kaihui:

Apply milky spore now. Next season, and for many seasons thereafter, you will be glad you did. Cover as much area as you can, even on to neighboring properties if the yards are close. Nobody should object to this. Milky spore is expensive, but it works, and it works for a long time. It is completely non-toxic and harmless to the environment.

The short-term solution for JB's is Sevin (Carbaryl), but it is a contact insecticide, and will have to be renewed every few days. However, it does kill them in droves. Traps are a waste of time and money.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thanks for the warning... I'll be out 1st thing in the morning spraying Sevin on my plants.

BTW, last year, the JB's ate every leave on my cherry tree. I thought the tree was a goner but it came back a few weeks later.

JBs already here in Va? Yowie, I'm not ready for that yet. Usually they show up later like near the end of June. Grape vines are their favorite food here in my yard. Nothing so far here near Richmond.

Theres a guy on the garden experiments forum that is raising Japanese Beetles.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/lab/msg0112183311416.html?7

Don,
Thanks for the suggestions. My situation is very challenging.
1. It is a new development with 110 houses. I am the only one who plants fruit trees (got some letters from HOA for this). Each houses has 0.5 acer land, plus some common areas. I can't possibly do milky spore on the whole development.

2. My house is just 1 year old. Last summer we had a major drought my lawn was terrible. Last fall I spent lot of time and money on my lawn, and finally it looks OK. My local nursery told me not to do milky spore in the first 2 or 3 years because milky spore is not good for new grass. So my decision is whether to save the lawn or save the trees.

My fruit trees are doing so well until now (although all fruits were wiped out by the late frost). I am hand picking J. Beetles now, but they are just so many.

Since I have no fruits this year. I am OK with chemicals. I guess I will do 7.

You can make a game of it with Japanese Beetles and improve your tennis game at the same time. When you see one coming in for a landing swat it with the tennis racket and send it flying over the fence. Makes the most pleasing splat sound.

Hi Kaihui,
Mind if I ask what part of Va you live? (don't have to be specific) I'm guessing southern Va? Thanks, vgkg

No, I don't mind at all. I am in Charlottesville.

I had a major out break last year. People say J. Beetles disappear at the end of July, but I had loads of those guys at he end of August. My yard is just that bad.

None of my friends here has J. Beetles yet.

I have several eight-year-old apple trees, and I handpicked the JBs the first several years. I would just flick them into a bucket of soapy water. I'd do this once a day for the usual three- to four-week cycle that generally began in mid- to late-June in the N.C. Piedmont where I live. Last year I was sick of picking off JBs so I decided to do nothing. Yes, the JBs ate their share of leaves by the time they disappeared in early July, but by the end of the summer, you could hardly tell they had been there. So, if your trees are established, I'd say, "Forgeddaboutit" and save yourself the time and expense of fighting them.

The Japanese Beetles that hit my yard last year ate my nectarines. They were choosy and would only take a bite out of the best, ripest ones. Then go to another one and ruin that too. I hate them.

"Yes, the JBs ate their share of leaves by the time they disappeared in early July, but by the end of the summer, you could hardly tell they had been there. So, if your trees are established, I'd say, "Forgeddaboutit" and save yourself the time and expense of fighting them."

Well, that's not my story last year. You were lucky that those guys left in early July. They must all came to my yard. In late August, I was still hand picking those beetles.

Kai

My condolences, kaihui. Every year here in the Piedmont, the JBs have about a four-week life span which gives my trees a chance to recover.

>2. My house is just 1 year old. Last summer we had a major drought my >lawn was terrible. Last fall I spent lot of time and money on my lawn, and
>finally it looks OK. My local nursery told me not to do milky spore in the
>first 2 or 3 years because milky spore is not good for new grass. So my
>decision is whether to save the lawn or save the trees.

I have read everything I could find on Milky Spore, and never came across this notion, I think it's a bunch of nonsense. I can guarantee you that Japanese beetle grubs are bad for a lawn. The cynic in me thinks the nursery knows that if you apply mily spore, you will never buy a bag of Grub-X or whatever
they're peddling.

If anyone here knows of any evidence that Milky Spore could harm a new lawn, please post it here.

