Subject: Japanese Beetles, aaargh!

From: [email-masked]
Date: 28 Mar 95 11:16:26 CDT

In northwest Indiana, we seem to have a bounty of japanese beetles, aaargh.  I
would like to encourage them to stay away from my property using a natural
concoction of some sort.  Any ideas would be most welcome.

Steve

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 28 Mar 95 15:04:41 -0600

> concoction of some sort.  Any ideas would be most welcome.

Put pheromone traps in the neighbor's yards: then the beetles will
congregate there!  ;-) :-)

Seriously, if you can get the neighbors to cooperate, you can use
traps baited with fruit and floral scents to attract the females,
and pheromones to attract the males.  Cut a big hole in the top of
a gallon milk jug, fill it about 1/3 full with sugar and water +
pieces of mashed fruit, and some yeast.  Put the traps 1-3 feet
above the ground every 150-200 feet around the area to be protected.
Strain out the beetles each evening, and dispose of them.  At the
same time, treat the area with Bacillus thuringensis or B. popilliae
(milky spore disease) to kill the larvae (there are also parasitic
wasps and nematodes to help control the beetles).  

Commercial traps like "bag a bug" and "safers" work in the same way as
the homemade traps, but also add a pheromone to attract male beetles:
[ "free sex! whoops!  what's this?"]   ;-)
Don't forget the dump the traps often (maybe daily), as dead beetles
repel the live ones.

If you can get a whole neighborhood to cooperate, you can get pretty good
control of the critters, from what gardening friends in the northeast
tell me.  And, if you buy the controls from a farm store in farm
quantities (instead of homeowner quantities), and split the order among 
several people, you can bring the cost down to a reasonable level.

Kay Klier   [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Chris Coplan)
Date: 28 Mar 1995 21:31:02 GMT

> concoction of some sort.  Any ideas would be most welcome.

If you want to go organic - try Milky Spore - it should be available at a
farm type store (Southern States).  That kill's the grubs (spread it on
your lawn).  I think you can buy some sort of nematodes as well that'll
kill the grubs, but that'd be something you'd have to get from an organic
gardening specialty place (I get some stuff from Gardens
Alive@812-537-8650).

Unfortunately, you'll still have your neighbor's beetles migrating, but it
should decrease the problem.

Traps are available too, with floral/pheromone (sp?) lures - but I think
(no basis...just my opinion) that those ATTRACT more beetles than just
putting up with them or nuking them with sevin every now and then.

Chris
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein)
Date: 28 Mar 1995 23:08:00 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
 <[email-masked]> wrote:
>At the
>And, if you buy the controls from a farm store in farm

 Wouldn't it be nice if farm stores sold entomophagus insects and other
biological controls? Some day maybe...

Adam
-- 
______________________________________
Adam Finkelstein 
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Steve Rehrauer)
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 16:54:33 GMT

>wasps and nematodes to help control the beetles).  

"Milky spore" has the advantage of persisting in the soil, reportedly
for 10-15 years.  It's relatively cheap, too.  (I used it at a previous
house, several years ago, with some success.  I think I paid on the
order of $50 to treat 10,000sq.ft. of lawn)  But alas, I haven't been
able to find it recently.  I'd heard that the various manufacturers
have had trouble culturing it.  Sigh.  (*Has* anyone seen it lately?
If so, where?)

Nematodes, at least the ones I've seen advertised for this, are a
once-a-season treatment.  And they're expensive, to my mind -- about
$20 to treat 1,000sq.ft.  (I suppose you could use it as a spot-
treatment of badly damaged areas, only.)

It's a real pity that the the cheapest solutions are also the most
toxic...
-- 
"I feel lightheaded, Sam.  I think my brain | Steve [email-masked]
 is out of air.  But it's kind of a neat    | Massachusetts Language Lab
 feeling..."  --Freelance Police            | Smack-dab in USDA Zone 5

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From: [email-masked] (Jen Mayer)
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 04:04:00 GMT

SS> In northwest Indiana, we seem to have a bounty of japanese beetles,
SS> aaargh.  I would like to encourage them to stay away from my
SS> property using a natural concoction of some sort.  Any ideas would
SS> be most welcome.
Get the Peaceful Valley Farm Supply catalog -- there are many different 
approaches to controlling japanese beetles.. traps, milky spore disease, 
predatory nematodes, etc... When I was a kid, we'd collect them in jars 
and let the retired gentleman down the street use them as fishing bait.  

Peaceful Valley is at PO Box 2209, Grass Valley, CA 95945 or call 916-
272-4769.

 * RM 1.3 01256 * Blessed are the meek, for they make great scapegoats.

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From: [email-masked] (John Bachman)
Date: 28 Mar 1995 19:17:50 -0500

In rec.gardens [email-masked] said: 

>In northwest Indiana, we seem to have a bounty of japanese beetles,
aaargh.  
 
I'm using marigolds all around the garden.  The beetles love marigolds so
they stop there and chow down leaving the good stuff for me.   
 
