Farming and fruit growing HELP: Jap Beetles

[pmajka]

Farming and fruit growing HELP: Jap Beetles in Eastern Pa.

WE have an infestation in my Town.

I have 5 grape vines, 2 apple trees, 1 apricot tree.

THis is year 3...
year 1, apricot and grapes wiped out
year 2, sprayed bi-weekly, until i missed one and BOOM, grapes and apricot wiped out.

This year, I used grubex on the lawn (and under the grapes), and have sprayed (twice) with Seven (liquid one that hooks up to hose). Well the japanese beetle is back again. I am guessing they had 3 days of feeding.

Mind you, i dont know where the japanese beetle hides, thrives and grows, and my neighbors only weed N feed their lawns.

What to do?

Oh, and every time i spray, it rains the next day.

[fastpat]

I'm having some issues with the beetles as well, I'm using Sevin 5% dust on them, very effective at killing them, but must be applied dry, and needs 48 dry hours to work well.

For the long term, which you probably should have done in your first year, is spray milkey spore bacterium which is a Japanese beetle specific biological control. It not only lasts for years, it actually spreads with time. I'll spray all of my open ground, and maybe 100 ft. or so on the neighboring pasture to get them a ways out. Over the next three years the beetles should virtually disappear.

There are chemical controls that are faster acting, but they require a licensed applicator do the spraying, and that's not cheap.
See also: http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/housing/japanese-beetle/jbeetle.html

[pmajka]

Thanks pat...Is there a way to apply the Dust over a larger area...
say 150sq/ft??? Oh and in the Trees????

[john70t]

There are also the yellow catch bags with the hormonal-attract patch that works well. The last two years have averaged about 6 full bags (2+ gallons) as well as morning and dusk trips(when they can't fly) with a soap-water pail to shake them into(another half gallon).
This was from only two 6 ft. flowering bushs(one of which is half dead). I've heard they breed in the soil underneath.

Haven't seen a single one this year thankfully..

[fastpat]

Originally posted by pmajka
Thanks pat...Is there a way to apply the Dust over a larger area...
say 150sq/ft??? Oh and in the Trees????

You can spread the dust with a broadcast spreader, and I think there is a water soluble version of sevin that is useable via a sprayer. I'm thinking of buying a 25 gallon sprayer that will strap on the rear rack on my ATV and is electrically powered off the 12v aux. socket. I've got tent catapillars that I'll be spraying with another biologic control.

Ain't that biological warfare grand?

[cool_chick]

I used to have those bastards at my former house. Got my trees. Sevin works fantastically. There is a liquid form, I would use that and stick it in a bottle I bought that hooks up to a hose.

Get them immediately, like right now. They can destroy the foliage within a week. It can kill the trees since they need their leaves for photosynthes (sp).

[fastpat]

Originally posted by cool_chick
I used to have those bastards at my former house. Got my trees. Sevin works fantastically. There is a liquid form, I would use that and stick it in a bottle I bought that hooks up to a hose.

Get them immediately, like right now. They can destroy the foliage within a week. It can kill the trees since they need their leaves for photosynthes (sp).

They sure can eat fast, I inspect my fruit trees daily, and they still ravaged one of the cherry trees pretty badly. I got them in time I think, but I now check in the morning and again in the afternoon. I think the buggers are still hatching (actually emerging from the domant pupae stage into adult form).

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by fastpat
They sure can eat fast, I inspect my fruit trees daily, and they still ravaged one of the cherry trees pretty badly. I got them in time I think, but I now check in the morning and again in the afternoon. I think the buggers are still hatching (actually emerging from the domant pupae stage into adult form).

God, I hate those things.......

They did destroy my trees the first year...I barely saved them. I had to give them extra food with sticks....but they made it....

I always checked my Sevin supply in May, so I was ready to get out there right away.....

[john70t]

quote: "Ain't that biological warfare grand?"
-your well water pickup obviously isn't a hundred feet downstream from the trees.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by john70t
quote: "Ain't that biological warfare grand?"
-your well water pickup obviously isn't a hundred feet downstream from the trees.

I'm not on a well, but I don't use chemicals at all unless I have to, the Sevin dust for example is very low impact.

When I use the term biological warfare, I mean the milky spore bacterium, the Bacillus thuringiensis , and of course could mean predatory wasps as well.

[cool_chick]

I should've read the thread a little closer.....

Yes, they come from the neighborhood. Nothing you can really do.

Just be diligent. You will always have some damage, but they will die out within 3-4or so weeks (IIRC).

I just hate when they fly into your forehead. Those bugs are sooooo stupid too.