They are out in force in SE MN !!
Thousands of them little B-turds in my apple trees, oak trees and various shrubs and flowers.
Never seen anything like it. Gobs of em!!!
Last year they ate the crap outta the apple tree leaves before I sprayed with Fruit Tree spray. It slowed em down but that’s it.
Got some stuff from my BIL yesterday that kills em dead.
Keep an eye out for them. Not good if they get the jump on you.
Anyone else had problems yet?
Got some stuff from my BIL yesterday that kills em dead.
What “stuff”?
I think I had 2 or 3 on my grape vines last year. Figured Covid was keeping them indoors. It was bad the years before that. Haven’t seen any this year, but I’ll have to look closer tonight.
FYI Last year while in the MIDDLE of Pepin, we were swarmed by them. What are they doing in the middle of the lake?
They decimated one of my grape vines last year. Last fall I cut it down to the main trunk, hoping that discourages the darn things. The vine is growing like crazy and no Japanese beetles to date.
If you see a couple, there’s more on the way.
Last Thirsday night noticed a couple. Friday a few more but sprayed the Fruit Tree spray. Slows em down but that’s it.
Sunday mowing lawn and the FW has a Clematis and it was friggin loaded with em. Then noticed thousands of em on the other trees and bushes.
The “stuff” is called Cyper WPS.
Mix it with water.
Sprayed and whatever doesn’t die within a few seconds, will when they eat a leaf that was sprayed.
Great. I’ve been picking them off and dropping them into a bucket of dawn soap water. I need to get them before the hit the ground and lay more eggs for next year.
They eat my apple tree down to nubbins but leave the pear trees alone for some reason.
What I dislike the most is the larvae in the grass. It brings in them dang pocket gophers.
Ive seen a few here and there but no hoards yet.
Been doing some research on them and Malethion is supposed to take care of the adults. Nematodes, which are little micro-organisms, will take care of the grubs that turn into the adults next year,if you spread them on your lawn. I’m deciding whether I should pull the trigger on purchasing them. I have about 3 acres to cover and according to the website I will need 150 million of the little buggers! That relates to $216.00 for the 150 or I can get 250 million for $198.00. Last year they completely annihilated most of my trees and some shrub, so I am seriously considering them.
I am glad this post came up and reminded me to spray. I just checked my apple tree and they are going to town.
I have some volunteer trees on the edge of my garden. Today I saw some Japanese beetles on them. Even though their metallic bodies look Avenger flame retardant-like, they aren’t. Got ’em with a weed burner torch.
I’ll have to check my birch tree now. They seem to like that.
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You need to treat the ground where they lay the eggs, usually the grass turns brown from them eating the roots before they come up. That’s where you want to kill them. DO NOT USE THOSE BAGS THEY SELL they bring more bugs to your area because of the pheromones they put out.
DO NOT USE THOSE BAGS THEY SELL they bring more bugs to your area because of the pheromones they put out.
but that means I can kill more of them then 
DO NOT USE THOSE BAGS THEY SELL they bring more bugs to your area because of the pheromones they put out.
What if you already have them thick? They are already having an orgy on your tasty leaves, attracting even more. Since I will not go scorched earth with poisons, trapping is all that’s left. Could just be a cycle but 2 years ago I hit a peak with 4 traps and over a gallon of bugs a day. Last year 2 traps was overkill. In the last 4 years I’ve single handedly prevented millions of eggs from being laid. So far this summer they are very light. Cherry tree hasn’t been defoliated since trapping began either.
Unfortunately for anyone getting in to trapping, the reusable hard plastic Tanglefoot traps that are easily emptied are no more, just the bag systems.
I never seen one til 2 days ago now my yard is full of them. Seem to like the small apple trees more then the rest. Do they have both sex organs they are humping is stacks like 5 deep?
I fought the damn Japanese Beetles almost every year I had grape vines. They used to be a once in a while thing, but now with the mild winters I have been told more of the eggs that they lay in the soil will survive the winter so now with mild winters they are a constant.
Yes, malathion spray kills them. The problem I found is that it has little to no residual effect which means you only kill the bugs the spray hits.
