On 7/13/2015 8:44 PM, passerby wrote:
This year the Japanese beetle situation in my backyard here in SE PA is
simply dire - I have just disposed of the nine's bag, which probably gets
the total close to 12-15 pounds of bugs so far, and they keep coming! The
usual amount is perhaps 3-4 bags a season, and usually I don't dispose of
them because they are overflowing like this year, only because they start
smelling awful. This year I've also sprayed heavily, so the amount of
bugs
killed is staggering, yet they keep coming.
It just so happened that I put the first two traps up maybe a week in
advance of actually seeing the first bug. This got me thinking that
perhaps I have brought this on myself by attracting the first bugs by the
lure of the traps?

I have a plum tree and hollyhocks, both of which are very attractive
to Japanese beetles, so for several years I used traps on my property.
I got so fed up with the beetle invasion (they very nearly killed the
tree), I just. . . gave up.

Since I quit using the traps, the number of beetles afflicting my plum
tree and hollyhocks is but a small fraction of what I had when the
traps were in place. Live and learn.