Another technique is to buy the traps you see everywhere.  But they attract
more beetles.  So buy some traps and give them to your neighbors.  The
neighbors think you are a great guy and they have all the beetles. 
-- 
John Bachman

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From: [email-masked] (Nita Richard)
Date: 29 Mar 1995 11:55:35 -0500

>concoction of some sort.  Any ideas would be most welcome.

Give your neighbors a present...one of those japanese beetle traps, those ones
that attract them and then they collect in the attached bag.  You can tll them
you had an extra trap, they'll think you're doing them a favor (brownie points)
and they'll be attracting the beetles to their yard, away from yours.  Kind of
sneakie, I know, but effective.

-- 
Nita Richard 
Georgia Institute of Technology, "Home of the 1996 Olympic Village"             Atlanta Georgia, 30332-0181
uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!nr5
Internet: [email-masked] (404)853-0050

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From: [email-masked] (John Bachman)
Date: 28 Mar 1995 19:17:50 -0500

aaargh.

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From: [email-masked] (Nita Richard)
Date: 29 Mar 1995 11:55:35 -0500

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From: [email-masked] (Jon LaBadie)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 18:27:28 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Chris Coplan) writes:
|> 
|> Traps are available too, with floral/pheromone (sp?) lures - but I think
|> (no basis...just my opinion) that those ATTRACT more beetles than just
|> putting up with them or nuking them with sevin every now and then.

I'm just a single data point, but my experience is different
with respect to attracting extra beetles.

We've been here for 8 summers.  A little over an acre.  First
summer the beetles were terrible.  We had used the bags in a
townhouse condo environment and been happy so I tried them again.

Got three.  Assembled the first in the basement, then carried
it out to the front area.  While carrying it out and putting it
on the support, I was bombarded by beetles flying into me.

Did the same with the other two for our back areas.  Not nearly
the same fast attraction but considerable.

When I was done in the back, I went to check the front bag and
already needed to replace it!!!

The next year, our beetle infestation was much lower, and lower
still the following year.  We still use the traps, but it is
for maintenance.  Our infestation is manageable.

jl
-- 
Jon H. LaBadie                  [email-masked]
 JG Computing                   [email-masked]
 4455 Province Line Road        (609) 252-0159
 Princeton, NJ  08540-4322      (609) 683-7220 (fax)

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From: [email-masked] (William E. Hemple)
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 95 22:20:24 EST

In article <[email-masked]>
[email-masked] (Dorothy Klein) writes:
 
>[email-masked] (Steve Rehrauer) writes:
>>>(milky spore disease) to kill the larvae  [....]
>
>Basically, if you want your _B. popilliae_ to do its job in future years,
>you should seriously consider NOT using chemical fungicides, herbicides,
>and/or insecticide, since the common ones, tested at their
>recommended application rates, killed spores outright,
>prevented them from germinating, or adversely affected the spores'
>vegetative growth.
 
For years, my garden had no problems with Japanese beetles; rumors were
that the community had been treated with milky spore.  Suddenly a plague
of beetles hit us (after about 20 years) and it was awful for my roses.
Our community has about 350 single family homes on 10,000 to 20,000 sq.
ft. lots, so an enterprizing neighbor got most of us to sign up at $15
a house for community-wide reapplication.  It does little good for only
one property owner to do it in isolation, since beetles wander a long
way.  At first, I thought maybe it was a scam; the reapplication was
done by a young woman who came thru shaking a can of BT on the grass--
it took no time at all to do a lot.  The next year, there wasn't much
difference, the second year the decrease was noticeable, and since then
(5 or 6 years to now) Japanese beetles have all but disappeared.  Lawn
services with pesticides don't seem much used in the community, so
that probably explains the excellent results.  I don't know where you
can get BT today, but I would surely try to find it and get the neigh-
bors together.  It is benign to children, dogs, cats, etc. and works
very well given patience.
                                     Bill Hemple
                                     [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (William E. Hemple)
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 95 22:20:24 EST

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 4 Apr 95 14:30:59 EST

> very well given patience.

However I have been told by my Agricultural Extension Office that it is
not effective in this area--Southeast Michigan--because it cannot survive
the winters. So I am deeply envious, and also interested in beneficial
nematodes, if anyone has any advice about how to use them in my area. Is
it too cold for them now in Southeast Michigan?

Sarah
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 4 Apr 95 14:30:59 EST

Sarah

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From: [email-masked] (Graham Thurston)
Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 15:34:45 GMT

>[email-masked]

Not knowing how cold it is right now in southeast Michigan (it is -15 C and 
WINDY in Fredericton, NB right now!!) I can't answer that part of the 
question.  Beneficial nematodes can be effective against grubs, if the proper 
one is used.  _Steinernema carpocapsae_ doesn't work very well, but _S. 
glaseri_ and _Heterorhabditis bacteriophora_ are quite effective.  They work 
best when the soil temperature is above 15 C (that is +15).  Get the soil damp 
first, apply the nemas by watering can, then follow this up with a good 
soaking to wash them into the soil and out of the sun.  The best time of day 
to apply them is in the evening, or on an overcast day.  They don't 
take to well to desiccation and ultraviolet radiation.

Graham Thurston
entomopathogenic nematode specialist