WOW...that's a heck of a set up. I understand those things get to smelling pretty ripe after a few days and filling up with those bugs. I personally think it would be well worth it not have them chewing up your trees and shrubs. Good on ya!
Pam

And is that a peach tree? The nasty things were all over our peaches last year. Thanks to frost, no peaches this year but they still ate the leaves on most of our fruit trees. So far we've filled 5 traps full. Maybe next year we won't have so many.

Yes, that is half a peach tree..one of the storms split it and I just left it. We lost all the peaches this year too.
So far, they aren't eating the leaves on it.

Yesterday, I noticed the top of the Rose of Sharon is covered with them again. I wish we had put up at least 4 traps. I think I will just spray with Sevin again today.

I am like you, I figure surely this will help for next year.

It seems like it would HAVE to help in the long run.
I read somewhere that they start laying eggs withing a week of emerging and that you should get the bags up as soon as possible. So my plan (which I didn't stick to) was to put out beetle bags after the first time we cut hay. It's easier to drive to the back of the field when the grass is short and the timing would be before they show up so I could get the earliest ones. I think it would be a waste of time for me to put them up now. They've no doubt layed a jillion eggs by now.
We don't have a truck so I wouldn't be able to drive to the back of the field to dump the bags after the grass gets tall again unless I mow a path.
Did you try putting yours far away from the house?

I put mine in my garden and orchard this year, but my daughter told me that she read that the traps attract beetles from a mile away. So next year we are going to ring our property fences with them, which are between the neighbor's pastures and our garden and orchard. We have 5 acres surrounded by others' fields and 10 acres of woods. But I don't think they lay eggs in woodlands.

My particular trap says to place them on the upwind side of the vegetable garden, or whatever you want to protect, at the rate of one trap per 50 linear feet along two sides of plant perimeters. So if your garden is 50 feet long, place one on each side of it. Do not enclose the site on all sides with traps.

Hang them 3 to 5 feet above the ground and at least 10 feet away from plantings to be protected because they attract the beetles to the area.
I had mine hanging from the pole been hoop so I went out this morning and moved it about 15 feet to a small tree.

The bag is over half full. I went ahead and sprayed some things in front of the house. They seem to love rose of sharon!

I do think we are getting too late to buy new traps here.
It mentions Ky as a location where they should be put out mid-June to early July and Illinois july to mid July.

I think next year the minute they are on the shelves I am buying one for the front yard and two for the garden.

BT would be the best route, but it would take a small fortune as large as my area is to apply enough....to say nothing of the labor involved.

Why aren't the birds eating these things? Have you noticed there are no June bugs this year; just JB's.

It's a strange world.

I checked the new bag this morning and it was filled past the narrow neck! DH is gong by Race Bros this morning and getting me another one!

I am amazed by how many have been eliminated.

There are linden trees at Nathanial Greene Park that have skeletonized leaves and I think it is J. beetles that did it. I tried to grow a linden but it died. The flowers are supposed to be fragrant. I would hate to plant something they liked that well and have it defoliated. I haven't had too many JB here yet.

Just hung a new trap and am dumbfounded at the amount of Japanese Beetles around it. I noticed they were already there this morning devouring the Kolreuteria tree. This is the worst we have ever had here. I hope I am not luring them from miles away to my place.

I see pros and cons on using them. But the other alternative is spraying and that just lasts two weeks and if it rains you have to do it over again.

Helen, I hope you don't get them like they are here!

They also love roses! They tend to leave red roses alone but the yellow, peach and pink are just covered with them. I also put out the same type of traps and do not have nearly as many dead ones in the trap but at least I do not have as many on my roses now. I will place my traps out much earlier next year also. My garden center said that I should also be putting down Grub X in the garden area and between the traps and Grub X, I should have it easier next year.

I used insect spray a few times and my conscience really squirmed because of the butterflies and bees.

The JBs sure are nasty this year, and there are way too many of them.

Teresa

They started showing up here last year, were worse this year even though I started trapping earlier. I have found the Safer trap to be the better of any I have tried. I have also modifed it somewhat as the bag that comes with it don't last very long. I found some large clear plastic bags and use metal clips to attach to the trap. It is necessary to restrict the neck with a shoe lace to prevent them from flying back out. A good way to kill them is to restrict their oxygen supply, just remove the bag, fold it over a couple times and in short order they will sufficate. Don't leave them there too long as they start smelling in short order. I either bury them around my trees of just put them at the base, burying is best as it eliminated the smell. On very hot days I have to empty the bags twice. I have spare bags so just replace and reuse the previous bag after washing it out. They seem to prefer grape, sweet cherry, apple, chestnut, and hickory in that order although they also work on many others including black walnut.