To those of you who are unfamiliar with the ugly destruction of the Japanese beetle, this is our poor little cherry tree that had some of it's leaves chewed off by the deer in the spring. I was keeping it sprayed with deer off and then walked outside one day to see about 100 Japanese beetles on it. I sprayed the tree with Sevin, which I was told would kill all of them and all who came to eat afterwards. The next day there were several dead beetles under the tree, and new ones on the leaves...munching away. I sprayed again and we got beetle bags (2 have already filled up!). This morning I looked at that poor tree and there were these 2 mating beetles on it, and look at the poor tree. I am convinced that between these beetles and the deer, this tree will not live long enough to produce fruit.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Japanese beetles....UGH!
To those of you who are unfamiliar with the ugly destruction of the Japanese beetle, this is our poor little cherry tree that had some of it's leaves chewed off by the deer in the spring. I was keeping it sprayed with deer off and then walked outside one day to see about 100 Japanese beetles on it. I sprayed the tree with Sevin, which I was told would kill all of them and all who came to eat afterwards. The next day there were several dead beetles under the tree, and new ones on the leaves...munching away. I sprayed again and we got beetle bags (2 have already filled up!). This morning I looked at that poor tree and there were these 2 mating beetles on it, and look at the poor tree. I am convinced that between these beetles and the deer, this tree will not live long enough to produce fruit.
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13 comments:
Kind of takes the fun out of gardening, huh? Not a pretty picture.
Eeewwwwwww!!!! That just won the prize for grossist picture to date! I am among the ignorant when it comes to Japanese beetles. Now I know. Thanks, I think. I am so sorry for you and your tree. Is there away to protect plants before the "beetle season"? Probably a silly question, If there was I'm sure ya'll would be using it.
I was told by a local garden store that sevin is the only thing that works on Japanese beetles (but Martha says soapy water works too). I don't think spraying the tree with soapy water would kill them though. We have also been told where there are Japanese beetles there are grubs. We could treat our lawn for grubs next spring, but what about everyone around us? (beetles fly.) I think trapping and killing as many as we can is the way to go. Our pool kills quite a few too. I don't ever remember them being as bad as they are this year.
You can buy something called Milky Spore (I think). You apply it to the ground and the beetles ingest it. It makes them sick but it takes a while to work and works best if everyone in the surrounding area also uses it. It's kind of like germ warfare for beetles.
Hmmm...I haven't heard of that. What's "a while"?
TMI,TMI!! pool, beetles, oh ishlaroo!
Go with the germ warfare, do you want Carl's bug killer recipe? It is all organic, no harm no foul to kids or pets, or you could look it up, it is a Jerry Baker recipe. It worked in Ok, and it works here too, so it should work for you.
Thanks Gmj. I would love to try Carl's recipe.
"Ishlaroo"?
Ishlaroo=way beyond ishy. A-while, is longer than a-moment? :)
that is terrible
I posted his recipe for bug spray.
Good luck.
BTW, J. Baker says; Milky Spore works great, lasts for 10 to 30 years. Kills the grubs and the dead grubs put out more of the stuff and it kills more grubs.
Will any of those chemicals hurt the birds? Don't they eat grubs?
I'm sorry about your little tree! It's having a bad bad time of it!
Milky Spore is reqistered with EPA, is a natural product, is not harmful to birds, bees, humans or pets.
Oh, the poor baby! What a strange thing. I wonder if it is a particularly bad year for those bugs. Some bugs go in cycles, don't they?
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