Hormone traps do nothing but attract more bugs. Easily the WORST control option out there.
The ONLY thing that I found that works and has staying power is insecticide powders. I used SEVEN because it is cheap and readily available. Powder the whole plant and it’s good to go until the next heavy rain.
Bite the bullet and buy the best powder pump / duster you can find. You have to go online to get a serious one, the plastic crap they sell at Fleet won’t work for long.
Once you powder the whole tree, the bugs can’t avoid the powder as they move around. Within a week or so, I would see the ground covered with dead bugs.
Obviously, you need to read and follow directions as to harvest interval, etc.
I bought 7 spray im gonna try. It says it kills them.
I shook them off before I sprayed my trees last night. One got into my shirt and they bite hard. Looks like they are back and my spray didn’t work. I need to order something better and a spray that is still ok to eat the apples. I had a pest control company spray them last year but they said I cant eat any of the apples after it was sprayed. Their spray worked well. But not much of a point having apple trees if I can eat the apples.
traps work great actually – I’ve been using a bag trap for a few years and have much less this year than any other. Moles and gophers take care of the larva.
The beetles that end up in the trap are dumped into my pond and fed to my fish
I was in my back yard about an hour ago. About 50 beetles were cruising over the grass like dragon flies do. Checked the birch tree in my front yard and they are starting to move in on that. Will spray tomorrow with an older Ortho hose end jet sprayer that reaches 30+ feet. Can cover 80% of the tree from the ground.
I don’t think the dust would work for me. I have to get it up 30′ in the air on the oak and apple trees. The dust would fly all over and betting the dog walking through it on the lawn isn’t good. Any breeze would float it all over. Would need a ton of dust too.
The Cyper WSP says its got a 3 month residual effect so spraying the apples should be gone by harvest time. The deer get most of mine anyhow.
Don’t like the insecticides either but seeing the damage they did last year, and 5 times as thick this year, they had to go.
The problem with Sevin is that it kills bees, as well.
The damn things love my raspberries, but I need the pollinators, too.
Full disclosure, I have not tried this yet, but I will be shortly.
I’m just getting hammered by them again today. Every place I didn’t spray before they’re thick.
Clumps of them in the lawn all carrying what looks like eggs. A lot of clumps with 20 or 30 in each.
Makes them easy to spray.
Maybe I’ll kill off a lot of the egg layers!
I just noticed one of them on my Bean plants. So now I’m worried after reading all of the above reports.
I didnt see as many last night but there was alot of little pieces falling from way up in the birch trees. Guessing it was them.
A quick search shows that many pesticides are pretty much low strength nerve agents. Think about that the next time you get a whiff of what you are spraying or when your children or pets are in a self inflicted hot zone.
I also find it strange that that on an outdoors forum there is so little concern over the extreme danger to aquatic organisms so clearly stated on nearly every single bug control product.
Struggling to even cover the bottom of my trap cup over a week while so many are saying how thick they are tells me that traps work. It just takes time, like the mosquito deleto traps. Just don’t put either one right next to the bugs natural target.
Trapping has taken only one or two bumble bees per year and for one other poster been beneficial to fish. Can any sprayers say the same?
Two years ago was bad and I went out daily to capture them in boiling water/dish soap. Last year not so bad and I have yet to see any on the 45 parallel yet this summer. Maybe my daily vigilance is paying off?
They are still flying around my backyard just above the grass. I sprayed the birch tree today and they were coming off in bunches. They were flying around the outside of my house which is near the birch tree. One landed on the window screen and got a good pic of it. Little bugger!!
My neighbor said they get in her hair and sometimes bite. Maybe they like redheads. Keep an eye out Sharon!!
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Bottle of Sevin concentrate. Pressure washer. Put the intake hose in the sevin. Spray away. Bugs hit the ground before the water drops. Sevin rains down out of the trees and treats the ground too.
I get on the roof and spray the tops of my birch trees. The sound of the beetle shells hitting my driveway satisfies in so many ways.
Oh by the way. Other bugs die too.
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