Japanese Beetle

Just wanted to show you a dead Japanese Beetle. Evidently, something in the geranium kills them. I have seen this more than once.

Hi birder,
interesting concept,do you think the gerainium gives off a chemical that japanese beetles ca not tolerate.I use a copper
oxide fungacide on my roses and have reduced the beetle pop
considerably.does the geranium control the total population or only beetles that feed on the geraniums? I will contact my friend at the university science dept. and see if he can do an analysisof the geranium plant to see if there is a extract we could spray directly on our plants and eliminate the beetle problem completely.Thanks for the heads up.
Georgiacat ( robert )

I have only found the dead beetles on the geranium. Interestingly, it's the salmon colored geraniums. I have white ones and red ones, and I don't find beetles on them--dead or alive. I have found dead beetles on this colored geranium last year and again this year. I thought it was interesting also.

There is something in the Geranium that causes paralysis in Jap beetles....they usually recover with 24 hours, but in the garden, they are usually eaten by predators before they recover.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2010/100308.htm

http://uconnladybug.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/%E2%80%98orange-appeal%E2%80%99-geraniums-lure-japanese-beetles-to-their-death-or-at-least-give-them-a-nasty-hangover/

The ones I have had on my geranium were dead---they were there for days.

Perhaps they ingested more of the geranium petals than the ones in the lab....either way, the answer is yes, geraniums do help control Japanese beetles.

does anyone think planting geraniums among your special plants might control without having to spray? Secondly, is
the toxin given off by geraniums indicative of all species or varieties of geranium? J.beetles do not destroy my rose plants only the blooms.
I have not heard back from my friend at the university,but i wonder if an extract could be taken or processed from the geraniums and applied directly.

Georgiacat

Hey Georgiacat....did you check out these links?

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2010/100308.htm

http://uconnladybug.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%CB%9Corange-appeal%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2-geraniums-lure-japanese-beetles-to-their-death-or-at-least-give-them-a-nasty-hangover/

It is my understanding that scientists are working on ways to use the Geranium zonale species(so far the only one) for control. I would imagine planting zonal Geraniums around special plants would help protect them from Japanese beetles.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/mar10/garden0310.htm

thanks to themoonhowl,
I appreciated the info,Do you know if it is a specific variety of
geranium?

georgiacat

Yes, It the the Pelargonium zonale , called horseshoe geranium. the one grown as an annual and used for bedding plants.

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantnop/pelargzonale.htm

http://www.provenwinners.com/plants/pelargonium/daredevil-mulberry-zonal-geranium-pelargonium-zonale

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