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Japanese Beetles

  • Thread starter jimscott
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jimscott

Tropical Fish Enthusiast
Which eats whom?
 
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Get one if you want to live!
 
I saw something similar at my grandmothers. She said it was suppose to catch a bunch of different bugs, but it only caught those beetles.
 
Is there something else in that bag that attracts them? I'm curious about setting one up and then freezing the bag to feed them to the nepenthes.
 
We sell those at the Depot, but I was wondering if my pitcher plants & VFT's will eat them or whether they would their victims.
 
They seem to chew their way out of the tall Sarrs and I've seen them floating in purps. But I can't claim to have performed a scientifically valid study.
 
Aargh, those things suck! At least here in Quebec we just started getting a load of June beetles, you know those ugly light brown beetles that clumsily fly around in the evening and fall into water trays by the million ;)
 
OH. I had NO idea those were Japanese beetles! Neat.
 
Is there something else in that bag that attracts them? I'm curious about setting one up and then freezing the bag to feed them to the nepenthes.

Apparently that little plastic container you see near the opening of the bag in the second picture emits their mating scent or something... So it's like a giant beetle orgy of death.

We had one of these set up last year in our front yard. It must have caught thousands of them. (And I'm not even exaggerating.)
 
  • #10
Those traps do use an attractant and might attract JBs that otherwise never would have paid a visit. Since not all end up in the trap, the trap might make matters worse even if it collects a bagful of JBs. My solution to JBs is to be vigilant and ruthless. I know which plants are most likely to be attacked first and keep an eye on them. I squish the JBs I find on them and never get an outbreak. It's almost as if those are the advance scouts and, when they don't return from my little part of the world, the army decides to invade a neighbor instead. It works for me but your mileage may vary.
 
  • #11
I might as well crush them as I see them. Being on the second floor probably helps, but I've seen a few up there.
 
  • #12
All this talk about beetles got me going, I took a walk through the university with a baby food jar. Within 30 mins, I was able to scoop up and entire jar full just walking from flower bed to flower bed.

Just got back and popped them into the freezer... The nepenthes will be eat'n good tonight!

-Nathan
 
  • #13
ive always wondered about those bags... how do we know they dont attract even more beetles to your yard. i mean yea it will trap a bunch. but not every bug will go straight to the bag. some will snack on your plants first.

Alex
 
  • #14
Herenorthere is right. The JB traps do more harm than good. At least your neighbors will be happy when your traps are drawing all the beetles away from their yards and plants. I believe the best way to combat them is to manually pull the beetles off(smash them or drown them in soapy water) or use an insecticide.
 
  • #15
Well from my walk today, I visited about 7 flower beds at the university. Each a good 2 or 3 blocks from each other.

One flower bed had a trap, the rest did not. From my observations, there definitely were plants that the bugs LOVED, enjoyed, would be on, and didn't care about. If the plants where in the bed, so were the beetles regardless of the trap status.

For each of the beds that had the plant that the bugs LOVED and no trap, the plants were very damaged and I collected the most from that bed. The bed with the same type of plant that had the trap didn't really have that many beetles around on the plants, but the trap was filled with thousands of those insects.

If I have time next week, maybe I'll go around with a camera and try to do more of a scientific study for you guys.

I think the traps are worth it. Unless you're out and about in your yard every day, ready to squish each one you find, the trap can do the work for you. Sure the trap is going to attract them, but the plants they want to be at are doing the same thing. But don't put a trap out if you don't have a problem, then you're just inviting trouble.
 
  • #16
I don't bother with the traps. A good spray of sevin on all the "favorites" will generally keep them at bay. I found out the hard way that they love our Dwarf Linden tree. It took about 3 days one year for them to leave nothing but the leaf skeletons. Now the plants that need it get nuked at the first sign of the buggers !
 
  • #17
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.
 
  • #18
Get a duck. They LOVE Japanese beetles. I used to "harvest" beetles off bushes and give them to my ducks in a bucket of water. They were gone in about 30 seconds. :)
 
  • #19
My LW just caught one today, hope it doesnt chew through the pitcher :S
 
  • #20
Get a duck. They LOVE Japanese beetles. I used to "harvest" beetles off bushes and give them to my ducks in a bucket of water. They were gone in about 30 seconds. :)


Viaduct?
 
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