A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Attack of the Japanese Beetles!

Ok, I've had it. A week, and they've really started to destroy everything. My beautiful garden, is not as beautiful now.







I resorted to chemicals this morning..


I just hope my beneficials weren't around too much this morning.. hopefully hanging out in the wildflowers..

Meg

Oh Meg

So sad for your flower loss. They really did a lot of damage. Hope the pesticides work and you can get rid of them and back to a healthy garden!

Triss

Try this. It is enviro-safe.

milky spore

Japanese beetles are a nuisance here this year as well...
Glad you had the COURAGE to use chemicals... I wish you great success!
It's been especially tough here in South Carolina because it has rained nearly every day and it washes away any chemical(s) that i may apply.

"Milky spore" sounds like a good idea, but it only kills the Japanese Beetle larva and not the adult beetle which is eating your plants. Japanese beetles may be flying in from your neighbor's yard up the road...

Check it out.. they also like marigolds. :rolleyes:



I think I'll be doing a lawn treatment for them for next year. *sigh*

Meg

Milky spore works, but only if many neighbors or even whole communities use it. Japanese beetles have a flight area that can cover a square mile and even more. Therefore, even if every grub in your yard has died from the milky spore, the neighbors' beetles will still visit your gardens.
I still use milky spore to prevent grub damage in my yard and to do my part in the control of the nastiest bug I've ever had to deal with.

Years ago my mother told me to plant marigolds around my veggie garden to repel bugs. She obviously never had to deal with Japanese beetles. They love marigolds, and can consume an entire plant in one day. rose-o-sharon (hibiscus tree) is another favorite of the nasty beetle. Yesterday I couldn't see any blossoms on my tree - I ran over to it and found that the whole tree was covered in beetles. Seven-5 dust in my pump duster is the only thing that saved it. I hated using it because of the humming birds, but there wasn't anything else I could do.

As much as I don't want to use chemicals, I had no choice that I could find to help control these nasty beetles. I bought lots of organic goodies & controls from gardens alive, but the beetles, they are eating everything in sight! I had some spray stuff from southern states that I had bought last year, and it said it was effective against them on the label. I have less than before, but they are still in great numbers, and still eating the plants! Either that stuff was too old to work now, or I need a different chemical. I don't want to use the chemicals, because I've never seen so many beneficial insects in my garden before! Last year, I bought ladybeetles, because I had such an aphid problem, and no ladybugs! This year, they emerged out of nowhere, and I have had them all summer long. Not in huge numbers, but they are there. I've even seen their larvae. Soooo coooool!!

Meg

Hi Meg,have you tried using traps?
It might help.


Ground cloves - great repellant and can kill flying insects. Use several tblsp per gallon of water.


Japanese beetles - these pests are best controlled by killing their larva during the winter and early spring seasons with mild topsoil tilling, or using milky spore or beneficial nematode soil applications. During the warm season, the best way to control them is with traps. Simple inexpensive traps can be made by placing several small open milk jugs, cans, or buckets all over your garden. Inside the cans place some rotten fruit or fruit cocktail in 1/2 can of water with 1-2 tbls of liquid soap and 1-2 tblsp of canola oil. You can also add dry molasses or liquid molasses for extra microbial power in the soapy tea mixture to attract and kill them. Also planting a border planting of buckwheat will attract these pests away from your crops.

Duckie, thank you sooooo much for the tips. I shoulda known you'd have some good suggestions. I'll try the buckets first off.. that should be easiest to start out with. Stupid junebugs drowned themselves in some empty flowerpots on my porch, that filled with rainwater! Same concept, with the japanese beetles?

Meg

"Also planting a border planting of buckwheat will attract these pests away from your crops".

You are on to something here . Last year I had a severe problem and suffered significant damage to my weeping cherries, sand cherries and thunder cloud plum. This year I have already tripled my collection in the traps over last year . Anyone ever look at the way they converge on an arborvaite ?

WAAAAAH!! Look at all of them.. and this is just ONE LEAF!!

"WAAAAAH!! Look at all of them.. and this is just ONE LEAF!!"

LOL, Meg, it looks like they are having a GOOD time......


I finally got to dust my plants the other day... it rains nearly every here, lately!

Oh my God! Would you just look at them, and humping too!

I have two words for you: Sevin spray!

I don't think we get them here in the UK, and I am very grateful for that

I just found out that a friend of mine went to the lake last weekend. She came home Sunday evening and discovered that Japanese Beetles had consumed her entire grape arbor and 3 of her trees. She took pictures and samples to the Purdue University Extension office. She is hoping they'll investigate whether the beetle problem in this area is bad enough to warrant a university or state government program, like they did for the gypsy moth and ash borer. They tend to get involved when large numbers of trees or farm crops are affected.

According to the info on the internet, there are now infestations west of the Mississippi, including California. If you don't have them now, you will.

i've just found a few beetles on my rosebush. posted about it on another forum i go to and someone referred me here.

this looks like a great site...wonder why it didn't come up when i did a google search on the beetles??

anyhoo. this is a big problem for me as i just transplanted 6 rosebushes, a hydrangea and a peony from the neighbors garden (they're moving and the house will continue to be a rental so they said i could take what i wanted from the garden since it hadn't been maintained in years). i was not a happy camper when i saw the beetles. they hit the hydrangea first then were on the rose when i found them. this particular rose is one that i've had for a few years...pretty healthy in spite of the black spot - the roses i transplanted aren't doing to well and now they're in shock...they just don't need to be attacked by the beetles. they got to the hydrangea (i never knew until recently that they ate anything other than roses) but i think that will be okay - they got some of the leaves, not all tho.

lol, my dad was here and i was talking about it...he sprayed the bugs with some Off insect repellant. it killed them (and the parts of the rose that got sprayed) but no real damage done to the bush.

i like the idea of the fruit in the bucket of water with soap. i'd seen that same basic solution given on the other sites i'd visited. (they didn't mention putting fruit in it tho...good idea to attrack the buggers!). i did keep seeing that Dawn brand of dish soap works the best (don't know why).