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| I have seen TWO immature japanese beetles while digging, not ONE mature beetle, all season.
I'm wondering if it's the weather or if my milky spore has finally done them all in?
I'm in the Hudson Valley, NY.
What I have had, is about half a dozen different kind of saw fly, each specializing in their respective hosts. I'd say more than previously. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by gardenweed_z6a 5b/6a N CT (My Page) on Thu, Sep 1, 11 at 18:16
| I don't "do" roses, but the JBs are usually here every year on other plants. This year there were fewer of them and I didn't do milky spore or any other deterrent. They were on my wandflower (gaura) back in early August but I only saw them for a few days and didn't see them on other perennials. Dare we cherish the hope they are a dying/soon-to-be-extinct species? Thanks for posting this...I'll be interested to hear what other gardeners have to say. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Thu, Sep 1, 11 at 18:50
| agree.. the JB plague skipped me this year.. this year it was stinkbugs ... ken |
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| The JBs pretty much skipped us also in South Western PA. A gathering of maybe 20 were eliminated in one fell swoop on one of my 6 Serviceberry trees. None seen on the other trees. I delightedly squished between thumb and forefinger perhaps another 20 or so in various places in the yard during July and that was all I encountered. Previous years they have numbered in the tens of thousands it seems. I have not used milky spore. I am blaming our very wet, cold spring for this good fortune. |
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| I was pleased to see a much lesser infestation here this year than usual in central Ohio. The JBs arrived later and in smaller numbers, necessitating only a few rounds of spraying, then disappeared altogether in early August (usually they're a plague until sometime after Labor Day). I'm not complaining. I suspect this is only a lull and we'll see more normal populations in future years. |
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| I did not see any I also live in SW Pennsylvania. But I am like Ken the stinkbugs were crazy. Maybe the stink bugs ate the beetles. It seems there is not much info about them. |
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| We had stinkbugs here too, early spring/spring. They did no damage that I could see, just annoying and, well, stinky. The sawfly are another matter, my mugo pines have been infested four times. Part of a birch got stripped before I caught those. The hibiscus are all skeletonized. So the lack of JBs seems widespread. |
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| Well, this is the FIRST year I have ever seen a JB. They seemed to arrive in July and only attacked the roses. I did a survey of my neighbors and they all had the same problem - rose flowers were eaten to nothingness. Luckily I only have a few plants, so it wasn't a big deal. I watched and looked very carefully for a couple of weeks and no other plant was attacked. Weird. Kevin |
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| Ditto on the lower numbers of JB here in Central NJ. . . my Persicaria 'Firetail' is usually my bellweather - they swoop down in late June/early July and virtually strip it naked, not a leaf remaining ! The first time that happened, I was so bummed I didn't even bother to rip the plant out, as other perennials were quickly covering up the damage - much to my surprise, the Persicaria leafed out again, AND bloomed, AND spread, and seemed to be none the worse for wear. . .and this bizarre cycle has continued most seasons, but not this year - no JB. There were a few on just ONE of the shrub roses in August, despite the possible choice of over a dozen roses -are they selective this way? And are we just being set-up for a total devastation NEXT year? Let's not consider that happy thought until we finish with Irene's mess. . . ! Carl |
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| Kevin, that's very odd. In my garden they would hit the few roses first, then a huge Vitis 'coignetiae' which would end up looking terrible. If they come back next year, I'm going to repeat the milky spore treatment. |
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| We've had a TON of Japanese beetles this summer. Walking through the neighborhood, some of the young street trees planted by the city this spring were completely covered in them. They've been all over my rose bushes, hollyhocks, river birches. They were even walking along the sidewalk (very easy smashing... My kids would ride over them with their bikes.) |
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- Posted by perennialfan273 zone 5 (My Page) on Sat, Sep 3, 11 at 16:14
| We've had some Japanese beetles here in Illinois, but they weren't nearly as bad as they were last year. I still couldn't keep them off my apple trees, their FAVORITE food in my yard... |
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| Oh, don't I wish! ~~ the damnable things are here, there, and everywhere in my gardens ~~~~~~ (northern burbs of Chicago) |
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| Looks like they all went to the upper Mid West, Wisconsin, Minneapolis... Maybe they knew about Irene? Anyone else had any noticeable results after M.S. treatment? |
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| We had a lot here near Chicago too. They seem to be very flexible in what they will eat. Previous years they totally destroyed our whole stand of cannas, but didn't touch them this year. We have them in large numbers on the raspberries every year, but the other plants vary. They also hit the pole beans, blueberries, cuphea, 4 o clocks, and rhubarb. I had heard four o clocks and rhubarb were toxic but apparently not. We went out several times a day with buckets of soapy water and got as many as we could find. I heard milky spore doesn't do much unless you can apply it to a very large area. Here I think they would just fly in from all the neighbors yards. |
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- Posted by echinaceamaniac 7 (My Page) on Sat, Sep 3, 11 at 17:51
| Milky Spores is useless. I used it and it didn't help at all. If your neighbors don't use it, the beetles will just come from their yard to your yard. |
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| I have no close neighbors that would have them, maybe that's why it appeared to work. There's also supposed to be a snow-ball effect; - one grub dies of it |
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| Here's another report from Western PA. Very, very few JBs in our area this year. AS a matter of fact, I would say that there were fewer in my area than there has been in many, many years. And we have not used MS in our yard. Keeping fingers crossed for next year.... Linda |
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| I attract many birds to my yard. Never had a problem with JB's ... I only pick them off by the 1's and 2's. Don't know if that is why my issue is minimal, but it sure can't hurt. I grow roses, cannas, rose of sharon...all the things they love. |
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