Dunking them in a jar of soapy water kills them just fine. As a kid we used gasoline, but soapy water is a better alternative. The best way to limit them for next year is to have your neighbors set up all those traps, and use the milky spore to kill the grubs. Years ago I read the traps entice as many into your yard as they kill. I don't have a big problem with them, but I guess they haven't found me yet. Just go easy and carefully with the chemicals. I would think you could just about nuke your yard, and the next day a new crop of JBs could fly in.

Hey Tony. Your kids will thank you for all of the pesticides that you want to introduce to your lawn. Remember. All of that Ortho etal eventually finds itself into Round Valley or Spruce Run,.....your drinking water if I'm not mistaken.

Think about it.

I'm not near either of those two reservoirs, but I haven't gone the pesticide route yet. I was thinking that I'll purchase a few praying mantis eggs for next year, set them out, let'em hatch, and watch predator vs. prey at its best.

Birdsong72, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. If you wish to have others consider your point of view and take what you say seriously, you might consider the "tone" of your posts.

I haven't had a problem with JB's this year. Just lucky, I guess. I have seen a few praying mantis in my yard - maybe they're taking care of business for me. Even if you get the grubs in your own lawn under control, you can't control what's in your neighbors' lawns. Do try the milky spore, though.

NJTea -- No worries. I did not take his message as a personal affront and his point was well taken. I'm liking the praying mantis idea more and more, though!

I've got praying mantises and right now they are way too small to catch the JBs. Most little more than an inch long, though I saw one two inches.

By the time the mantises are big, the JBs seem to be pretty much done for the summer.

One fall I did find a lot of monarch wings in my garden and think it was the mantises.

Anyway, time to go out and dunk the boogers, now that we have a sunny day.

NJ TEA. Please take it within the context of my passion for the natural world. It is 'who I am' and because I live it, you should see my words as 'educative in nature and a request to pause, assess & act accordingly based on that information'

If you thus revisit my post in that spirit, you'll find that my tenor isn't anywhere near the purported 'scream' that you misread.

While the art of gardening has a decided feminitity to it, being from Jersey allows me to be a little brusque and it sometimes may seem to come off as being a little harsh. Nothing more than the yang to the ying of my gardening gestalt. Strait stuff from a strait shooter.

BTW, all water (groundwater, et al) leads somewhere. If it isn't either of those two reservoirs, it could just as well be the Raritan or Delaware.

All good things in all good time.

Ted

Ted, I did read your post several times before I responded and I did and do still find your tenor offputting. I never said that your post was a "scream"; by saying that, you are doing the very thing that you have stated I have done - improperly reading/understanding a post as well as ascribing to me a statement I never made.

Your intentions might be honorable, but your delivery is seriously lacking - and being from New Jersey is a lame excuse.

Tony, while to your credit you did not take offense, others might have and perhaps missed an opportunity to learn.

Lame??? If I can get one citizen at a time to stop perpetuating Chemical warfare on their lawn, their shrubs, etc., I'll feel satisfied that that individual will realize that it's not sound. And that person will hopefully tell another and then another and it thus grows exponentially.

Now. If you don't care for my approach, that's tough; deal with it as I'm not changing. We're (i.e. the world) in the state that we're now in, because of misguided & unthinking approaches to pesticide control.

End of story.

For several years, I worked for one of NJ's premier land conservation organization; I currently volunteer at a watershed orgranization.

One of the first thing one learns in dealing with individuals who practice policies not in alignment with the goals of a land preservation organization is that you don't preach to them and you don't get angry, even if an individual is abrogating the terms of a conservation easement. Preaching/anger/arrogance will not convert people to good practices.

You, sir, may go on acting they way you do and believing that you are teaching people to see/do things your way. It's no skin off my back. And you may well convert one or two - but you will convert many more with a change in your approach.

