Is it just me or do the numbers seem down this year?
I've heard others whispering about it.
I put down Milky Spore last year for the first time but wasn't expecting
to see much difference after the first season after application.
I don't want to speak too prematurely so I'm just cautiously watching and waiting.
I think they all came to my house. I have sprayed and put down systemic and I still have them on my roses. UGGGGH I just have to keep at them and maybe I will win out over them.
So far, not too bad. Have done my spraying in advance.
PB what do you spray with?
I noticed more the last couple days but not the hoards we
typically get...but I'm still waiting.
I've only seen a couple and I haven't done any prevention.
Last year they were everywhere!
They are horrible down here! Totally ate all the blooms on my Crape Myrtle and defoliated my Linden Tree. Of course, I haven't been treating the plants either due to lack of funds. On the bright side, I have had a lot of success frying the buggers using a handheld electronic device I got for $3.00 at Harbor Frieght. Very satisfying , but it does take a bit of time so their numbers are not down much.
OMG! you FRY them! toofunny
I haven't seen any here YET keeping my fingers crossed ;0(
Gloria
ugh. they are eating my valley forge elm, my covey cercis, viburnam blue muffin etc etc.
ugh.
going to go out in a bit and do some poison spraying.
Sher
I know just how you all feel.
So far numbers are still down...
Praise God for Milky Spore!
Mine are here...a few more each day. I was listening to a local garden show yesterday and they said they were about two weeks later than normal...grrrr I am walking the yard several times a day with a cup of soapy water.
I have seen a few but not too many. I have never had an infestation and i do wonder if milkey spore works or not as I put it down on my 4 lots 20 years ago and made a new application of the whole yard 2 years ago. I do have several friends who had their yards nearly defoliated last year. This year the bugs may be later because of the weather. I will keep up with this post and see how every one else is doing.
I am good so far.
Hello Vickie!! Roses seem to be a favorite food but my friend who has clematis growing on a four foot fence would come out mornings to find hundreds of them eating away last year. She also says she has lower numbers by far this year. I'll report back here through the next week and see if anything changes.
Julie
I was at my brother's place in Saginaw saturday. He has ripe black raspberries. Yummy, but now full of these bugs. He bought a bag that has a scent and an hourglass shape. He had put up a new one that morning and there was 3" of bugs in the bag. Crazy!
I had never seen one here. Yesterday, I saw one eating my huge beautiful wave petunias. UGH.
Oh gosh...so they're late in coming this year...sigh...
I was hoping the Milky Spore had kicked in. :(
Hi Julie! ;o)
They go on some of my other flowers too.
They also love my Virginia Creeper Vine
and I've even seen them eating green bean
and sunflower foliage.
I planted Four O' Clocks this year
because they're suppose to be attracted
to them but they're toxic to them if they eat it but
mine aren't in bloom yet.
Well the JB are here u til fall so I will have plenty of time
to report back if later arrivals happen upon the scene.
Keeping my fingers crossed.
Hey Vickie!
Glad to see you are keeping busy in your beautiful yard!
I have not spent one day in my yard yet. i am over whelmed with weeds.
I have been working too much and have had little time to relax and pull weeds.
It has been a great summer so far. i love the cooler weather. How about you?
Julie
Same here...too busy to pull weeds but I'm eking away at it.
Life is just too hectic.
Always something going on.
Today we're off to take the grandkids to a movie and lunch.
I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable at this point and dare say that the JB numbers are definately down this year!
I've gone from plague levels (literally thousands) to numbers
I can hand pick/drown daily
Apparently the Milky Spore is doing its job !already! so folks its well worth the money. Make sure to use the powder not the granules.
You can get Milky Spore cheaper online than through local businesses.
Go for it!
Mine are just as bad this year as last year...on everything. We have two acres and putting down milky sport would cost an arm and a leg....so guess I will just hand pick them 10 times a day!
