I've been having the same problem with my pole beans too. But everytime I go out I see just one, I grab it and dispose of it. I always look for more but can't find any. I haven't seen any in two days, so I guess the rest of them got the hint. Last year I lost 3/4 of my basil plants to them, for some reason they loved that basil and wiped them out in a day. When I bought one of the beetle traps I smell the lure and it smelled just like basil.

Good Luck
Diane

Farmerboy- Where are you in Wisconsin. I've yet to notice them. I have problems with Rose Chafers, but that only lasted about 2 weeks. I have yet to see JB's here? I'm near la Crosse.

I also am in Wisconsin and have not seen them here yet (this year). I am in Dodge county.

Farmerboybill,

You can squish the beetles, but a lot of people keep a small bucket of soapy water on hand and knock them off the leaves into the bucket where they die quickly. It's a little more efficient than trying to catch each one.

Milky Spore is basically a grub treatment and the idea is it will kill the grubs in the soil before they emerge. The problem with this approach is it will only control those that are in your soil, it won't do anything about those not on your property. The JB can fly for miles to get to food, so you can certainly try it, but I wouldn't place a lot of hope.

The good news about controlling the beetles early is that once they find food they emit a chemical signature that attracts more so hopefully you can keep their numbers low if you prevent them from pigging out in your yard.

if'n ya ain't against it. Sevin will kill 'em beetles.
there are about 300 or so plants on their menu, and they don't stray too far from where they are hatched, they'll eat, lay eggs, die, the next year the new hatchlings will eat the same things as their parents.

if there were enough eats, to have sex and lay eggs, there must be good eats around, in theory, so they stay.

so if you don't manage them year to year, you'll see them on more and more plants around the yard and think to yourself, this plant wasn't bothered last year.

now if we could only genetically modify JB to only eat wild sumac, I'd be in great shape....

Haven't seen too may here in central MD, this year but I sprayed them buggers good last year.

good luck

I counted 'em this time. 50 in one trip out! I catch 'em all in one hand and grab 'em and squish 'em with the other. A lot lower escape rate this way. Maybe 10 escaped. By the way, this war is being fought in two 16 foot rows with the beans having grown to over 7 feet.

Hi Diane,

Do the traps work for you? Every source I've found says the dirty pups come in droves from miles around to the lure and then stay for lunch.

Hi Justaguy and franktank,

I'm in Lodi, 20 minutes north of Madison. If you miss 'em I can box up a few live ones and ship 'em over!

Hi Ristau,

Sumac, Canada thistle, Multiflora rose, and Dandelions. If we can get them to eat only those, we'll be Billionaires! I'm not too hot on Sevin because they're on my pole beans which are podding right now.

Final kill total today is 96. This makes a total over 2 days of 150. What level of infestation would you guys call this in 2 16 foot rows of pole beans?

What's much, much worse is I looked closely at the potatoes and found 5 Colorado potato beetles. Looks like my blessed little garden is no longer pest free.

That is a pretty heavy infestation of JB. I have a relative in Madison who had the JB that bad and I just couldn't believe it when I saw it. He took garden walks with a bucket of soapy water multiple times per day and got a bunch each time.

He said his area was bad because there were a few golf courses in the area that didn't treat the greens so it was a major site for them to emerge from the ground.

When the JBs get bad enough, you will use multi methods of dealing with them. Hey!, they are already out there in the corn and soybean fields around me and I kill them however I can.....well placed traps, squishing, Sevin, Milky Spore, and trap crops like wild grape vines and plum leaves.

If those buggers weren't enough, now the corn root worm beetles are moving in apparently from the corn fields around me.

>Final kill total today is 96. This makes a total over 2 days of 150. What level of >infestation would you guys call this in 2 16 foot rows of pole beans?

I would call that moderate, it will get much worse. I grew a four foot long A-frame trellis of pole beans and an 8 foot row of raspberries, and could half fill a peanut butter jar in one trip if I didn't stay after them for a weekend.

Keep picking, it helps reduce the swarming.

On 1/2 an acre, I think Milky Spore would help a lot. The beetles can fly in, but if you reduce the number emerging from your yard, it will help.

Alex

I have some too, but they are a lot less than last year. Since I treated my lawn with grub poisons the numbers have gone down. For instance, my pole beans look fine, and it is into July, which makes an imipression on me. They have nibbled on my weeping cherry tree somewhat, but last year ate every leaf practically. Unless greater numbers are yet to arrive, I think I have a low population of JB this year, and I credit the grub poison (although it killed me to use something like that). They completely devoured my front lawn last year, so I had a bad infestation. I cannot currently find any active grubs at my grass root zone, so I am happy thus far. I did witness two JBs this afternoon burrowing into the soil of one of my raised beds. I had freshly planted it up for some Fall crops and it was all loose and moist. They dug straight down in there. Creepy.

I'm curious to know what type of beans you're growing. Over the years I've grown a few different kinds and the JB have never bothered them. OTOH...my neighbor grows Roma pole beans every year and the JB's love em!

The numbers are down this year as they were last year. 3 yrs ago was awful!!