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Japanese Beetles

  • Thread starter jimscott
  • Start date
  • #21
Some of the organic gardening books I have say that these traps may actually be worse than not doing anything because you are attracting more bugs than you would have naturally. A product that works on smaller areas, like normal size yards is milky spore. It selectively attacks just the japanese beetle grubs. You have to apply it a few times a year to your yard for I think for 2 years to properly innoculate your soil. There are specific times of the year it has to be applied to be most effective. Then it is good for a while. Neem will decrease their damage. But you have to apply every few days. I have some hazelnut and apple trees that are completely defoliated from these little beasties.
 
  • #22
I catch QUARTS of them every year. The last 2 years have been insane with them. I use the traps and on regular plants I use Bayer Rose and flower spray. They don't seem to bother my CPS at all.
 
  • #23
I was reading about JB's on freeplants.com. Milky spore attacks them in larvae stage, which is good because moles and such also love the grubs. You can also get beneficial predatory nematodes (everybody run, it's the predatory nematodes, AAAGH! :p) from naturescontrol.com which kill a host of insects as well.
 
  • #24
Some of the organic gardening books I have say that these traps may actually be worse than not doing anything because you are attracting more bugs than you would have naturally.

I think thats a myth..

yes, you might actually be attracting them from farther away from your own yard..
but think about it..
if the *trap* is attracting them, then they are being attracted *by* the trap and *to* the trap!
so the trap will CATCH them!

it doesnt make sense that a japanese beetle would think "hey..do you smell that? thats our sex phermone! lets go check it out!" (they all fly over to your yard from far away)
"we got 10 feet away, but not lets go any further..lets just hang out here *near* the intoxicating smell, but not go over to it, and instead lets just munch on these plants"..

no..that obviously isnt going to happen..
they will keep going stright to the trap, if its the trap that lured them in the first place..

if you just think about it, "using the traps is worse than not using them" is a theory that just breaks down under logic..

Scot
 
  • #25
LOL! I guess that precludes the idea of stocking stuffers for Christmas, for like 10 of your geographically closest neighbors.
 
  • #26
I think thats a myth..

yes, you might actually be attracting them from farther away from your own yard..
but think about it..
if the *trap* is attracting them, then they are being attracted *by* the trap and *to* the trap!
so the trap will CATCH them!


I agree. The idea of the trap is to LURE them AWAY from plants you want to PROTECT.

In my case Hibiscus, Kousa dogwood, Corn, roses, butterfly bushes.

So far this year I have caught 3 full quarts of them. I have also started using Bayer Rose and flower spray on the above listed plants. Kills them fast and leaves a residue that lasts about 1 week or 2.
 
  • #27
I think thats a myth..


if you just think about it, "using the traps is worse than not using them" is a theory that just breaks down under logic..

I don't think that is a theory that "breaks down under logic". If a person sees a few JBs in their yard, they may respond by putting up a trap or several traps. Once those traps fill up, any remaining beetles may congregate and feed on the person's plants. That situation would be worse than if the person had done nothing at all because there would be a lot more beetles in their yard.

Here's what the Missouri Botanical Garden has to say

"Research has found that pheromone traps attract many more beetles than they catch and probably do more harm than good to plants in the beetles’ flight path and near the traps. Their use is not recommended."

Here's the link to the article http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/IPM.asp?code=67
 
  • #28
The bag-a-bug is supposed to be kept far away from any plants that you don't want beetles crawling all over, and it worked very well for me in that respect. I could see it doing more harm than good if you have a small yard and the bag is right near all of your plants, but if you have a larger yard with some space, it definitely helps.

Did anybody read this?
 
  • #29
At least your neighbors will be happy when your traps are drawing all the beetles away from their yards and plants.

Who says you can't sneak over & put them in your neighbor's yard?:D
 
  • #30
I don't think that is a theory that "breaks down under logic". If a person sees a few JBs in their yard, they may respond by putting up a trap or several traps. Once those traps fill up, any remaining beetles may congregate and feed on the person's plants. That situation would be worse than if the person had done nothing at all because there would be a lot more beetles in their yard.

Here's what the Missouri Botanical Garden has to say

"Research has found that pheromone traps attract many more beetles than they catch and probably do more harm than good to plants in the beetles’ flight path and near the traps. Their use is not recommended."

Here's the link to the article http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/IPM.asp?code=67

bah.gif

I dont buy it..
who only has "a few" in their yard anyway?
they dont really exist as "a few" in my experience..
you either have a mass planting of them, or virtually none..so "a few" you wouldnt notice.
if you notice "a few"..then you have a lot..

Im a belieiver in the traps..
my wife and I have two set up in the yard this year..
they work REALLY well..
we change the bag once a week..its jammed with bugs..
the "smelly" attractant part works all season..
we keep the traps up mid-July through all of August..
IMO, even if the traps do attract from "far away" they still trap WAY more than they attract..
and using the traps is FAR better than not using them..
if we didnt use the traps at all, we would have massive plant destruction..
maybe we are just in a particularly heavy zone..
but I dont think "light" or "heavy" zones really exist..
the bugs are simply EVERYwhere..

all I know is we have significantly less plant damage when we use the traps..
and much less visable bugs ON the plants..(compared to not using the traps)
and the traps are jammed full..

when we DONT use the traps, we have massive JB damage on all kinds of plants..
and we certaintly never have only "a few"..

so in my experiece, the traps are great, and really cut down on the JB problem..
probably by 90%..

Scot
 
  • #31
You may be correct. I would go by your own personal experience rather than remote studies under different conditions. I wouldn't think that the bugs would go straight to the trap without stopping to feed or breed though. You may be catching tons but may have 10x the numbers of eggs/grubs and exponentiating future numbers. It may be you so many to trap because you are using the traps.
 
  • #32
You may be correct. I would go by your own personal experience rather than remote studies under different conditions. I wouldn't think that the bugs would go straight to the trap without stopping to feed or breed though. You may be catching tons but may have 10x the numbers of eggs/grubs and exponentiating future numbers. It may be you so many to trap because you are using the traps.

maybe..
I agree we could be catching so many *because* we are using the traps..
and the traps are bringing more to the yard than there might be otherwise..
thats totally plausable, and likely..

but to me, thats not a bad thing, and its a moot point anyway..
its not important how many are trapped..
what is important is how many LESS are on the plants, eating them, because of the traps.

I wouldn't think that the bugs would go straight to the trap without stopping to feed or breed though.

you obviously have never seen these traps in action! ;)
believe me, they dont stop to do anything..

and I dont see how 90% less JB's on the plants = 10x eggs/grubs in the yard..
that math doesnt quite compute! ;)

Scot
 
  • #33
I have to agree with you Scotty.
Before we started using the traps, "JB's" were all over the trees in our front yard. Almost every leaf had some damage on it. When we incorporated the traps (relatively far away from our plants), damage to the trees was noticeably reduced.

And heck, even if you are attracting unneeded attention from the bugs, at least your contributing to the reduction of their over all population. They are an invasive species after all.
:usa2:
 
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