Report from Port Huron on the border of Canada on JBs. I used Milky Spore for the past three years. Infestation still coming. Neighbors brats probably. I find that if you work on the buggers late in day, they are sluggish and flip right in the soapy water. Killing them with my "gloved" fingers has created a "pscho" in me! Especially when I get two in the act of making many more!!!! My husband calls me a murderer. I told him that the real criminal is the person who brought these bugs from overseas to kill the infestation of the look-a-like lady bugs that overwhelmed us a few years back. Never pays to mess with mother nature! Also, there is no flower other than lilies that they won't try! Shocked to see them eating the salvia stems.
Keep Killing,
NanaNook
ugh ugh ugh
they are chewing my valley forge to brown lace leaves. I must spray tomorrow, or else.
I didn't know 4 oclocks were toxic to JB, thanks for the tip Cottage!!!
I will pllant lots next year from seed to get them going.
sher
Wiggley Paw
If you would like I have a good stash of 4-0-clock seeds from last year, I can send to you for postage....let me know....My 4-0-clocks come up as volunteers every year in the same spot, the west side of my house....
Deann
I only found that one on my wave Petunia, thank goodness. I have never had enough flowers here for them to eat before. LOL
One thing I have noticed. I have lillies for the first time this year. I hate to mention it, because there are many many tastey fat buds out there yet, but I have flowers.
The deer, of course, wait until I get the nice buds and mow them all off in one day. Last year they even ate the yellow ones that they don't even like.
We did have part of our woods select cut. Are the deer just eating the new tree growth (that is plentiful) or have I just shot off all the lilly eaters in past hunting seasons. I am not sure, but I am seeing what color some of the lillies are that I planted years ago.
sarv we have 5 acres and I simply applied it to the area around
my house and flowers. One container covers alot of lawn.
I got 2 containers of the MS powder and they cost around $70. -$80 each.
Even if you can only apply one container this year and one next year
its well worth it.
I've even noticed the Mole activity this year is way down.
Not sure why Nana has not gotten any results from using MS???
Did you use the powder?
Gotta go to work...more later.
Here's some info on Milky Spore....
Milky Spore is a one time application using only one teaspoonful every 4 feet in a checker board pattern on your lawn, or use the Lawn and Garden Dispenser.
Apply anytime the ground is not frozen.
Ten year performance quarantee on the Japanese Beetle Grub
(can last up to twenty years).
Not harmful to man, animals or the environment, safe to use around water ways.
Kills the grub stage of the Japanese Beetle.
Natural bacteria eats the grub from the inside.
Does not harm beneficial insects.
Application Info:
MilkySpore is applied every four feet using one teaspoon
or the Lawn and Garden Dispenser.
Your lawn will look like a grid pattern or checker board.
Apply just before it rains or water in gently for about fifteen minutes.
10oz-will treat 2,500 sq ft
40 oz-will treat 10,000 sq ft
10 oz MilkySpore - $29.99
40 oz Milkyspore - $89.99 (less on Amazon.com)
Don't waste your money on the applicator.
I simply dumped it by the teaspoon to my left and my right as
I walked along. Make sure to water it in.
Some of the powder doesn't completely dissolve even after you
water it in but don't worry about it.
The powder is just the carrier and the MS will soak into the ground.
Don't use the cheaper granules.
Vickie,
I have used it too but here is the official word on Milky Spore in Mich. from MSU....
This is from the MSU Horticulturalists to a Master gardeners Ques. in their news letter:
"Roots & Shoots
Master Gardener Society of Oakland County
August / September 2005
Does milky spore work here?
Milky spore is not recommended for Michigan. Its life cycle does not match the beetles' life cycle in our climate. Milky spore does not last."
So even though i have done 2 applications now in 20 years I am not sure if it worked or not. I have never been infested with jap. beetles. Maybe that is why..... maybe not?
