A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 four o'clocks and jap. beetles

Two things...1. I just read that 4:00's are a trap plant for jap beetles. They are suppose to attract them and when the beetle eats the plant, the beetle dies cuz the poisin in the plant kills it. Read this from Dave's Gardening Forums, so not sure if it's true. I'll try planting a 4:00 near the garden for the jap beetles to much on. 2, Does anyone know if these can be grown indoors? I want to grow one of these inside during the winter, will they survive inside? Are they self fertile (will they make seeds without cross pollenating) or do they need help from other plants to bear seeds?

4 0 clocks are very easy to grow
dont know about growing em inside but i think with the right conditions they would grow.
they are prolific self seeders and will grow all over the place if you let them. the seeds look like peppercorns. i just picked one out of my compost heap and figured if it wanted to grow that much,i might as well plant it.
really not much soil prep needed. just throw the seeds where you want them, dont bury them and they will come up.sunny and shade.
youll have to keep after them to keep them from taking over.

Hope it kills stink bugs too!!

I have about a dozen or more 4 o'clocks in my gardens and I haven't seen any fewer beetles...they are still eating up several of my plants. I also haven't seen any beetles on the 4 o'clocks themselves, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be working for me.

Oh well...maybe the jap beetles that the person had were perhaps already sick? Or maybe like viruses, the jap beetles are becoming stronger and have learnt to keep away. It sounded too good to be true anyways!