I fail to understand the logic presented by experts who discourage using the Japanese beetle traps!! Of COURSE they are going to attract them! That's the main idea...trap them and then they DIE!! I cannot imagine going out to my raspberry garden and hand-picking thousands of these beetles off my plants every day! I have THREE traps going constantly, between my patch and my neighbors, emptying them every day, and sometimes more than that. In addition, I daily attack the ones that are feeding on leaves with my Hudson sprayer directly. If one could figure out how many of these devils I have killed off this summer, it would have to be thousands and thousands an thousands....that are NOT laying eggs now to produce more!! I think the traps are effective for about a 50 ft radius, as my other plants in the yard and my neighbors are free of infestation. SO the beetles seem to be concentrated in the raspberries, mine and my neighbors patches where they have been laying eggs for 3 years. I first spotted them about 3 years ago, and wondered what they were. I should've started killing them then, but after 3 years of going to ground and laying eggs by the millions, it's no wonder that we have the problem we have now. I intend to treat the ground under and around my raspberries and the surrounding area with grub killer this fall and next spring and summer. I researched which ones are the most effective, and hopefully next year I will have fewer beetles. But this is WAR folks. We are not ever going to be rid of these things completely, so keep on the offensive. Kill them on the leaves, Kill them in the traps, and Kill them in the ground!!
I fail to understand the logic presented by experts who discourage using the Japanese beetle traps!! Of COURSE they are going to attract them! That's the main idea...trap them and then they DIE!! I cannot imagine going out to my raspberry garden and hand-picking thousands of these beetles off my plants every day! I have THREE traps going constantly, between my patch and my neighbors, emptying them every day, and sometimes more than that. In addition, I daily attack the ones that are feeding on leaves with my Hudson sprayer directly. If one could figure out how many of these devils I have killed off this summer, it would have to be thousands and thousands an thousands....that are NOT laying eggs now to produce more!! I think the traps are effective for about a 50 ft radius, as my other plants in the yard and my neighbors are free of infestation. SO the beetles seem to be concentrated in the raspberries, mine and my neighbors patches where they have been laying eggs for 3 years. I first spotted them about 3 years ago, and wondered what they were. I should've started killing them then, but after 3 years of going to ground and laying eggs by the millions, it's no wonder that we have the problem we have now. I intend to treat the ground under and around my raspberries and the surrounding area with grub killer this fall and next spring and summer. I researched which ones are the most effective, and hopefully next year I will have fewer beetles. But this is WAR folks. We are not ever going to be rid of these things completely, so keep on the offensive. Kill them on the leaves, Kill them in the traps, and Kill them in the ground!!