# My friend's Japanese Beetle trap



## Adios Pantalones (Jun 12, 2012)

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


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## bogydave (Jun 12, 2012)

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


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## Adios Pantalones (Jun 12, 2012)

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


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## ScotO (Jun 12, 2012)

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


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## firebroad (Jun 12, 2012)

NAW!  Unbelievable


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## Adios Pantalones (Jun 12, 2012)

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.


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## firebroad (Jun 12, 2012)

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


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## lukem (Jun 12, 2012)

Holy crap!


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## fossil (Jun 12, 2012)

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


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## Gary_602z (Jun 12, 2012)

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

Gary


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## Adios Pantalones (Jun 13, 2012)

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


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## Jags (Jun 13, 2012)

Yuck!

The traps appear to work impressively well.


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## Delta-T (Jun 13, 2012)

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


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## firefighterjake (Jun 13, 2012)

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.


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## firebroad (Jun 13, 2012)

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.


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## begreen (Jun 13, 2012)

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.


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## Adios Pantalones (Jun 13, 2012)

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


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## mywaynow (Jun 13, 2012)

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.


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## fossil (Jun 13, 2012)

mywaynow said:


> ...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


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## begreen (Jun 13, 2012)

Sounds like a missed opportunity for a French restaurant supply.


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## mywaynow (Jun 14, 2012)

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.


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## Delta-T (Jun 14, 2012)

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).


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## Jags (Jun 14, 2012)

...and the hero:  Mr. Salt.


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## Delta-T (Jun 14, 2012)

Jags said:


> ...and the hero: Mr. Salt.


....he has very thick french accent.


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## Eatonpcat (Jun 15, 2012)

mywaynow said:


> 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!


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## velvetfoot (Aug 9, 2012)

I have been thinking about trying traps, maybe next year.  My wife has been picking off the bugs from her plants with success - preserved her roses, etc. I like the idea of something reusable, rather than throwing out the bags, but it looks so messy, it might be worthwhile to just throw away the bag - again I don't think we have near as bad a problem as in pic. However,  I've read that they might attract more bugs than they kill; not sure if that is totally true though, and we can put them a good distance away from her plants.

Waddya think?  They attract the buggers, but are they effective?


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## coverdome (Aug 9, 2012)

See if you can get a neighbor a block or so away to put some in.  A potent sex lure will draw bugs from miles around.  Likely whats happening in the OP's picture.


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## billb3 (Aug 10, 2012)

I've re-used the Rescue brand traps for the last couple years putting the pheromone attractors together in a zip loc bag out of season.
Dunno why yet, but I only catch beetles ( and mostly the brown ones) with the Rescue brand traps. Have had no luck with the Spectracide ones. 
Tried a Rescue attractor on a Spectracide bag but we didn't have many beetles this year.
Grape leaves usually look like lace. Not this year.


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 10, 2012)

If you put it in your own yard you're asking for more beetles than you'll kill


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## ColdNH (Aug 10, 2012)

Yah, i hear those traps just keep pulling the beetles from your neighbors yards into your yard. I had a small problem with them on my grape vines, i tried the trap, but it didn't seem to have results like that, the beetles were more interested in humping on my grape vines. What i did do instead which worked better was just sprayed them with some sevin, no more beetle  problem..


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## firebroad (Aug 10, 2012)

Japanese beetles are one of those species that responds well to bug juice.  You collect a bunch of them is a bucket with water, whirl it up in an old blender and strain.  Spray with it.  I can't say that I have tried it, but others tell me it works.  When I catch 'em copulating on the bean vines, I squish 'em and leave their rotting carcasses as an example to the other beetles.  Can't say that they have disappeared, but I have noticed less of them.


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## certified106 (Aug 10, 2012)

Wow, I have never seen anything quite like that!


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## billb3 (Aug 10, 2012)

I have fairly predominate SW winds.
I've sat and watched the traps, the beetles all fly in from the NE which is where my grapes and  raspberries are  which would be full of  beetles otherwise.

The traps attract enough from my gardens to be worth my time or I wouldn't bother.


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## Defiant (Aug 10, 2012)

Eatonpcat said:


> 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!


Mad Dog and I split the beer, I think smoke ate the slugs


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