hand picking has reduced the japanese beetle
population by quite a bit, but the infestation
continues.

i suspect the numbers of beetles letting out
attractive scents is pulling in the beetles
from the entire area (depending upon the wind
direction).

the trend in picking and counts depends a lot
upon the amount of wind and what the temperature
is like when i get out to pick.

if it is cooler the beetles are not as active
and i can often reach them before they let go and
fall to the ground. if i'm able to get the
container under the clump of beetles then most of
them will fall in and be drowned. otherwise they
escape until i get another chance at them.

if it is windy then they don't notice me getting
nearby clumps of beetles and thus also more get
into the container.

with that all said, the past few days i've been
getting about 20 from the bean patches and between
50 and 100 off the wild grape vines. the peak last
week was around 300 beetles one day.

as i'm seeing new growth on the wild grape vines
that hasn't been getting shredded it has made a
difference. mostly i'm doing this hand picking to
keep them from shredding the beans too badly that
they won't have a decent crop. so far not too much
damage to the beans because i have been catching
them early.


songbird