This year the Japanese beetle situation in my backyard here in SE PA is
simply dire - I have just disposed of the nine's bag, which probably gets
the total close to 12-15 pounds of bugs so far, and they keep coming! The
usual amount is perhaps 3-4 bags a season, and usually I don't dispose of
them because they are overflowing like this year, only because they start
smelling awful. This year I've also sprayed heavily, so the amount of bugs
killed is staggering, yet they keep coming.

It just so happened that I put the first two traps up maybe a week in
advance of actually seeing the first bug. This got me thinking that
perhaps I have brought this on myself by attracting the first bugs by the
lure of the traps? And then the consequent waves of bugs are just
attracted by the previous ones? Has anyone seen use of Japanese beetle
traps to actually increase the amount of bugs?

I should add that I don't really have a place to put them 30 feet away
from the yard, like the description on the trap calls for, I have some
oak trees about 10 feet or so from the property line, and that's the
farthest I can put the traps. Regardless, the leaves are destroyed in
close proximity to the traps as well as some 30-40 ft away.

So, what's the word on usefulness of the traps in the gardening community?

--

On 7/13/2015 8:44 PM, passerby wrote:
This year the Japanese beetle situation in my backyard here in SE PA is
simply dire - I have just disposed of the nine's bag, which probably gets
the total close to 12-15 pounds of bugs so far, and they keep coming! The
usual amount is perhaps 3-4 bags a season, and usually I don't dispose of
them because they are overflowing like this year, only because they start
smelling awful. This year I've also sprayed heavily, so the amount of
bugs
killed is staggering, yet they keep coming.
It just so happened that I put the first two traps up maybe a week in
advance of actually seeing the first bug. This got me thinking that
perhaps I have brought this on myself by attracting the first bugs by the
lure of the traps?

I have a plum tree and hollyhocks, both of which are very attractive
to Japanese beetles, so for several years I used traps on my property.
I got so fed up with the beetle invasion (they very nearly killed the
tree), I just. . . gave up.

Since I quit using the traps, the number of beetles afflicting my plum
tree and hollyhocks is but a small fraction of what I had when the
traps were in place. Live and learn.

On Tue, 14 Jul 2015 12:10:24 -0500, Moe DeLoughan
wrote:

On 7/13/2015 8:44 PM, passerby wrote:
This year the Japanese beetle situation in my backyard here in SE PA is
simply dire - I have just disposed of the nine's bag, which probably gets
the total close to 12-15 pounds of bugs so far, and they keep coming! The
usual amount is perhaps 3-4 bags a season, and usually I don't dispose of
them because they are overflowing like this year, only because they start
smelling awful. This year I've also sprayed heavily, so the amount of
bugs
killed is staggering, yet they keep coming.
It just so happened that I put the first two traps up maybe a week in
advance of actually seeing the first bug. This got me thinking that
perhaps I have brought this on myself by attracting the first bugs by the
lure of the traps?

I have a plum tree and hollyhocks, both of which are very attractive
to Japanese beetles, so for several years I used traps on my property.
I got so fed up with the beetle invasion (they very nearly killed the
tree), I just. . . gave up.

Since I quit using the traps, the number of beetles afflicting my plum
tree and hollyhocks is but a small fraction of what I had when the
traps were in place. Live and learn.

The traps are made explicitly for luring Japanese beetles so they work
well if you have a large enough yard to place them more than 100' from
the plants you want to protect... they are of no value on the typical
suburban lot, but you'll be doing your neighbors a favor.

On 7/15/2015 8:07 AM, Brooklyn1 wrote:
On Tue, 14 Jul 2015 12:10:24 -0500, Moe DeLoughan
wrote:

On 7/13/2015 8:44 PM, passerby wrote:
This year the Japanese beetle situation in my backyard here in SE PA is
simply dire - I have just disposed of the nine's bag, which probably gets
the total close to 12-15 pounds of bugs so far, and they keep coming! The
usual amount is perhaps 3-4 bags a season, and usually I don't dispose of
them because they are overflowing like this year, only because they start
smelling awful. This year I've also sprayed heavily, so the amount of
bugs
killed is staggering, yet they keep coming.
It just so happened that I put the first two traps up maybe a week in
advance of actually seeing the first bug. This got me thinking that
perhaps I have brought this on myself by attracting the first bugs by the
lure of the traps?

