I jinxed it...they are suddenly EVERYWHERE on EVERY tree!

damn opportunist little buggers arrive just when the soil moisture is about to run out with the onset of heat.

J. Beetles are making a big push in the last few days here in PA. Hate them. Never can seem to do much about them either.

It's possible here, at least in lower-lying areas, that beetle larvae were drowned by saturated soil/standing water. Earthworms & moles have to get out of those conditions to breath, so guessing beetle larvae might have problems.

Yesterday I picked off a couple hundred beetles. I basically put my hand under the leaf, give a good tap on top and quickly grasp and crush. Nasty I know but its the only way to quickly get a large grouping.

I'll put Neem Oil on the trees they are starting to eat the hell out of. So at least the ones I don't get they won't be able to have viable offspring.

Nothing I can do for large trees

Will, an empty coffee grounds container with an inch or two of soapy water works wonders. The natural reaction of JBs is to drop straight down when disturbed. Still none here, BTW.

tj

During the day they are fast and take flight quickly. I maximize kill rate at this time as they're having orgies in masses.

I do take a pail of water during the evening and morning runs as their SuperCom but you're usually only picking off single and doubles.

here are sections of my birch after two days.

hopfully it stays that way for you but usually they aren't as bad in th clay soil areas

They were a plague here for a few days. I hit it hard with the hand picking the first couple days and they've been manageable since. I also put up a bird feeder with may have helped as I saw an even greater drop in their numbers after that. Good luck hope you really don't have any this year.

Still incredible numbers of them that they fly into you.

Here is round one of the ones I can reach and catch. I could do this all day but usually stop after about four rounds.

What birds eat adult JBs?

I don’t know about birds, but I have seen a bunch of Tiger beetles around. Hope they will work on it. The Japanese beetles are mostly gone here now.

Are you all putting pheromone traps up? I know some say they just attract more. I did over a few days last year and got 750 or so; yes I did actually count.

No the data I've come across shows that it does attract more than you catch. Not willing to try with the number out and about. Hopefully you caught more than the orignal number in your yard. I feel one less beetle is a good thing though.

Last year they stayed more along the tree line by the lindens now they are coming in the yard landing and eating everything it seems.

i have to get neem oil on my elm after the sun sets. Didn't realize how hard they where hitting that one

Thete are just shy of 100 in that bucket I show above

I figure I killed 10x the amount taking the catch number out of the breeding cycle. Same with everyone making their efforts. Though perhaps the overall population numbers are so huge it really rids very little, relatively.

I stated earlier that there were no Japanese beetles here, and then practically the next day a fair number began showing up.....

Regarding birds that eat the Japanese Beetles the European Starlings and the Robins seem to be at the top of the list. I guess the Starlings are considered a pest bird but we seem to have a lot of the gray juveniles walking around our yard feasting on something, hopefully lots of Japanese Beetle grubs and adults. If they can tame this beetle plague then their quite welcome in my yard.

So I've pretty much applied every biological control I can find. I added milky spore to the soil last summer, put out a bird feeder, planted Geraniums, 4 o'clocks, and yarrow, I'm planning to add peonies and forsythia next spring, and I don't remove any of the wild carrots (weeds) that grow around my yard. As I understand it the Geraniums (pelorgonium geraniums) and the 4 o'clocks are trap plants that the beetles eat and die. The yarrow, peonies, wild carrots, and forsythia are supposed to attract insects that parasite the beetles. I hope it actually makes a difference.

In my garden, I'm only seeing beetle damage on lawn weeds...which I don't mind at all. I mean I would rather not have Japanese beetles at all, but since they're here and not going anywhere, I applaud their diet in my yard.

Do Swallows go at them? Every year I have a couple families of them nesting here. They are always in the air hunting insects and must go for Japanese Beetles as well, you would think.

Robins don't eat adult Japanese beetles but do eat the grubs. It would be awesome if they did as they are the most plentiful birds here.

Geraniums don't kill the beetles it just makes them drunk if you will so its easier to catch them (you or other predators).

Milky spore has been questioned on its usefulness.

I'm using Acelpyrn which targets white grubs only. It will eliminate lawn damage but the beetles still come into the yard to feast on my trees.

dbaron, Do you even have trees? lol

They have been hitting these trees hard - Malus, Serviceberry, Cherry, Aesculus, Linden, Elm, Maackia, Asian Maples and Birch. I see them gathering quite a bit on Seven Son Flower, Ginkgo, Oak, Native Maple and Spruce. I haven't seen feeding or mating on these - Corktree, Osage Orange, Pine and Lilac trees.

Yes, I have oaks and walnuts on the fringe of the properties...haven't noticed any eaten, but canopies are high.

It was a joke but nice to have the large mature trees that are not all that susceptible to JB damage. Even if they where its not a big deal unless they are defoliating year after year.

I'm just complaining as I have enough on my plate trying to establish all these new trees with no damn rainfall and then I have these buggers trying to defoliate many of my trees.

It my punishment for planting so many trees!

