Japanese beetle and a business idea :)

[czechsonofagun]

Just like every year, my vineyard is full of Jap beetles. I trap them and spray poison every so often but there must be thousands of them.

They eat vineyard leaves, knock out roses and some (brown) basket willows.

The traps are not as effective as they could be, I have bugs eating leaves right next to the trap and the trap is almost empty, not sure how to catch more. Ideas, anybody?

Anyway, here is a business plan: develop an effective Jap beetle trap and use something like hot air drum drier to kill and dehydrate the bugs. Sell dried japanese beetles to chicken farmers as a protein source - just like meal worms are sold today. What do you think?

 

[NorTracNY]

Maybe it would be better to develop a chicken rental service like sheep and goats are used to clear areas?

 

[teg]

The best thing to do is to convince your neighbor to put up Jap beetle traps... attract them away from your vines!!

The cow vac (link below) just uses air in a screened in area, they will dehydrate over time. You need to figure out how to "capture" them... If you figure something out, sign me up... we have tons of them.

Mainly you will want to look at killing them in the larva stage when they are over wintering in the ground, couple different options.


So I know that guy that created the prototype that became this: Fly Control With Cow Vac For Dairies – Vacuum Off Those Flies - Cow Vac - Spalding Labs

 

[TnAndy]

Milky spore bacteria....why Japanese beetles aren't a real problem in Japan.

Look it up.

 

[jcummins]

Gunieas

 

[sdef]

We also have Japanese Beetle problems in our area. On a smaller scale, these work okay in conjunction with other methods. No single method is adequate by itself we think: Shop Spectracide Bag-A-Bug Disposable Japanese Beetle Trap at Lowes.com. The bag only traps and does not kill but they seem to stay inside the bag.

 

[Creamer]

I used to put up Japanese beetle traps and then fed them to my laying hens - live. they loved them. i would dump them on the ground int he middle of the pen and hardly any got away.

 

[RobertBrown]

You could not get enough to make it worthwhile. Chickens and eggs are cheap, there is not enough money there.

 

[teg]

One of our friends used the top part of a Japanese beetle traps and metal pie plate underneath in their chicken pen. Chickens would hear the tin pan sound when a Japanese beetle hit the trap and they came running.

As for the: Spectracide Bag-A-Bug, the first "review" said it best: "...Understand that these work by ATTRACTING beetles. That is the first mistake! Put these bags out and you will have MORE beetles, not less. Japanese Beetles come from larva that develop from eggs laid in your soil the previous season. These traps will NOT stop the eggs from being laid, or from hatching. All they do, and several university studies have confirmed it, is attract more beetles to your yard to lay eggs. They also generate a stink unless you replace the bags daily.

There IS a better solution... it's Ortho Grub-ex, spread on your lawn in late spring before the larva hatch. We probably saw a 75% reduction in beetles in the first season and had almost none the following year...." continued....

Don't get me started about Bug Zappers either!!!!