My friend's Japanese Beetle trap

[Adios Pantalones]

Friend in IL sent a pic of one of several J.B. traps- she places these pheromone traps in neighbor's yards away from hers, cuts the bottom off the bag, and puts it over a barrel of soapy water. This is a couple hours' worth. They had already done a huge amount of damage and this was just for revenge

 

[bogydave]

I like "Revenge" as a motivating factor.
Almost as thick as the mosquitoes here

 

[Adios Pantalones]

She empties the traps every couple of hours. Some serious compost to be had, I suppose!

 

[ScotO]

unreal. I hate those damm beetles......

 

[firebroad]

NAW! Unbelievable

 

[Adios Pantalones]

This trap was from a couple years ago- she tilled the beetles directly into the garden soil and later it had flecks of shiny colorful beetle bodies in it for quite a while. Now she feeds all the beetles to her chickens (like 80 of them)- not sure how many days they could keep up, but I'm sure this was at peak flow.

She estimated 8-10" deep with beetles on top. If she didn't empty around then, the later beetles would walk on top of their pals and not drown.

 

[firebroad]

Jeez, and I thought I had stinkbug problems....

 

[lukem]

Holy crap!

 

[fossil]

I've never seen a more dramatic & convincing endorsement of the efficacy of a product. Those traps work! !! Now, whether or not they put a dent in the beetle population is another question...looks to me like you'd need a bunch of those setups for any sized property. Pretty amazing, in any case...don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. Rick

 

[Gary_602z]

We have not had as many the past 2 years. Wonder if it is not Mother Nature taking care of herself?

Gary

 

[Adios Pantalones]

She said that now she just cuts out the bottom and hangs them low- the chickens eat the suckers on tap

 

[Jags]

Yuck!

The traps appear to work impressively well.

 

[Delta-T]

kinda looks like a 50 gal drum of black beans....we gonna need a ton of enchiladas to go with that.

 

[firefighterjake]

kinda looks like a 50 gal drum of black beans....we gonna need a ton of enchiladas to go with that.

I was thinking a big ol' bucket of wild blueberries.

 

[firebroad]

Delta-T said: ↑

kinda looks like a 50 gal drum of black beans....we gonna need a ton of enchiladas to go with that.​

--I was thinking a big ol' bucket of wild blueberries.

I thought it looked like poo, but I didn't want to say it.

 

[begreen]

Whoa, that is a biblical infestation! Here are some more tips for dealing with Japanese Beetles. http://www.ghorganics.com/JapaneseBeetle.html

You also might want to start reading up on locusts. lol.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

At home I have tried planting 4 o'clocks, and using Milky Spore. Milky Spore seems to put a dent in them, and I see no evidence of them in my lawn any more. They are supposed to eat 4 o'clocks and it will kill them, but I didn't plant so many. The flowers were cool, however, and they produced a serious tuber-like root

 

[mywaynow]

I think these are cyclical. We were swimming in them 5 years ago. Traps all over the place, and all full. They stink after a few days! That barrel must have smelled wonderful. The last few years there are hardly any around. Devastating on plum trees.

 

[fossil]

...They stink after a few days! That barrel must have smelled wonderful...

I was living in San Diego in the first house I ever owned, ~1980, trying hard to make our backyard attractive. That year we were beset by a plague of snails the likes of which I'd never seen before, nor have I seen since. I tried all the baits & poisons...marginally effective. I could go out there and the hillside was literally just crawling with a zillion snails sliming their way down to munch on all my newly planted stuff. I swore I could hear them. I took ~15 gallon steel drum I had & partially filled it with water, and thought I was saving my backyard by picking these snails up 3 or 4 at a time and tossing them into that barrel to drown (which they did...hundreds of them). Eventually that barrel stank so badly I couldn't get near it without gagging. I finally dragged it out to the curb, poured out a bunch of the water, and left the barrel there on garbage pickup day with a note on it saying to take the whole thing. Bless their hearts, they did. Rick

 

[begreen]

Sounds like a missed opportunity for a French restaurant supply.

 

[mywaynow]

A bowl of beer attacts snails/slugs. They drown in it too. Borderline alcohol abuse. Look for the Iron Shipyard brand for this task! Cheapest I have seen.

 

[Delta-T]

plague of snails.....not something I would have ever expected to have to imagine. Like the slow, lumbering zombie horde, there is no escape....from THE SNAILS!. (working on screenplay now, need to get Ray Harryhausen to do stop motion).

 

[Jags]

...and the hero: Mr. Salt.

 

[Delta-T]

...and the hero: Mr. Salt.

....he has very thick french accent.

 

[Eatonpcat]

A bowl of beer attacts snails/slugs. They drown in it too. Borderline alcohol abuse. Look for the Iron Shipyard brand for this task! Cheapest I have seen.

Hmmm..I put a bowl of beer in my yard last night, No Beetles, but when I left for work this morning the bowl was empty and Mad Dog, Defiant and Smoke Show were passed out in the yard!