Glenda,

Some parts of Oklahoma have tons of them and others have relatively few. I believe the farther north and east you go in our state, the more there are. Down here in southcentral OK, we have them in small numbers.

I trap them with alfalfa tea. I put a few handfuls of alfalfa feed or alfalfa hay in a 5 gallon bucket that's partially filled with water. For some reason, the beetles are very attracted to it, come for a drink and drown in it. I skim off the dead beetles daily and let the alfalfa tea sit out there for as long as necessary and then I pour it onto the compost pile.

Here, in the Post Oak Savannah, we have the grasshoppers on similar numbers to what you're seeing with beetles. Every plant I have has leaves full of holes. Eventually, they'll get the whole leaf. I don't even know how to describe this year's grasshopper plague....but my friend, Fred, describes it pretty well when we have a year like this, by saying (and I'm paraphrasing here) "the grass is moving in the wind, and then you realize there is no wind, and the grass isn't really grass moving....it is wall-to-wall grasshoppers moving through the pastures". The last time I saw this many grasshoppers, it was a horrid summer and they ate peaches and plums right on the trees, leaving the pits hanging. They also ate tree bark on young fruit trees, fiberglass window screens and cotton rag rugs I had lying on the porch. They ate my bean plants right down to the ground....and these were large, mature bean plants full of beans. It's been about eight or ten years since we've had the hoppers this bad here, but there is one saving grace....they hatched really late this year so we're ahead of them on harvesting the fruit. It does seem like the songbirds I feed and spoil 12 months out of the year are really going after the hoppers, but I think there's more than they can handle.

Good luck with those horrid Japanese beetles.

Dawn

I did not know those were Japanese beetles. I have them. I thought Japanese beetles were green and twice as large as what you have. I need to be careful now.

I've linked the USDA Aphis Japanese Beetle homeowner's handbook. Maybe something in it will be useful for someone dealing with these pests.

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA APHIS Homeowner's Handbook

I've never seen one, but I do have those identical yellow and brown spots on my apple tree leaves. Hmm.

Sammy, they are greenish bronze exactly like a miniature June Bug. I worked out this morning and had to shake them out of my hair and they got down my shirt. All 4 traps are almost full.

I have mixed feelings about the traps and see that a lot of people are saying not to put out traps. I was watching a storm on radar last night and thought there was a chance that it could hit us, and it was known to have hail in it, so I went outside to put my car under the carport. Just as I stepped into the car I felt a bug clinging to my face. He had landed on my cheek and was really hanging on. Yuck.

Glenda,

We've got them here but not nearly as many as last year. They were all over everything last year. Just like your picture. Maybe they migrate east?

I know what Carol is saying about the bags. They attract the beetles, so are you saving yourself any trouble? Last year, they were so bad here, nothing was going to hurt. I finally started hanging plastic grocery sacks beneath the attractant because the bags that came with them were filling up so fast. We quit counting at 60 bagfuls. If hot, dry weather kills the JB grubs, I'll quit grousing about the weather.

Marcy

Marcy

Well, traps are considered part of the IPM system. The thing is we live pretty isolated from neighbors so I don't know what they are doing. I do know one who bought our first farm called and she is overrun with them too.

I just think that every single female trapped can't be laying her 60 or so eggs this year. We will empty the traps this morning.

Methods to deal with them include spraying with about 4 insecticides (including Sevin), hand picking (hah!), using biologicals which is probably way out of my budget as large as our place is, and their natural enemies which we don't have.

Lots of the methods are not available yet to homeowners.

Glenda,

What are JB's natural enemies? Could we get some? ;-)

Marcy

Marcy, refer to Dawn's earlier link which is very informative and lists the enemies, one isn't even available commercially yet and I don't know about the others.

I emptied the 4 traps this morning and it over half filled a 5-gallon bucket. I hope it wasn't wishful thinking but there didn't seem to be as many this morning. I will know by nightfall by checking the traps again. I saw hundreds dead under the hoophouse frame. I am hoping they are dying off!

Year before last was as bad as your pic. Then last year put out and filled completely 9 traps--about a gallon each. This year the four traps that we put out only have about a qt each. They don't seem to be working as well, but we also don't have nearly as many. We have hand picked a bunch and have also walked around the orchard with a bucket of water that we shake them into. They tend to drop straight down when they release so this works pretty well.

mulberry, I do hope you are right and next year won't be worse. We have trapped over 6 gallons so far. I see spots of sod that looks loose where (I think) the females have bored down to lay eggs!

We are happy with these traps so far. I put one in the west front yard where I saw no evidence of any. By night, the bag was overflowing! It drew them. If I work near their favorite places, they drop into my hair and down my shirt, very disgusting!

I am resurrecting a previous thread because I thought this was kind of cool.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beetle Catcher