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Dean Moriarty wrote:I've heard up setting up a drop cloth at night, then shaking the plants in the morning so the beetles will fall to the ground. Then you can dunk the drop cloth in soapy water to ensure they don't come back. Has anyone tried this?
An important distinction: Permaculture is not the same kind of gardening as organic gardening.
Mediterranean climate hugel trenches, fabuluous clay soil high in nutrients, self-watering containers with hugel layers, keyhole composting with low hugel raised beds, thick Back to Eden Wood chips mulch (distinguished from Bark chips), using as many native plants as possible....all drought tolerant.
Check out Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil
John Saltveit wrote:Jamie,
I don't understand. Why would wasps making picking thornless berries more painful than thorny berry plants?
Thanks,
John S
PDX OR
Check out Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil
John Wolfram wrote:Covering the blackberries with netting would probably be your best best if you want a reasonable amount of protection. I've tried most of the spectrum of things for fighting the beetles from companion planting to the toxic-ist of gick, and the Japanese Beetles are un-phased by most of it.
Alex Riddles wrote:Around here we trap them. The local garden shops carry traps that are made of a hanging plastic bag with a funnel in the top. On top of that there is a small canister of food and pheromone scents. I hung 2 of them 3 days ago and have collected about a gallon of beetles. In my experience the problem is reduced for several years because the pheromones attract the breeding population. To help with the trapping I shake my apple and plum trees several times a day. Hopefully once the Beetles are flying around they will find the trap. Even with the traps I am still experiencing some damage.
Japanese beetles are suseptable to milky spores during their larval stage. I looked into this several years ago when they first arrived in my area. I didn't think it was practical in my circumstances since you need to treat each square foot of soil. If they keep getting worse over the years I may reconsider this.
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Alex Riddles wrote:Suddenly I have swarms of Japanese Beetles. I think I made a huge mistake last summer. I had several traps out and caught a lot of beetles. I emptied the traps into a bucket put a lid on it and left it in the sun. When I opened the bucket the beetles were dead and smelled like ammonia. "Ammonia" I thought that's a good source of Nitrogen. I'll put it in the compost bin. My compost has not been getting as hot as it used to. So, some extra Nitrogen should help. Right?
Well, maybe not. I realize now that the city water supply contains chloramine and was poisoning the bacteria in my compost. The pile wasn't hot enough to kill the eggs and I spread them in my gardens this spring. At least that is my current working theory. So, I'm adding vitamin C to a bucket of water and letting it sit for several days before adding it to the compost. It's too early to know if I have fixed that problem. I'm currently looking for a rain barrel as a long term solution.
In the mean time, does anyone have advice on how to dispose of dead Japanese Beetles?
Japanese beetles are very high in protein content and as much as 40% of their body weight may be composed of protein. Because of this, they may be substituted for meat when cooking.
In fact, the World Health Organization has estimated that insects such as the Japanese beetle could supply much of the world with its needed protein content because of its plentiful in this and cheap cost.
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Standing on the shoulders of giants. Giants with dirt under their nails
Just the other day, I was thinking ... about this tiny ad:
turnkey permaculture paradise for zero monies
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