Pictures please, we love to look at citrus pictures :)) I would not spray the blooms, can you remove the beetles by hand? I have no experience fighting beetles, hopefully someone with the experience will chime in.

Japanese beetles are terrible pests! Slice, I live in Fredonia NY, so I know exactly what your talking about, however, I have not had issues(thankfully!) with Japanese beetles. I did some reading on pest deterrents and found that cayenne pepper, or any hot pepper product, will help deter most bugs and even certain animals. I realized that I had squirrels chewing on the tips of the new growth on my mango tree! I have a horrible problem with squirrels in my yard, and I have seen them actually running up and down my tropical fruit and citrus trees.

I do have issues with Japanese beetles chewing up my roses though! When I find them, I pick them off and squish them between my fingers.

Good luck!

Andrew

You don't need to pollinate the flowers to get fruit. Soapy water is a potted plants best friend and you can add some FP to the mix. If you didn't get fruits to set it was because the plant was not capable due to some sort of stress or condition change.

Whatever you do, do not get a japanese beetle trap. They do work but also will attract every one of them within a few miles of your neighborhood. You will be helping your neighbors more than yourself.

I keep a quart plastic container filled with a regular soap/detergent solution. Say about a third of the cup. Hold the cup below the leaf or area where the beetle is on the plant. Disturb the beetle and it will fall right into the cup. I can catch 90% of the beetles like that. It is clean and quick. After a couple of days clean the container and make fresh solution. I keep the container near the plant under shade and catch the beetles when I see them.

Usually the beetles are feeding/mating in late afternoon to evening and they are usually on the top of the canopy.

I beg to differ.. Citrus flowers do need pollinating and there are multiple videos of how to do it with a paintbrush or q-tip online.. I do agree however that the last time it bloomed the tree got stressed (from being brought indoors most likely) and that is why it didn't produce, because I did try the paintbrush trick. The beetles have subsided, although I'm still finding them dead in my pool, but what is FP?

BTW I have squirrels and chipmonks too but they don't seem to mess with my citrus, banana, palms or other tropical plants and trees. The grapefruit tree is full of thorns so a squirrel wouldn't get very far trying to climb it.

Many fruits need pollinating. Question is do you need humans to do it or let nature do it for you. I think nature does very well by itself.

I do not have many kinds of citrus but whatever I have seem to fruit on their own and sometimes too many. In that case, the plant drops some of them and if I feel like interfering then I take away the excess fruits myself early on.

Japanese beetles will eat smart weed over any other plant. I use smart weed to protect all of my other garden plants.

I recall that citrus pollination has to do with fruit seed count and not fruit set. I get flowers, fruit set and fruit growth all indoors with no pollination by insects or me.

The reason I tried to pollinate the tree by hand was it was indoors. This time it's outdoors so I will let nature do it.

Steve: I think I may have smartweed and lots of it too. It is some PA native wildflower that looks very similar to smartweed pics on the web. Although, I have not seen Jap. Beetles munch on them.

Ok so I don't get it then... What is the pollen for? What are pollinators for? Why are their videos online on how to pollinate citrus to induce fruit growth? Someone explain it to me since I learned that trees don't just grow fruit with out pollen and pollinators... And I guess all the videos online are all just false and numerous people are all wrong the same way, at the same time...

And what is FP? I looked it up and there is nothing in the garden world with those initials...

Foliage Pro

slice - I always wondered about all the paintbrush pollination too (with respect to citrus). Some types of fruiting trees (and shrubs, perennials, etc) need pollination from a different flower to actually set fruit. But for citrus, most of which (save some like mandarins) are self-fertile, you don't need to really do anything. Within the flower, the pollen on the anthers will easily make contact with that same flower's stigma. Cross-pollination from other trees would generally help to make seeds (assuming the pollen is not sterile). In some cases, the tree exhibits "parthenocarpy", meaning they produce fruit with little or no seeds.

Manual pollination would theoretically ensure the process but more often than not, you might end up damaging the stigma depending on how you jam a brush in the flower. If your tree is outside, the breeze and/or insects will help that process. Inside, you could always put a fan on it if you feel you need to do something.

ALso "FP" = Foliage Pro in reference to a fertilizer product made by Dynagro - https://dyna-gro.com/foliage-pro

Foliage pro fertz. If using as foliar you use a lower dilution rate.

Most citrus is self fertile, it can use the pollen on the same flower. Hand pollinating just (potentially) increases success

Whatever you're doing to your grapefruit, keep at it. It's huge and looks beautiful!

Steve you have the best little tips for growing plants. Do you grow the smartweed together alongside your garden plants? Or just have them surround your garden like a defensive wall

I haven't had Japanese beetle for 43 years now so I was able to stop with the smart weed growing. I don't know what happened in Cincinnati but I see under 10 Japanese beetle per year.

Steve