I am planning on continuing to use beneficials to control disease and insects on my roses in 2026. Does anyone have experience using nematodes to control Japanese Beetles?
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Diane - JB’s are the worst pest for me here in central Michigan. I’ve tried pretty much everything over the years. The beetle-bag traps are absolutely the worst. Even following the directions and setting them a few hundred feet from my garden still brought in every beetle in the county. DON”T use the beetle bags, whatever you do. Next I tried the milky spore treatment for a few years. This might have had a slight effect, but not really enough to justify the cost. I hand-picked for years (and still do) but the biggest improvement was a suggestion from a fellow grower who uses bird houses. He’s over on the west side of the state with several hundred roses, and he says he rarely has a beetle thanks to his half-dozen or so bird houses spread throughout his yard. I put up a few and also a jelly oriole feeder and saw a significant reduction in beetle damage. I built bird houses over the winter and put a few out last spring - I highly recommend them. (I sell a few at our farmer’s market if you’re interested next spring.)
Thank you Dan - I remember years ago at a different home that the birds liked the beetles. I have a bird feeder but perhaps I should add a few. Funny Story - in my current garden/home I started with the bird feeder in the rose garden to keep the beetles under control. After many canes of my hybrid teas were broken, I one day saw the problem. Squirrels were using my roses to try to get to the feeder!! That’s when I moved it to the other side of the yard.