Julie
Julie
I spray my roses and flower beds with the same stuff I spray the fruit trees with and everything looks good. I mix a product called Conserve with fruit tree spray and add a little Liquid Fence in and I'm good to go. I have an agricultural sprayer that shoots 30' in the air so I can reach pretty much everything. We also spray for spiders around the house and inside the fence. I think it deters grubs and about 100 other bugs. Of course it isn't organic but before we started spraying we were getting those orange beetle bugs in the house and wasps and everything else. I hate spiders etc. We're in the woods and it can get bad here. Our soil is sandy so it's prone to ants which translates to aphids and it controls that. I hate it when I get wooly aphids infection on my tri colored beech trees. I paid a lot of money for those trees and I'm not letting some bugs eat it up or anything else for that matter. Our veggie garden is a long ways from the house and I don't use anything in there. It's all organic and I'll share my food with the bugs. I plant plenty for us all. :)
I think if you put a few chickens in your yard they'd eat all the grubs and bugs up for you.
Just saw this thread on recent posts so I'm reporting from the northeast that here on Long Island, at least in our gardens, the numbers are way down from last year, thankfully.
Julie I'm totally not understanding what that means because Milky Spore does not have a life cycle.
Its in the soil all the time and so therefore attacks the grubs when they are there.
All I know is I've had HUGE numbers....thousands for the last 4 years....put down MS last summer and now this year numbers are way down.
Milky Spore can last up to 10 years in your soil.
It eventually dies out when there are no more grubs to keep it going
at which time you will need top reapply it.
This message was edited Jul 20, 2009 8:55 AM
Do you think the cold weather has anything to do with lower numbers of insects in general this year?
I do believe beetle grubs burrow below the freeze line anyway so don't think that would adversely effect them.
I'm going to have to do some research on this.
Just a thought...if the lesser numbers of JB were due to winter kill it didn't effect the other scarab beetles (Rose Chafers) that I get and I seem to have plague levels of rose slugs and aphids this year...so I'm thinking it wasn't the weather.
I went out on my JB hunt today and didn't find a single one....very strange!!
They tend to hunker down during cool or rainy days which is what we had today in west Michigan. I just hand picked about 20 before coming in tonight. They were all sluggish acting due to the cool weather.
busy busy summer but i have seen some and what looks like them but BIGGER!
HOPE all your summers and gardens are great!!!
need rain here!!!!!!!!!
Hello Vickie and all..
I have not seen many but tonight while looking closely at as many plants as i could i came across
a pink wisteria that the jap. b. are eating alive!!
The tips are curled up and i found 2+ beetles in every new growth that possibly would have budded if not for these invaders eating it!!
Well so much for not having many. I will say I see no other real ill effects. But then again as i said i have never had a problem with them and basically still don't. No roses being eaten. Well I will be on the hunt in the morning to see if I am still ok.
Julie
oh ya Aphids have really gotten the lupines this yr!! GROSS!!!
Last year I didn't see a single one but (knock on wood) only one this year.
I have never applied Milky Spore but if they come back like in past years I definetly will.
Absence of the grubs = absence of moles.
Well, milky spore is our only "natural" hope so will keep using it. I found that if I take some Murphy's oil soap, Listerine, and put in my hose sprayer, it helps keep them at bay from my roses. Thank you all for your comments. It helps to know we are in this fight together!
NanaNook
Japanese Beetles are slowly moving across the country and while I've had them for the last 4 years or so I have a gardener friend (in Michigan) that has none (despite having alot of roses) but I have sandy soil and he has heavy clay soil.
That makes a big difference regarding where they move in.
They like soil they can easilly burrow into to lay their eggs.
So clay soil isn't so bad after all! ;o)
Nana please share your recipe.
brseaton - I've definately noticed less mole activity this year.
Our lawn use to be one big Mole playground...now we just have a few tunnels and we've killed 2 so far this year. Yeah!
Hey Vickie,
I am with you on the 'low mole ' activity since I have put down Milky Spore.
However MSU's official statement on the Milky Spore in test trials is it does not work as promised.
That is their official stance.
Check out this great page from one of their sites on the grub and it's life cycle and it's possible effective cures.
http://www.turf.msu.edu/docs/E0010TURF.pdf
Julie
This message was edited Jul 22, 2009 12:03 PM
