. We have 7 acres of lawn/pasture and are surrounded by almost another 80 acres.

I am still using the same traps that I used last year with good results. Last fall I took them down and put in plastic bags. Best way i have found to kill them is to sufficat them. I have modified the Safer traps by using large clear plastic bags, when they collect about a gallon of beetles, which can happen in 2-3 hours on a hot day, I remove the bag, roll in up to restrict the oxygen supply and in short order they are dead. I bury them around my trees. Don't leave them in the bags too long as they start stinking pretty quick. I reuse the bags after washing them out. This is our second year of infestation.

Gerald, do you mean the lure or bait is still good a year later?

I have two bags (Safer's) hanging up to the tops right now.

What kind of plastic bags are you using?