I have used surround mixed with neem two times and the spray appears to work well. I’m pretty sure you will need to apply again as it washes off. Last year I used neem water spray with good results. This is a short term trail so I’m still evaluating the results. The temperature is getting around 90 so I only used a half portion of the neem in my surround/neem spray. My opinion is that it is an effective organic control.
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The effectiveness of Sevin against Japanese beetles is undeniable. But as mentioned it does need to be reapplied after a hard rain. Yesterday I used the spray concentrate instead of the dust. I sprayed all of my trees. Today I haven’t seen a single beetle. All I see are lots of dead ones in the mulch below my trees. When the are initially hit with spray they scurry around for about 30 minutes. It makes you question if it is working. But a few hours later it looks like a beetle wasteland. The leaves now have a white haze similar to a weak coating of surround. But it will rinse off in the rain.
This is what it looks like below my small CJ bush that I just planted a few months ago.
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It rained yesterday. Here are pics from my buddy’s lake where we do a lot of grafting and plants-general. He got .9 inches. The Japanese beetles today were in the 100’s on trees.
Beetles “topworking” our fine grafting work:
This is after grabbing the branch for the third time and each time 20 fell off, lol.
More lovely photos:
Dax
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Nasty bugs. One year i had them really bad on my sweet cherry…then the past few years they’ve been very light so i don’t know what is up…haven’t seen any yet.
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Looks like a Hitchcock movie.
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Numbers are increasing here. We probably haven’t yet reached peak Japanese beetle for the year.
Only found one on my Whitegold cherry. It was very very sluggish so I am hoping it had too much of the spinosad/Bt brew the tree it was sprayed with.
I am traveling for work tomorrow thru Friday. I was only able to spray my small trees with some of this leftover mix in a hand sprayer. And I sprayed my grafts. I didn’t have time to mix a tank full and spray all my trees. I am hoping they don’t completely wreak havoc while I am gone.
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I believe Sevin Spray may be less harmful than dust to bees working the flowers beneath treated trees. I had read the dust is carried back to the hive where workers try to clean contaminated bees.
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First one today, in the rose petals
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I sprayed Sevin concentrate at 2 oz p/g and the trees were free of JB’s for the rest of the day, but they returned the next day - not in huge numbers but a good plenty walking over whitened leaves… I mixed at 3 oz and we’ll see if it’ll keep the next wave off. I’m beginning to wonder if they’re not becoming Sevin resistant!
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The thing I hate about Japanese beetles is that if you ignore them for just a day or so they can do some serious damage to the leaves of young trees. They have an affinity for plum and cherry leaves in my orchard. In the past they have completely ignored my apricots. Go figure.
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They focus entirely on my cherry and pluot tree to the exclusion of anything else.
I’m considering a lawn spray for the grubs, but I’m not sure what to use. I’m hesitant to use Triazide or the Bayer ‘kill everything’ sprays.
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This year I think I am reaping the unwanted (and unexpected) side-effects of using the JB traps on my property last year. Although I caught a lot, I also attracted a lot and those not caught stayed/ pupated(?) in my yard. About 3 years ago I put down Milky Spore. It did nothing and the traps made it worse.
Someone up thread noted that they come out after a rain. After a gully washer about 2 weeks ago I saw some and went out with modified water jug and stick and removed them. I expected to do this every day (for sport, LOL) and it was as if that was all there were…until the next gully washer. So with every heavy rain a new flush of JBs appear. They love the cherries and almonds as well as plums.
Maybe a neighbor will put up a trap in their yard. Oh wait, why would they need to?
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That’s what I was telling my friend, yesterday. He asked if I had any new remedies and I said I like to pluck them one by one or by the handful, and hurtle them in a bucket of water to drown them!
Dax
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Anne, depending upon where you live and your soil you have to put down milky spore up to three times then you are finished. Really works and is worth the money!
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Yeah but what if my neighbors don’t, and they don’t have cherry or plum or almond trees? And I think the product info says reapplication is needed after 8-10 years or something. Anyway, my application may have worked - don’t know - but my trees are sufficient attractants for the whole neighborhood. Sigh. Here’s hoping the numbers decrease or my neighbors put up traps.
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Is there a tree cover/mesh that can be utilized for the adults span of time that would provide both protection to the leaves of the trees, but may also provide the same essential protection as bagging to maturing fruits?
I had planned on reading about nets this morning but I didn’t get around to it. Bagging is on my 20-years ahead ‘bucket list.’
Dax
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Use Surround! It works! You only need to re-apply after 1" of rain, its on patrol 24/7 meanwhile.
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Someone posted a photo just a day or so ago - the “Big Bug” net. American Nettings sells them
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I did an experiment last night, where I put 4 captured JB’s in a jar with apple leaves freshly treated with Spinosad+Bt to see how they fared after eating it. This morning the ones that seem to have been eating looked like they were acting sluggish. But none appeared dead. I think only two were eating. One wanted nothing to do with it. And the other was mating with another that was eating.
However, I could not round up enough JB’s without using a ladder to make a control group, so I’m not sure of my conclusions so far. I will try again with a larger sample size when I’m back home, and this time with a positive (Sevin) and negative control. 
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I used a net curtain from Ikea, threw it on the grape vine and stapled the sides together. Works pretty well. Last year I did the same thing with tulle and I did it way ahead of JB arrival time so by the time they arrived it was ripped apart and didn’t work too well. Net curtain is stronger than tulle. Plus I did it only a week ago so it’s still in good shape. I don’t have much other bug pressure so this is mostly for JBs.
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