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Post by binnylou on Jul 9, 2023 17:00:57 GMT -5
I posted on 6/22 that I’d seen the first beetle on our yard. I’ve been considering purchasing a JB trap. I did order a Safer trap and hubby installed it yesterday about 12:30 pm. I checked it about 4 pm and the beetles had found it. They were swarming the trap, on the trap, on the shepherd’s hook, on the catch pouch. I didn’t expect such a response, since I’d only previously seen one beetle. The bottom of the pouch was full…I thought hubby had put pebbles in the bottom , but it was full of beetles. I wanted to empty it after 24 hours, but by then, we couldn’t get near it without the beetles getting on us. We’ll do it in the cool of the morning tomorrow. They shouldn’t be so active then. I did order a second trap.
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Post by breezygardener on Jul 9, 2023 17:38:54 GMT -5
I saw our first Japanese beetles here on 6/24, but they only congregated on the wild grapevines (which I am desperately trying to eradicate). I've never used or wanted to use the "traps", because I've read way too many first-hand accounts where the traps attracted more beetles than you would have had in the first place.
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Post by gardendmpls on Jul 9, 2023 17:45:50 GMT -5
attracted more beetles than you would have had in the first place. I've seen that, also. Instead of just getting the beetles on your property, they get from the whole neighborhood. Of course, the chickens wouldn't mind. They find them quite tasty.
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Post by binnylou on Jul 9, 2023 18:02:47 GMT -5
I’ve read those reports also, but if the JB weren’t in the trap, they would be roaming around our yard/garden. Looking for something to chew.
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Post by breezygardener on Jul 9, 2023 18:06:19 GMT -5
but if the JB weren’t in the trap, they would be roaming around our yard/garden. Looking for something to chew. But unfortunately they're NOT all in the trap or all go into the trap. So you end up with a lot on your property "looking for something to chew" then you most likely would have had in the first place. Although I bet your neighbors will be happy with your traps attracting all the Japanese beetles away from their yard - lol!
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Post by martywny on Jul 9, 2023 18:14:23 GMT -5
It's fun playing tennis with them using the electric fly swatters. We spray them with a Dawn/water mixture to immobilize/kill them, then drop their bodies into a jar of Dawn/water so the carcasses do not attract more beetles.
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Post by datgirl on Jul 10, 2023 7:33:18 GMT -5
I did the traps years ago. I put a couple of them way back on our property and it caught. a lot of beetles. I figured for every one in the trap, it was one less to reproduce. Lately I've been doing the hand picking into a bucket of water. They still swarm the fruit trees, but they are further back on the property away from my garden.
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Post by binnylou on Jul 17, 2023 8:20:11 GMT -5
As of this morning, our single trap has captured 3 gallon of beetles. Now dead beetles.
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Post by binnylou on Jul 18, 2023 21:02:40 GMT -5
The second trap went out today. There has been so much aerial spraying of the farm fields. I don’t know what is being sprayed, but I’m guessing these beetles might be targets.
I had an ewwww moment yesterday. Removing laundry from the outside line, there was “something” between the clothespin and my index finger. Japanese Beetle.
Reminded me of the tree frog on the shower handle. That was back in 1970, I had an early OB appointment, hubby knew the frog was there, but he didn’t tell me. Not a nice thing to do to a very pregnant “lady”. The shower was in the basement with access being through outside trap doors. I squeezed the frog, screeched, and up the stairs I went. Hubby says that I forgot the towel, but I think he exaggerates.
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Post by wargarden2017 on Aug 1, 2023 22:44:48 GMT -5
i have not seen any for several years.
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Post by binnylou on Aug 1, 2023 23:08:34 GMT -5
Lucky you. We are still trapping them, catching a pint to a quart of beetles in each trap every day. We are probably up to 8 gallons trapped. Hubby empties the traps every morning and the dead beetles are taken away from our property. Every morning, the dumping spot is clean of beetles.
The beetles stink something horrid. Dead or alive…they stink. And if they don’t get taken away, but sit in a bucket of soapy water, they really stink. I thought something had died out by the barn. I think my bucket is ruined.
We had weather warnings that included high wind, and I knew the traps wouldn’t survive the predicted winds. What to do with the traps? Not the garage!!! Not the garden shed!!! Hubby’s tractor still had prongs on the front, so he hung the traps from the prongs and parked in the barn. Even with a fan running in the barn for two days, the stink didn’t disappear. The mail carrier probably wonders if we are hiding a body. Mail box is next to barn.
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Post by heirloomfan on Aug 15, 2023 16:34:19 GMT -5
We've had them here too (Denver area) for a couple of years now. Last year we removed some grape vines and a rambling out of control rose bush planted by the previous homeowners and that helped to cut down on them since heard grapes and roses are one of their favorite plants to feed on. But they are still here and there around on different plants and do seem smaller this year. I do try to knock them into soapy water if I can catch them before they fly away. Our lawn mowing guys have an organic compound they apply in the fall on the yard after aerating because they overwinter in the soil of your lawn and are grub worms in the spring before they become the beetles. But hard to control just one lawn if no one else is doing much in your neighborhood to control them.
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