http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NCPOI 26 June 2012 Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica)
The Japanese Beetle skeletonizes the leaves of my grape vines. I have also seen a few on the potato plants. They appear every year, certainly over the last three years.My local control is to flip them off the vines into a pail of water, shake the vines on a windy day and they disappear.They are poor flyers. I also powder with diatomaceous earth. The damage is acceptable if they are not left to feed. They can skeltonize the grape leaves in an afternoon, since they are often in large numbers. Fifty to one hundred is not uncommon.
Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica)
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Ellendra
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Re: Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica)
If you have chickens or other poultry, one trick is to get one of those yellow pheremone traps, but rig it so that instead of just flying into the bag, they fall through the bag and into a dish of water where the birds can reach them. The water slows them down enough to make it easier for the birds to catch them. I have an online friend who does this and says that during the worst "beetle months" he has practically no feed bills for his birds, because they get so full on beetles.
Another trick (if you don't have poultry) is to plant 4 O'clock flowers all over. The JB's love the taste so much that they literally eat themselves to death. Don't use this if you have poultry, because the plants are poisonous, and you don't want your birds eating poisoned beetles.
Another trick (if you don't have poultry) is to plant 4 O'clock flowers all over. The JB's love the taste so much that they literally eat themselves to death. Don't use this if you have poultry, because the plants are poisonous, and you don't want your birds eating poisoned beetles.
Re: Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica)
Wow! That is wonderful information. I don't have four O'clocks this year, but they grow huge here. Thank you so much.I have used the traps and caught several hundred, but this never even slowed the Japanese Beetles down. I don't have chickens, but am getting tempted to get some. Vegetable gardening is not about the vegetables, but defeating the bugs.