In my experience, spraying Sevin on JBs will drop them in a couple minutes.

I've had success sprinkling diatomaceous earth on my raspberries, but this is probably not practical in your situation.

I tried a blend of garlic and hot pepper sprayed on plants, and it didn't seem to help one bit.

How big is your yard? Do you know about Milky Spore? It won't help you this year, but can be a good long term solution.

Alex

I think Sevin drops them in about 30 minutes...so check the ground after awhile.

I have had very good luck with Surround - it annoys them and they go elsewhere. But I have never had a major invasion, only 500 bugs per acre kind of thing. I have also had very good luck with Surround on the cucumber beetles on my melon plants - no damage at all so far compared to last year when everything was destroyed.

One spray to try is Surround plus Sevin - knock em down and then annoy the remaining ones. I have found mixed sprays of Surround plus something else to be very effective. I wiped out my persimmon psylla with a recent spray of soap plus Surround - much less toxic than malathion and it did a better job to boot. I am using Surround plus spinosad to control moths and am getting great results up to now.

Scott

Crabjoe:

1. Look at the label on your container of Sevin. The standard strength is 23.4% carbaryl, which is the active ingredient. The accuracy with which you measure your mix is important. The insert will give amounts in teaspoons, but I prefer to use fluid ounces, measured in a small graduated Pyrex pitcher. For effective use against Japanese beetles, I would use a minimum of 1 1/2 fluid ounces and a maximum of 2 fluid ounces per gallon of water. I doubt that your Sevin has suffered from freezing, but you may need to check your mixing and application methods.

2. Sevin is a contact insecticide, and does not have to be ingested by the beetles to be effective. When I spray JB's with Sevin (or other Carbaryl insecticides) they start to fall within 30 seconds or sooner. The residual chemical should be effective for at least 3 days. But it must be properly mixed in sufficient strength to be effective.

3. If you plan to put down milky spore on your acre, do not delay until fall. Get up online right now, find Yardiac.com, and order in two 40 oz. cans of pure milky spore, together with the tube applicator, to cover your acre. In round numbers, cost will be about $150. This amount of product will result in a lower rate than the recommended 40 oz. per 10,000 sq. ft., but it will still be fully effective. You will have to decrease your application rate and increase the grid size from the recommmended 4x4 to around 6x6, and drop 1/2 tsp. or less with each bump rather than a full teaspoon. If your neighbors will allow it, applying to even part of their property bordering yours will help. The ideal situation, of course, would be to talk them into applying MS as well.

4. You have grubs in your soil right now, and the milky spore will go to work immediately. The sooner you get it on, the sooner it will begin to spread and infect larvae. I applied mine last season (2006) at about this time, and so far have seen three Japanese beetles on my acre. Two of them were together, engaged in you-know-what, and the other was a singleton, looking for a mate.

5. I am establishing a registration requirement and assigning serial numbers to each Japanese beetle I find this season. So far we have 1, 2, and 3 as of June 25. That's a pretty favorable situation for my orchard and garden, and the credit goes to the milky spore.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Ok... I changed my Sevin mix from 2oz/gal to 3oz/gal and it worked!!

I sprayed them boogers and watched to see if anything happened and within a minute, I say some get disoriented. Then within the nex 5 mins, they started to drop. Wahoooo!!!

I now know to mix 3oz/gal for it to be effective for, what must be, super strong JB's I have in my area.

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Don,

I just ordered the twin pack of Milky Spore (20K sq ft) and the applicator. I'm going to crozz my fingers that next year's JB problem will be significantly less then this and less and less following years.

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Thanks for your help everyone! And if anyone is wondering what the cost of MS was shipped with the applicator, it was $153.90.

Crabjoe:

Just a note on application. Choose a nice, dry day with low humidity for the job. The MS will flow better, with less tendency to cake up. Work only after all the dew on the grass is dry. Start with the little applicator gate half open or less, so the amount of MS flowing out with each bump is small.

If you still have MS left over after covering the desired area, that's fine. Just go over it again. You want to make sure you don't run out before getting the coverage you want. The instructions will tell you to apply every 4 feet in all directions, but you can go a lot wider than that without losing much effect.

When you are all finished, that's the time to hope for a little rain shower.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Don,

I have JBs out in the corn field around me and they get on the soybeans a little later from now. Then there is the small pasture field [grass] nearby also. Do you have anything like this situation?

Wayne:

No, I am in a suburban situation of one-acre lots. The only cornfield around is the little one I have in the garden. However, somebody must buy milky spore in large quantities, since Yardiac also sells it in 50 lb. drums for something like $1,500. I do not need that much.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA