Beetle swarm

[Ranger J]

The last few days my garden and shrubs have been subject to a swarm of small greenish beetles.  These are not the larger green beetles that we call June bugs around here.  They do however, share a taste for almost any plant leaf.  They are about 1/2 inch or so long but I am not able to find a picture of them on the web so I might get an idea as how to control them.  I have sprayed my plants with a liquid 7 mixture but has not done much yet.  Help!

RJ

[Ranger J]

The good news is that I finally ID the little buggers, they are Japanese beetles.  The bad news is that short of firebombing the area there doesn't seem to much you can do in the short run to discourage them.  Any ideas before they eat everything including the handles out of my garden equipment?

RJ

[Graybeard]

Sevin dust on the plants they are eating will kill them. The real problem with them is they are EVERYWHERE and no matter how many you kill on your land they will be quickly replaced by those from other lands. They are a scourge on the land with no apparent solution to stop or even slow them down.

There are traps for them and you'll catch loads of them in the traps but honestly I think you'll have more not less after using the traps as they have a pheremone that attracts them from very long distances and not all that are attracted will be captured.

They are hell on rose bushes and plum trees around here and have pretty much killed all our rose bushes and caused our plum trees to become diseased by eating the leaves to the point the trees are unhealthy. It seems every year they attack something new.

They have a taste for blueberries as well but only start on them if one is cracked busted open. Too much rain when berries are ripe will bust some open and once they start on a bunch of berries with one cracked they don't stop until they eat all in that cluster.

You can pick or knock them off into soapy water and they will die but that's a laborious task at best. I wish I had a solution to your problem as I could then apply it here but sadly I'm not aware of a good way to deal with them.

There is a powder sold to make a water solution of and spray it on your lawn. It has some kinda bacteria that eats any and all ground based beetle larve stages to include Jap beetles, June bugs and brown beetles. I'm not aware of any good use for any of them but the stuff is expensive and only works on the land you treat and not on your neighbor's land so at best it's helpful in cities on lawns and most only if all neighbors nearby do the same.

[blind ear]

You might try to hang a black light or bug light over a shallow pan of diesel or oil and have a fan blowing down toward the oil. Close to and faceing the garden as close to ground level as safe. It will get a lot of them but I don't know if it will be enough to help the garden. eddie

[charles p]

The make traps to catch them.  The traps use a fermone smell that brings them to the trap.  You can catch hundreds in a day but you will probably draw another hundred to your yard.

Best to use the spore that kills the grubs.  You need for all your neighbors to do it as well.  Your county aggricultural agent should be a good source of info.

[steg]

You could try steeping cigarette butts, anyting tobacco, and straining it and use the results as a spray, not on anything of the nightshade family though, tobacco mosaic, bugs can't stand the nicotene....steg

[Bob Riebe]

I had them  here, bad enough that even with no active controls, dead ones were piling up in the corner of the patio (I do not know from what) so I put spread ground based insecticide powder on the lawn and now they are few and far between. (I  checked the lawn and ground by digging  here and there and found enough grubs, that I waited no longer)

[steg]

This is one time that the Starlings help out, they eat those grubs, whenever you see a flock of them on your lawn, that's what they are doing, their still a pita though LOL.............steg

[charles p]

I bought a can of Seven yesterday and right the label is a picture of Japanese Bettles.  Says it will control them.

[blind ear]

Keep the 7 away from the blooms or it will kill your bees and other polinators. Squash eggplant mellons qcumbers, big flowers are easy to contaminate.

[hillbill]

i had them on my new apple tree, i sprayed it with the only thing i had which was sevin garden spray. checked it to day and there were a bunch of dead beetles laying under it and none eating it.

[Ranger J]

I sprayed my roses with 7 and yes there are a bunch of dead ones under the bushes but it seems for every one that dies there are two that take its place.  The swarm seems to ge kind of a general thing around here now as you can go through places and your window on the car takes a real beating from them.  This seems to be a good, or rather a bad year for them in our area.  They really seem to like wild grapes and Virginia Creeper as these are completely stripped.  Too bad they don't like Poison Ivy.

RJ

[Cornbelt]

Some years are worse than others, but if you have chickens,  beetle traps will catch enough to feed your chickens for a long time if you freeze them.
  If you just want them to leave, you might try putting up some lure traps well away from what you're trying to protect.