Natural way to deal with Japanese Beetles?

[thedrunkenchef]

Hey all.
I got jap beetles eating my hops. I don't want to use any chemical insecticide mumbo jumbo, as I want to keep my pollinators/good bugs happy and not dead. If anyone would be so kind as to share some tips or natural solutions, it would be much appreciated.

 

[Wingnutt73]

My SWMBO said crushed up egg shells work. Something she found on pintrest. Not sure if it works or not but we are saving them for the hops and grapes this year.

 

[thedrunkenchef]

How do you apply it? Sprinkle it around the plant or what?

 

[Wingnutt73]

on the Leaves. She was saying you need one of those stone bowls with the little crusher in it's called a mortar and pestal and yeah just sprinkle it on the plant itself. I'll ask her maybe she can send me the link.

 

[MaxStout]

Nematodes will eat the larvae of the beetles, but I don't think they will help with the adult beetles. There are some types of wasps that will eat the adults, but no idea how you introduce them into your hop garden area.

There is a good tech paper from the USDA. The article stated that it is difficult to control them once they are established. It did give some tips on how to prevent them from coming back next year.

Edit: I have heard that diatomaceous earth kills the adult beetles. The abrasive powder gets under the beetles' shells and tears up the flesh. I think that's what the crushed egg shells do, as well. Boric acid might be another safe alternative.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Warning, the diatomaceous earth would probably kill any bug that it comes into contact with, good or bad.

What some do is plant a rose bush at the beginning of the row. Its preferred by the Japanese beetles so when you see them gather there, hit the rose with pesticide and spare your hops.

What worked at my first property was skunks. They grub up my entire lawn and ate the beetles when they were in their larval stage. Supposedly moles and similar critters would work as well but when you are done with the beetles, you have to deal with the skunks.

Look up milky spore powder. It gives them milky spore disease. Supposedly natural but you have to treat a large area to get rid of all the beetles.

At our second place, my wife used an ice cream pail 1/2 filled with soapy water and a little shovel to flick them in. It took a whole summer but between the milky spore and soapy water, she got rid of them all...until the next summer when the larva in the neighbors lawn that didn't do a dang thing hatched and invaded. Eventually, the roses and cherry tree were dug up and only Japanese beetle resistant plants were put in.

In other words, your screwed. Don't do the traps, they just draw more in.

 

[B-Hoppy]

I'd first try to determine exactly what it is that's causing the problem as I don't think it's Jap beetles. They're at the end of their larval cycle and usually don't emerge until around the 4th of July (at least here in Ohio). It's pretty important to understand your enemy before you plan any course of action.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2504.html

 

[Slenderman]

Totally not OP here, cuz op got banned, but OP wanted yall to know that the majority of damage was done by aphids, so he got neep oil (?) to kill the aphids. cheers guys.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Banned? For talking about Japanese Beetles? They are a nasty subject but I didn't know it was ban worthy.