View Single Post
  #5   Report Post  
Old 08-07-2020, 06:28 AM posted to rec.gardens.edible
Snag Snag is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Mar 2011
Posts: 149
Default Japanese Beetles

On 7/7/2020 5:54 AM, songbird wrote:
Snag wrote:

Were eating my beans up pretty badly , but I'm somewhat controlling
their numbers now . I sprayed the plants - blue lake pole beans - before
they flowered with some fruit tree spray (checked with my Plant Guru
first , she said it was OK) that has permethrin and neem oil and that
worked fairly well . Once they flower I can't use pesticides because of
the bees , so I'm drowning the bugs in soapy water . What I'm doing is
holding a gallon size ice cream container with an inch or so of soapy
water in it under the leaf they're on . I touch or shake the leaf , they
land in the soapy water and drown . Early in the morning is a good time
as is late afternoon/early evening - but you can find them just about
any time of day . I'm not preventing all the damage , but I'm reducing
it enough that it's not a big deal . And this year the beans are loaded
loaded with blossoms and teeny tiny beans . I am optimistic ...


if you put the JBs in soapy water they will drown
but you will be surprised by how long that can take.
longer than an hour or two. they must go into some
hibernation state.

i was taking them and throwing them at the end of
the driveway for the birds to eat. after a while
they would start crawling away.

i haven't seen any yet this year but they will be
around. i greatly reduced the number of how many
are around by getting rid of the wild grape vines.
i see some vines are starting up again so i'll
have to get back there again and cut it back. always
fun on a slope.


Also , the tomatoes are doing very well , loaded with fruit and
blossoming like crazy . We've started picking cucumbers and a few
peppers (California Wonder red/green and Anaheims) and the bees are
doing very well , putting up lots of honey . Everything seems to be
going well this year - I think it's partly because I'm spending more
time out there and partly due to fertilizing with generous quantities
of rabbit droppings ...


it's been so hot here i'm not sure how many fruits
are setting yet, but i do see some and plenty of
blooms. lack of rain keeps me watering every two or
three days. the beans are not doing all that great
but they'll perk up once we get a few good rains.

i'm starting to see some flowers here or there.


songbird


I usually let those beetles stay in the water overnight , I'm kinda
tracking daily numbers . We got 3/4" of rain this afternoon ... one of
my Roma plants currently has 16 tomatoes on it , from bean-sized up to
some pretty big ones , but nothing ripening yet . We've got a lot of
wild grapes here too , but it would be nearly impossible - and
definitely impractical - to get rid of them all . Those black beans only
germinated about 7 or 8 seeds , and I didn't water them quite when they
needed it so only 4 plants survived . Seed for another try !
--
Snag
Illegitimi non
carborundum