Alex

Kaihui:

If you don't want to apply milky spore, that's fine with me, but consider the following:
1. I applied it in July, 2005 on over an acre and have zero beetles.
2. I applied it in August, 2006 to two acres of my sons place in Earlysville, about 10 miles north of Charlottesville, at well below the recommended rated. I used only one can, intended for 10,000 square feet to an area of about 80,000 square feet, but I distributed it well. He has zero Japanese beetles. In 2005 and 2006 he had massive infestations.

Milky spore is a fungal organism specifically targeted to Japanese beetle grubs. To say that it could have a negative effect on newly-planted grass is total nonsense.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

What if you live in a neighborhood where the typical lot if 50 feet wide by 178 feet long. If all you are killing is grubs on your property beetles from a neighbor's property could still fly onto yours. In fact these beetles are really good fast flyers, and I'm guessing you would have to kill every grub within half a mile to do any good. If the milky spore also killed adult bettles, and quickly before they could eat much, that would be a different story.

Well, you are guessing wrong, Californian. Japanese beetles have a very limited flight range. They go only as far as needed to find foliage to eat, and that is usually not very far. Then they begin their mating activities, and the eggs drop straight down to the ground beneath. The vast majority of Japanese beetles in a given locality hatch out from the soil right in that same area.

When I applied milky spore, I had enough to go into bordering properties about 35-40 feet, but that was all. None of my neighbors, either on the rear three sides or across the street, has applied milky spore themselves. Yet, I have no beetles whatsoever, but you don't have to go far down the street to find them. My neighbors don't even know how lucky they are, since I have eliminated many of theirs too.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Thanks a lot, everyone.

Will do milky spore this year.

Kai

This article says the female japanese beetle burrows 2 to 4 inches underground to lay one to three eggs. It doesn't say how far they can fly though.
http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/orn/beetles/japanese_beetle.htm

ok but what about the ones that havent appeared yet this year? is it too late for the miky spore? I ahve a bag of 24 hr grub ex which I am hesitant to use.....

Don,
What kind of applicator for Milky Spore is there? I used it on a property about 3 years ago that has been sold and it was tedious to apply.

wayne:

The first time I applied milky spore in the early 80's I used a teaspoon. Tedious for sure. Now they sell a long cardboard tube with an adjustable opening at the end (like a pepper can) and you fill the tube and walk along bumping it on the ground. It's a good idea to do the job on a day with low humidity so the milky spore does not get moist and fail to flow from the tube.

I think the cardboard tube cost me about ten bucks. Boy, there's a good business.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Don, or anyone else for that matter,

I have three questions.

Are June bugs (night flyers) as big a problem as Japaneese Beetles, and what in your experience do they damage if anything?

will milky spore kill them too?

the cardboard tube you mention, for 10 bucks, how much area can you cover with that, the 2 acres that you were talking about?

afss:

June bug beetles (masked chafer beetles?) or whatever they are are not normally as destructive as Japanese beetles, nor do they arrive in such overwhelming numbers. Milky spore will not kill them, as it is specifically targeted to the grubs of the Japanese beetle. The night flying June bugs can do quite a job on certain trees that they favor, such as plums.

You could do 100 acres or more with a cardboard tube applicator, provided you are careful with it and keep it dry. 100 acres, of course, would take an awful lot of walking. I am not certain you can find these tube applicators in Canada; they are sold by the company in Orange, Virginia that manufactures milky spore. And they manufacture it by infecting JB grubs and watching them explode. That is what happens in your soil when it is seeded with milky spore, and that is what makes it so effective. It propagates itself until it runs out of Japanese beetle grubs.

There are other versions of milky spore sold mixed with inert ingredients designed to be applied with a normal spreader or similar method. The active ingredient in these mixtures is quite low, which is why I prefer the pure stuff. It is expensive, but you can use a lot less.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

May bettles and june bugs are same and yes milky spores will kill them there cycle same. Grubs eat spores and they die but produce 3 billion more spores the Grubs die out and then the milky spores last in cold climate about 10 years warm about 25 years with advertage being 15 years web search comes up with 8.95 for tube and about 19.95 for spores for small yard should work if doing more than your yard add to that one container do about 10,000 sq ft. but that a heavy rate if have a lot bugs it about only thing if got more bugs you can use less. The inert ingredent is chaulk for spores. I am looking into using a large chaulk line to apply my milky spores one larger than carpenter would use now find one is question maybe something in sportsfield markings will work and not apply to much.

kaihui, yesterday I saw my first JBs of the season here just east of Richmond :o( There were 3-4 on my grapes and 3-4 on my Filbert trees. No doubt this will soon be 3-4 dozen.