I have a plum tree and hollyhocks, both of which are very attractive
to Japanese beetles, so for several years I used traps on my property.
I got so fed up with the beetle invasion (they very nearly killed the
tree), I just. . . gave up.

Since I quit using the traps, the number of beetles afflicting my plum
tree and hollyhocks is but a small fraction of what I had when the
traps were in place. Live and learn.

The traps are made explicitly for luring Japanese beetles so they work
well if you have a large enough yard to place them more than 100' from
the plants you want to protect... they are of no value on the typical
suburban lot, but you'll be doing your neighbors a favor.


No longer a problem with me. Maybe spread of milky spore disease got
them or natural predators.

I remember the days of a gypsy moth problem but that has also disappeared.

In the last couple of years, it was stink bugs but now I seldom see one.

In these three cases, I did not do anything but balance of nature must
have taken over.

passerby wrote:
....
So, what's the word on usefulness of the traps in the gardening community?

no experience with the traps, but even the beetles
themselves will attract other beetles.

last year i had a large infestation on some wild
grape vines. after hand picking them off each day
they'd still come back from the surrounding area.

i see they are now coming back again this year
but the numbers don't seem to be as many. i'll keep
picking them off the grape vines and as i see them
on the garden plants and some flowers (hollyhocks and
geraniums they seem to like too besides the grape
vine). in the gardens i mostly try to keep them
from eating all the bean plants.


songbird

replying to Frank , passerby wrote:
"frank " wrote:

No longer a problem with me. Maybe spread of milky spore disease got
them or natural predators.
I remember the days of a gypsy moth problem but that has also disappeared.
In the last couple of years, it was stink bugs but now I seldom see one.
In these three cases, I did not do anything but balance of nature must
have taken over.



Gee, man, where do you live? I may consider moving to that magical place
with no bugs!

--

replying to songbird , passerby wrote:
songbird wrote:
no experience with the traps, but even the beetles
themselves will attract other beetles.



I think you are exactly right, they do tend to, for lack of a better term,
snowball. I noticed that with the traps, too: as soon as a few of them
discover it, a whole wave seems to show up next.

Anyhow, I will be taking the traps down and will try to go trapless next
year. Thanks for your input!

--

passerby wrote:
replying to songbird , passerby wrote:
songbird wrote:
no experience with the traps, but even the beetles
themselves will attract other beetles.



I think you are exactly right, they do tend to, for lack of a better term,
snowball. I noticed that with the traps, too: as soon as a few of them
discover it, a whole wave seems to show up next.

Anyhow, I will be taking the traps down and will try to go trapless next
year. Thanks for your input!

fwiw, i went out today thinking the wild grapes were
being eaten by japanese beetles, but i found all of
two. so something else must be getting them this
year. last year i could pick off 50-100 japanese
beetles in about 15 minutes each morning for quite
some time and then come back later and get more
(but as the day gets warmer they are more active and
harder to capture). by the end of the summer i must
have picked over a thousand of 'em. we are surrounded
by farm fields so there is no way we'll ever be rid
of them, nobody is going to treat that large an area
and for my own preference that is ok as i think that
i'd much rather have other moth and butterfly larva
left alone.

i'll check again in the morning and see if there
are more or if today was just a fluke...


songbird

On 7/15/2015 10:44 PM, passerby wrote:
replying to Frank , passerby wrote:
"frank " wrote:

No longer a problem with me. Maybe spread of milky spore disease got
them or natural predators. I remember the days of a gypsy moth problem
but that has also disappeared. In the last couple of years, it was
stink bugs but now I seldom see one. In these three cases, I did not
do anything but balance of nature must have taken over.



Gee, man, where do you live? I may consider moving to that magical place
with no bugs!


I did not say, no bugs in Delaware.
What I said was that plague of these bugs diminished significantly.
My suspicion is that birds, bats and other insects found the plagues
tasty after a while.

Bugs are one thing but now it's weeds. Wish deer ate Japanese stilt grass.

On 7/15/2015 9:50 AM, songbird wrote:
passerby wrote:
...
So, what's the word on usefulness of the traps in the gardening community?

no experience with the traps, but even the beetles
themselves will attract other beetles.

last year i had a large infestation on some wild
grape vines. after hand picking them off each day
they'd still come back from the surrounding area.

i see they are now coming back again this year
but the numbers don't seem to be as many. i'll keep
picking them off the grape vines and as i see them
on the garden plants and some flowers (hollyhocks and
geraniums they seem to like too besides the grape
vine). in the gardens i mostly try to keep them
from eating all the bean plants.


songbird


Many years ago when traps came out I tried one near my grapes and
discovered the mistake to put the trap near the grapes.