As Zimmy once told us: "most likely you go your way, and I'll go mine".

tony - don't panic. the invasion of the JBs lasts little more than a month. milky spore is a long-term solution, not likely to produce real relief for several seasons, and wholesale spraying will reduce the beneficial insects that may prey on the JBs -- as well as poisoning the butterflies, hummingbirds, dragonflies, etc. that so enliven the garden. if you must go on the offensive, try to target the pest and only the pest. knock the beetles off into soapy water or spritz them individually with a spray like bayer's rose and flower spray (which is easy on beneficials and has some repellent effect). the JBs will be gone by August. to garden is to learn to roll with the punches nature throws...

Thanks for your encouraging words, Elke. I've put up a trap at the edge of my property and that's the extent of my "war" on these little buggers. The yoshino cherry is just going to have to adapt to being a main source of food if it wants to live, grow, and ultimately flourish in my yard.

BTW, I have a 1.5 acres and when I say I've put the trap at the edge, I mean it. I know sometimes traps attract more beetles than are in your immediate area, but from what I've seen, the beetles are making a "beeline" for the pheromone and limiting their contact with the tree.

Don't birds eat these JBs?

I feel your pain - the JB are eating my sunflowers to death, but strangely enough at this point they have left everything else alone (shrugs Shoulders) I have eggplant planted right next to the sunflowers and they are fine. It does make me nervous though. I went out and bought those traps and then read about them on the internet and returned them - now i just hope i can "catch" enough to make a difference in there population - Good luck

Tony,

I set up a trap about 30 feet from my main source of infestation from the jap beetles and my bag is full already. Already, the number of jap beetles has really dropped and it's only been a few days. I think that that the traps work well if you have the room to put them far enough away from the problem area.

Ellen

I agree with Elke. My husband was out admiring my garden, but amazed at my attitude toward the JBs after I had explained that spraying only hurts the beneficials, and there are too many to spray anyway. He thought I was being way too passive about it, but nevertheless, I'll be out later with my bucket of soapy water. The plants they like in my garden are: hollyhocks, roses, japanese maple, a lovely plum shrub(can't remember the name), new guniea impatiens, and all evergreens. They don't seem to be interested in any of my veggies. Last year, we had very few as compared to the previous year, so let nature take it's course. The plants will recover.

I have been at my property for 11 years now. It was converted farmlands that was planted with sod like all the other houses that were built. I used milky spore and my infestations were never as bad as the first year. I have also been replacing more and more of the grass with gardens that don't require all the water and fertilizer that a carpet look lawn requires (and Japanese beetles love lawns, that is why they are such a problem here in the states)
One of the big problems with water today is from the water soluble nitrogen we use for lawns. America has this love of big lawns that are so unnatural to the environment.
Try listening to Mike Magrath on WHYY. It is a Saturday show called YOU BET YOUR GARDEN. You can also listen on the web. I have been gardening with organics in mind for 20 years and find it the most satisfying thing I have ever done. It is my religion. I hope you get that bug and you will understand what I mean.

My best to all
Chef Hick

Post-mortem:
I emptied some of the beetles in the trap into a bucket of soapy water, drowning those buggers. Then I poured out the bucket and the beetles in my backyard. About 10 minutes later, my yard was filled with birds eating the dearly departed buggers. Yippee! Maybe the birds will figure out how to eat the live ones too!

I am under attack even with the green/yellow trap nearby! First they devoured much of one of my rose bushes. they've turned my large 'freedom' rose of sharon shrub into the hugh heffner mansion! I go out there, pick off maybe 40, an hour or two later, backup reinforcement bugs come in, and they are at it again! wish I could train the cat to eat them. They do seem to stick to one or two bushes, usually my roses but this year its my rose of sharon. The praying mantis are too small indeed, my largest fellow is maybe an inch and a half long and still quite skinny. The other night my husband left the underwater pool light on, you can imagine the next morning how many uninvited guests were floating around in there. karen

If you live in an open area, especially near water, you might try putting up a Purple Martin house this coming winter. Martins can catch a lot of JBs in a day, especially since outbreak time is usually at a time when martins have large very hungry young.