BTW, the Filbert trees are now 4 years old and one of them has it's first nuts. An interesting looking tree with elm type leaves the JBs love to eat.

Last year I had a really bad breakout of J. Beetles, but this year it is 10 times worse! I was horrified last Saturday(June 9th). I saw billions of JB flying like clouds on my yard and my neighbor's yard.(we have 0.5 acers each). It is not like anything I saw before. I sprayed my trees 5 times with Sevin on one day and they still keep coming back. They attack my sweat basils, and I had to take them out. I had to take all my strawberries out as well (I am not going to eat those with Sevin on them anyway).

I don't see a whole lot JB this morning though.

I will upload a photo when I get home this evening.

Gator Rider:

I wish it were so, but I am afraid milky spore is not effective against any beetle species other than Japanese. Not only have I never seen any information that would indicate it has broader effects, the manufacturer makes no claims for control of other species on the label.

The manufacturer ought to know, and I am sure that if they had any indication milky spore was effective against June bugs or other beetles, they would say so on the label, since it would be a major selling point.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Don,

You said; "I wish it were so, but I am afraid milky spore is not effective against any beetle species other than Japanese. Not only have I never seen any information that would indicate it has broader effects, the manufacturer makes no claims for control of other species on the label."

Milky Spore works on Japanese Beatles, June bugs and other common lawn grubs. Read the first FAQ in the link below. Don thanks for posting about Milky Spore. When I sprayed the tree foliage it didn't seem to phase the adult Japanese beatles. I just got done planting bulbs and we are loaded with grubs. I am ordering the 40 oz. Milky Spore. The company claims Fall is the best time to apply Milky Spore. Hard to believe it lasts 10-15 years. :^)

Here is a link that might be useful: Milky Spore Powder

Ace:

Look's like you've got me here. The first FAQ indeed mentions control of the June beetle. This is one of those rare cases where product claims have actually understated their real ability to control pests. Oddly, the last FAQ on the list seems to directly contradict the first. This is the first time I have seen a claim that milky spore controls anything other than Japanese beetles.

But the news may be better than that, based on experience here in the past growing season after application of milky spore (as I recall) in late June, 2006. The only previous milky spore application I made was around 1979, and the effect indeed lasted nearly 20 years, although it seemed to weaken in the last few years of that period, and I did have infestations of other types of beetles, as well as some increase in JB's.

It turns out that the brown beetles I have always called June bugs are really one or another type of Chafer Beetle, which comes in the Masked Chafer, Rose Chafer, European Chafer varieties, and several other related species. The true June Beetle looks more like a Japanese Beetle on steroids, larger and flatter than the JB, but with a similar iridescent green color of the head and wings. This beetle has never been present in serious numbers here, but the Chafers have often defoliated particulars targets of their choice, especially plum trees and sweet cherries, and done quite a bit of damage to other fruit trees and garden crops too. Chafers feed mostly at night, and their season is usually shorter than the JB, but they are no more welcome.

This past season, I not only saw no Japanese beetles, but almost no Chafers either, leading me to wonder if the milky spore had some effect on their larvae too. One swallow does not make a spring, and one season is not really a scientific test, but it is extremely unusual for me to go through a summer season with almost no beetles of any kind.

One other thing I noticed in the FAQ's is some confirmation of my belief that the JB does not fly far before beginning to feed, and that the effects of the milky spore will continue to enlarge in area so long as there are larvae to infect. This is consistent with my experience, since I have no JB's, but properties only a few hundred feet away still do. It certainly seems worthwhile to put this milky spore down, although I would go with the pure culture that comes in a can, not the bagged stuff for spreader application which has a very low component of active spore.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Spray with neem oil mixture every 7-10 days. Environmentally safe.