Frank wrote:
....
Many years ago when traps came out I tried one near my grapes and
discovered the mistake to put the trap near the grapes.

as these are wild grape vines i'm not too worried about
what happens to them. they're growing on a fence that i'd
like to keep them off, but it's tough to get anything done
back there as the other side of the fence is a sloped large
drainage ditch.

once in a while Ma likes to use the grape vines for
making wreaths in the winter so i haven't whole heartedly
gone after eradication of them... yet...


songbird

On 7/13/2015 9:44 PM, passerby wrote:
This year the Japanese beetle situation in my backyard here in SE PA is
simply dire - I have just disposed of the nine's bag, which probably gets
the total close to 12-15 pounds of bugs so far, and they keep coming! The
usual amount is perhaps 3-4 bags a season, and usually I don't dispose of
them because they are overflowing like this year, only because they start
smelling awful. This year I've also sprayed heavily, so the amount of bugs
killed is staggering, yet they keep coming.
It just so happened that I put the first two traps up maybe a week in
advance of actually seeing the first bug. This got me thinking that
perhaps I have brought this on myself by attracting the first bugs by the
lure of the traps? And then the consequent waves of bugs are just
attracted by the previous ones? Has anyone seen use of Japanese beetle
traps to actually increase the amount of bugs?

I should add that I don't really have a place to put them 30 feet away
from the yard, like the description on the trap calls for, I have some
oak trees about 10 feet or so from the property line, and that's the
farthest I can put the traps. Regardless, the leaves are destroyed in
close proximity to the traps as well as some 30-40 ft away.

So, what's the word on usefulness of the traps in the gardening community?

I tried traps years ago, in Indiana. The results were amazing, as I
could see dozens of JB's in flight across surrounding yards. It was
like LaGuradia the day before a holiday! I later read that they are not
really effective, and DO attract beetles unless the neighboring yards
also use traps. But, then, how far out is "neighboring"?

On Sat, 18 Jul 2015 08:46:06 -0400, Norminn
wrote:

On 7/13/2015 9:44 PM, passerby wrote:
This year the Japanese beetle situation in my backyard here in SE PA is
simply dire - I have just disposed of the nine's bag, which probably gets
the total close to 12-15 pounds of bugs so far, and they keep coming! The
usual amount is perhaps 3-4 bags a season, and usually I don't dispose of
them because they are overflowing like this year, only because they start
smelling awful. This year I've also sprayed heavily, so the amount of bugs
killed is staggering, yet they keep coming.
It just so happened that I put the first two traps up maybe a week in
advance of actually seeing the first bug. This got me thinking that
perhaps I have brought this on myself by attracting the first bugs by the
lure of the traps? And then the consequent waves of bugs are just
attracted by the previous ones? Has anyone seen use of Japanese beetle
traps to actually increase the amount of bugs?

I should add that I don't really have a place to put them 30 feet away
from the yard, like the description on the trap calls for, I have some
oak trees about 10 feet or so from the property line, and that's the
farthest I can put the traps. Regardless, the leaves are destroyed in
close proximity to the traps as well as some 30-40 ft away.

So, what's the word on usefulness of the traps in the gardening community?

I tried traps years ago, in Indiana. The results were amazing, as I
could see dozens of JB's in flight across surrounding yards. It was
like LaGuradia the day before a holiday! I later read that they are not
really effective, and DO attract beetles unless the neighboring yards
also use traps. But, then, how far out is "neighboring"?

No matter where one places traps one will be sacrificing some plants
in an attempt to save others. Japanese beetles are fairly selective
in which plants they eat, so it's most effective to spray those
trees/shrubs where beetles are active. Five years ago there was a
heavy infestation of Japanese beetles here, lots of people set out
traps including me. I live on several acres but regardless where I
set the traps the beetles found certain trees and shrubs, they loved
my lindens, fruit trees, and roses. Finally I mixed up a batch of
sevin for my hand sprayer, the beetles departed or died but within an
hour all were gone. If one follows the directions sevin is safe. All
my neighbors agreed, the traps increased the infestation while
relatively few beetles died in traps.