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WatereeBrew · 06-18-2009, 02:54 AM

i've got a japanese or oriental beetle problem in my hop yard, i've got 30 plants over 120 ft. i've got three beetle traps evenly spaced, and i dont want to use any pesticides since my of my plants are putting on cones... any ideas?
how about planting something nearby that repels or attracts them?

**BierMuncher** · 06-18-2009, 02:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WatereeBrew

i've got a japanese or oriental beatle problem in my hop yard, i've got 30 plants over 120 ft. i've got three beatle traps evenly spaced, and i dont want to use any pesticides since my of my plants are putting on cones... any ideas?
how about planting something nearby that repels or attracts them?

Move your traps further (farther..whatever) away. Like to your neighbors yard.

RevRon · 06-18-2009, 02:58 AM

You should be alright if you use a simple insecticidal soap. It can be used up to the day of harvest on almost anything in the garden.

**GVH_Dan** · 06-18-2009, 12:14 PM

The only way my wife found to get rid of them without using heavy pesticides was a spray bottle filled with a little detergent. Spray them and they fell, but then she had to drown them or they would just recover and fly off.

Definitely move the traps. They may kill 80% of what comes near them, but they attract many, many more. I like the idea of moving them to the neighbors.

OMJ · 06-18-2009, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BierMuncher

Move your traps further (farther..whatever) away. Like to your neighbors yard.

agreed japanese beetle traps actually attract the beetles. The traps work best when it is one of your neighbors using them or if you have a far end of the yard you can put the trap in.

bsay · 06-18-2009, 07:03 PM

Don't those beetles eat aphids which destroy your hops? Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I read somewhere....

Edit:
Just did a bit of research. In my area of the states, people commonly confuse what we have here with the Japanese beetle. What we have here is an Asian lady bird beetle (lady bug). Guess it all depends on which part of the states you're in. Having real Japanese beetles can be a nightmare.

Quote:

Wikipedia says:

During the larval stage, the Japanese beetle lives in lawns and other grasslands, where it eats the roots of grass. During that stage, it is susceptible to a fatal disease called milky spore disease, caused by a bacterium called milky spore, Paenibacillus (formerly Bacillus) popilliae. The USDA developed this biological control and it is commercially available in powder form for application to lawn areas. Standard applications (low density across a broad area) take from one to five years to establish maximal protection against larval survival (depending on climate), expanding through the soil through repeated rounds of infection, in-vers can be used to exclude the beetles, however this may necessitate hand pollination of flowers. Kaolin sprays can also be used as barriers.

Research performed by many US extension service branches has shown that pheromone traps may attract more beetles than they catch, and so they have fallen out of favor.[2] Natural repellents include catnip, chives, garlic, and tansy[3], as well as the remains of dead beetles. Additionally, when present in small numbers, the beetles may be manually controlled using a soap-water spray mixture.

Mad_Milo · 06-18-2009, 07:41 PM

Lady bugs eat aphids. Japanese beetles eat the leaf material between the veins.

+1 on moving/removing the traps. They attract more than they kill.

Simply knock them off the plants with a strong jet of water, and dispose of them accordingly. Most insects can only be killed with spray insecticides when they are larval or pupal - i.e. soft bodied.

Poindexter · 06-18-2009, 07:42 PM

Two other "organic" things you can try.

Next year put in a bunch, I mean saturate the area with nasturtiums (sp). Japanese beetles hate them, they work very well when planted near rose bushes.

Second, while SWMBO is away take the blender pitcher out to the garden and fill it about 1/3 with live beetles picked off the plants. Take it into the house, fill the thing to about 1/2with water. Put it on the blender stand.

Rev it a couple times to stimulate hormone secretion among the trapped. Then set it on frappe and let it rip for a while. Transfer pureed bugs to spray bottle. Clean pitcher before SWMBO gets home. Spray affected plants with puree of scared bug.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropaeolum

**GVH_Dan** · 06-19-2009, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poindexter

Rev it a couple times to stimulate hormone secretion among the trapped. Then set it on frappe and let it rip for a while. Transfer pureed bugs to spray bottle. Clean pitcher before SWMBO gets home. Spray affected plants with puree of scared bug.

Seriously? Have you tried this? Of course even if you are pulling our legs, I'm going to try it.

BADS197 · 06-19-2009, 08:48 PM

I used to live on the east coast and I"ve seen two Japanese Beetle swarms in my life and they were huge and absolutely tons of them all over the place. Surprised any plant life survived the attack that lasted a few weeks.