i`ve been growing peppers for 4 years now and with almost to problems with pests. today i went outside and found about 8 japanese beetles, 1 on each plant and all were on exactly the same place on each plant. they were perched on the very top of a branch where new leaves form. i`ve never dealt with them but i knew they are bad news so i flicked them off the plants nice and hard. went back out a couple hours later and no sign of them. do they have a long lifespan? are they around for a long time? what is the best plan of attack?Â
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japanese beetle battle plan needed.
- Thread starter luvmesump3pp3rz
- Start date
I have had hundreds of thousands to millions of japanese beetles around my house each year for the last several years as we have a few trees they like, with all those beetles I have never saw any eating on pepper plants. I would see one every once in a while on the plants but never a problem, i did though one year have some munching on a tomato plant which was weird as they usually don't bother those either
I don't think that Japanese beetles really present you a problem with peppers, but that's not to say they can't. They're pretty voracious eaters when they decide to have a go. They'll eat all the leaf tissue that isn't structural. Leaves with nothing but veins.
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My advice is always going to be the same - use Neem sprays as a preventative. Every week during noticed infestations, every 2 weeks, otherwise.
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They live about 40 days, but if you use the Neem, you'll disrupt their reproductive cycle. (if they eat your plant)Â They are way more of a threat to your lawn in the grub stage.
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My advice is always going to be the same - use Neem sprays as a preventative. Every week during noticed infestations, every 2 weeks, otherwise.
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They live about 40 days, but if you use the Neem, you'll disrupt their reproductive cycle. (if they eat your plant)Â They are way more of a threat to your lawn in the grub stage.
Like you Luv I've had practically no issue wit aphids or trips that I read about all the time.
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As far as this issue goes I'd start here.>U-MASS info and your title mentions "battle plan", I found this.>How to Control Japanese Beetles which includes a multi-prong plan.
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As far as this issue goes I'd start here.>U-MASS info and your title mentions "battle plan", I found this.>How to Control Japanese Beetles which includes a multi-prong plan.
that`s good to hear. i kind of freaked me out having never had them to suddenly having them on half of my plants all at once. i checked again this morning and didn`t see any.Âsolid7 said:
They come suddenly and disappear just as suddenly, leaving mass destruction to the unprepared. 
They only attacked my green beans and columnar apple trees. As soon as they showed up I sprayed those with Fungicide 3 and it cut them way down.
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Unfortunately too many homeowners don't understand that those Bag-A-Bugs attract them by the millions.
They only attacked my green beans and columnar apple trees. As soon as they showed up I sprayed those with Fungicide 3 and it cut them way down.
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Unfortunately too many homeowners don't understand that those Bag-A-Bugs attract them by the millions.
I can tell you that the beetles wipe out my in-laws cherry tree pretty much every year and they will put a hurting on black berries and raspberries. My in-laws use the bag a bug type traps , my FIL dumps boiling water on the beetles he catches. When I have to dump the traps, I take them over to the pond and dump them in the water, hardly any escape once they hit the water. The fish make the water boil going after them.
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thanks for the links. those are bookmarked. i really want to not spray anything unless it`s a last resort. i figure the spray will harm the good insects along with the bad. so far i`ve been lucky.ÂThe_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
Âluvmesump3pp3rz said:
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ÂThe_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
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Wish I could say the same as you guys. Aphids and whites fly are out in force this year down here. Its brutal, a plant can go from clean to heavy infested before you know it around here... Then the broad mites, omg they suck.
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The ladybugs/wasp/etc, all help, but with the ants transporting/harvesting the Aphids too other plants all over the garden, to harvest/grow the aphid honey doo, its hard for any natural predator to keep up with team Aphids/Ants.
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The local nursery just told me about an infestation they just had, some type of bug that gets in the pepper plant stem and eats it from the inside out..?
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Suppose we have a compromise, you get lots less pests but a short grow season, we get a all year grow season(kind of..?) but have to deal with voracious teams of pests on a constant basis...
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Âacs1 said:
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I'm already over that, where I am. Scale and root aphids were a huge problem for me early on this season. I doubled down on my Neem schedule, and once the scale and root aphids couldn't really produce for the ants, that problem went away. Whitefly requires you to be VERY persistent. Still, I just use the Neem, but it takes 3 weeks, minimum, to really knock that problem down. Once you get the whitefly away from your plants, you make a huge dent in the broad mites, also, because the broad mites ride in on the legs of the whitefly.
Âacs1 said:
You don't need to tell me about whiteflies! I believe I brought those buggers back from SWFL this year on some peppers and tomatoes I'd started while there. I've never seen whiteflies like I have this year and can't seem to break that life cycle. But, Neem is the path I'm taking and I will win!
yeah florida is notorious for bugs being nasty. last year my wife had kale growing and it was getting infested with white flies pretty badly. my pepper plants were only 15 or 20 feet away but never were bothered. i assume the white flies prefered the kale. good luck with fighting them off.Âacs1 said:
