# Japanese Beetle



## Ray4852 (May 27, 2011)

The safe way to get rid of them is put out more beetle traps. you wont get rid of them but you might get an handle on them. if this don't help you have to get somebody to come in with a license and spray brigade. You can spray seven or malathion yourself. don't wast your time with the organic way. the beetle will destroy your garden. I control them with seven and malathion.


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## dray34 (Apr 21, 2011)

Are your bees close to where you spray? I have a few fruit trees but they have already bloomed so I think it would be ok to spray those. I don't know how much the bees forage on anything in the garden. We also have a few roses that we would want to protect. I have malathon and it is almost to the point where we have to do something because this is the worst I have ever seen them. I might have to think about moving them. I live in a subdivision and I know most people are spraying their yards, trees and plants so that can't be too good for the bees.


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## Ray4852 (May 27, 2011)

my hives are 200' from my garden. what you and I spray wont hurt them. we might kill a few of them but if you spray at night when the bees are in the hive you wont kill as many of them. I have a commercial bee guy in the area with 56 hives. he says I'm doing no harm to his bees. his hives are 900' from my garden.


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## Dana (Mar 26, 2005)

For a long term solution, consider getting chickens or some other bird.


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## Alex Wild (May 15, 2011)

Stop using the traps- they may be part of your problem! 

Some Japanese Beetle traps work by using an attractant that's strong enough to bring hundreds of them to your garden, but the chemical is not localized enough so that the beetles find their way to the trap itself. So you end up with many more beetles than you started with.

I am an entomologist and those traps have become something of a joke in the profession. I'd get rid of them. Or even better, gift them to someone a few houses upwind of you.


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## Ray4852 (May 27, 2011)

I agree the traps will bring more beetles in but they will tell you if you have a large population in your area. these beetles are the most destructive pest along with the tarnish plant bug. if you dont get aggressive with these bugs they will destroy your garden. the pesticides we spray on our gardens are pretty weak compared to the commerical ones the farmers use.


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## khaas15 (Feb 17, 2010)

I have had pretty good success using a five gallon bucket with a sealed lid. Get a large funnel and drill a hole in the lid for the small end of the funnel to seal nicely into. Place a brick in the bucket and some water in the bottom. Put the attractant in the funnel. The beetles will fall into the bucket. No more worrying about emptying the traps. 

Important: place the trap away from your property, in an empty lot or field near you to attract them away from your property.


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## g.gill (Jul 17, 2009)

I have found that beetle traps do attract more beetles to your property. I once got a great buy on "Milky Spore" and gave it to my neighbors. I have had many less beetles since doing this. I still get some but not the numbers like before.

Again, as stated above, place any traps away from your property so they attract the beetles FROM your property.


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