Tonight they clustered on the smaller trees and vines. So easy to get them at that point!

its not 750 but a few hundred dead makes me happy. Funny they didn't even move as I was spraying with neem oil and soap.

They are so clumsy and easy to get. I mentioned swallows, do they go for them?

I did a search on that. It looks like swallows are among the birds that eat them. But that's just based on my search no actual observation. I just know we have lots of starlings in our area and after I put a bird feeder within 15 feet of the peach tree it suddenly went from being their favorite tree to not having a single beetle on it, and I check it everyday.

Japanese Beetles terrorized my plants about 5 years ago, but the last couple of years I've only seen a few of them here and there. And this summer I haven't seen any. I don't know if I should read anything into that or not, or if it's just a coincidence.

I only see starlings intermittently -- two seasons ago a whole lot. Gotta start making the property more attractive for the bird airforce.

I see birds going after the grubs rather than the adult beetles. There is lots of indigestible stuff to an adult beetle making them a less desirable food source than their larvae. When I see dozens of birds marching up and down my lawn with their heads down, I cheer them on!

I had alot of meadowlarks and bluebirds last years. Now I'm really only seeing the robins.

The meadowlarks where definitely grub hunting last year. They are the ones that tipped me off the lawn infestation.

Must be why I haven't seen them in town. Starlings patrol the lawn frequently here in the early season. And we have Robins as seasonal residents too.

Weird I don't see Starlings on a regular basis. Just masses of them once or twice a year.

Starlings come from other places to nest here in the summer time. They travel in bunches early in the season but are now feeding youngsters in summer and are more solitary. They will gather to help fight against enemies.

I saw a half a dozen starlings chasing a crow/raven, the crow landed in the street and I could see a young starling in his beak that he dropped in front of him. Once he got his breath, he picked up the still alive nestling and flew away with the posse right on his tail.

I can't identify a starling in flight. I always wondered what pair of birds chase the crows. The same birds chase me when I'm on my mower. Their wings have a very distinct point and arch in them and they are extremely fast flying low to the ground coming within inches of the mower. Are those starlings?

Starlings have a very short tail and pointy wings, it looks like they're really working at it when they fly and move along pretty fast. Starlings will raid nests also, destroying eggs, nests and building nests on top of a nest with eggs from a different bird.

I don't think they're the only type of bird to chase crows, which are carnivores among other things and enemies to many other types of birds.

Many birds get aggressive when a perceived threat enters a certain distance of their nest or young, even more so when the young are about to or are already out of the nest. I was within distance of a swallow nest earlier this season and the birds swooped to within inches of my head when attacking. I almost swatted one out of the air in self defense

We see Grackles here too in the spring patrolling the lawns. They've a longer wings and tail. I think we have Rusty blackbirds too, very glossy black and have been known to eat other birds.

Whaas, I am often chased by Purple Martins when I mow.

I've seen quite a few Grackles too.

Yes, its the Purple Martins chasing me!

I need to shape up on my bird identification.

They fly in circles around me, swooping down low and circling back. Once I realized they were eating bugs trying to escape the mower I decided to embrace the symbiotic relationship.

Day 19 of the scourge and their numbers are increasing.

Cant believe how many there after the 2nd coldest December on record with limited to no snow cover

Ah..maybe I need martin boxes. That's a good problem to be had (being chased as you stir bugs).

Huh. I thought I had more than last year, but I don’t think I had as many as whaas on the whole five acres. After 2 weeks there isn’t a single one to be found. And I didn’t do anything at all. Saw two of the big green beetles last week.

Just think those are the ones I can reach!

The top 1/3 of 60' lindens are close to skeletonized

That's odd, Will. I've seen a grand total of 3 JBs so far. I do, however, have a bird friendly yard.

tj

I'm not too surprised as I do watch the linden canopies and the damage varies by area.

Also I'm in the sticks surrounded by fields and wooded areas. There are tons of birds but mainly field bird species.

I "think" its easier for JBs to survive and enter sandy loams vs the clay soils?

Has anyone tried the Bayer Tree and Shrub granules? IIts advertised for JB control. sprinkled some around the Birch, Stewartia , DR and Hawthorne for the first time this spring. The infestation has been lower than last year, but I'm not sure if thats the reason or the long winter.

Day 31 of these little fers and still pulling this many after a quick run

Just over 100 if you're into counting things lol

I haven't seen hardly one of those since this tread began.

Those brown beetles I thought were June bugs, are really May beetles according to this beetle id chart. Guess we don't have June bugs, at least not many.

Edit: The same bug, different names.

The one benefit of -25 ! lol

I guess I spoke too soon. I saw a JB on my Amur Maple, over the weekend. It was just one, and I flicked it off with my finger. It must have just gotten to my tree, because there was no leaf damage to be seen.

Day 51...feels like a plague of some sort.

Wow, Whaas. I didn’t have that many and only for a very short period of time. Haven’t seen a single one in weeks.

Nada here. Seen a little of everything but nothing problematic.