Anyone else having trouble with the beetles this year? They are destroying our new plants. I put some SE7EN on them and I hope that does the trick. Any special tricks out there to control these little buggers?
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Absolutely. Get a couple of those Japanese beetle bug bags and set them up in the neighbor's yard. Or at least as far away from your plants as you can.
They LOVE cherry trees and asparagus. I used to grow asparagus just so it's draw them in and I could kill them.
David, so you know, it only takes a third of what the label says for Sevin to kill those things. It takes about ten minutes for them to die once you hit them with it.
Sevin doesn't last but for hours on plants. The active ingredient wafts off in the air in no time. So you really have to hit them with it to kill them.
It's a fun game. Get a good sprayer and have a cigar. They don't have a very long cycle, they'll all be gone in a month or so. Enjoy killing them while you can. :-)
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I ended up buying the spray instead of the powder form. Coated up our Japanese Maple and our other small ornamental tree really good. I will probably go to Lowes and buy a bag and just place it in the corner of the yard. I like the idea of placing it in the neighbors yard lol :-)
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"Neigbors yard!" :-):-):-)
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These worked great last year!
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Yes, They are bad this year and were bad last year too. Last year they killed two of my Purple Leaf Plum Trees. I sprayed early this year but they did get two rose bushes before I had a chance to do it but they are recovering well. Probably spray again this week again. The bags work great but I feel like they attract more of them to the yard so I decided to not do the bag thing this year, but by spraying early my Crape Myrtle seems to be doing better this year compared to last year.
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Spray is way better than powder. I honestly don't even know if the powder will kill a japanese beetle. You should get one beetle bag for you, and get two for each of your neighbors. Get some fourth of july wrapping paper, a couple bottles of wine, and you'll never see another beetle the rest of the summer. :-)
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Hey David, I found a nice article here to read, with option #1 and #2 under Grub Control being key:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2001.html

Then, there appears to be a place to purchase milkly spore here:

http://www.biconet.com/biocontrol/bpopillae.html

I believe it requires a little time for the milky spore bacteria to infiltrate the grubs, and the dieing process of the grub then spreads the disease to other grubs, or simply hangs out in the lawn until other grubs appear. I like the natural approach to eliminating pests.

Although, I guess one could tip a 55gal drum of Malathion onto the lawn too...:-)
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Haven't seen any of them up in Marion county. They must be targeting IU fans. :-)
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The ones ya have to watch out for are the North Korean Beetles...

They'll destroy your trees in neutral territory and deny it ever happened. :-)
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