Hello everyone,
Here in Marion/Polk Counties I will sometimes find Japanese Beetles feeding on roses or fruit trees in my own, as well as my relative’s gardens, so I have been putting up traps in those locations. So far, I have not caught a single one in any of them, not even any scarabs either, so I’m wondering if these traps that can be purchased on Amazon actually work or not.
For anyone who is wondering what I have captured in those traps already, here is a list of the identified arthropods-
Apis mellifera-16
Coccinella septempunctata-21
Dolichovespula maculata-3
Zelus renardii-3
Lucilia sericata-38
Agapostemon virescens-12
Mulsantina picta-7
Cosmopepla uhleri-6
Genus Largus-8
Genus Limonius-13
Brassicogethes aeneus-14
Genus Eupithecia-9
Other Elateridae-7
Other Sap/Pollen feeding beetles-24
Other flies/moths/bees/tree-dwelling insects-47~
So far, all of the Japanese Beetles that I have ever found here in Oregon, have been either dead already, or were seen on a plant, only a few were even collected, all were by hand or net. The traps probably have never even come into contact with one of these beetles before.
**Shout Out to the Oregon Department of Agriculture-I found one of your Popillia japonica traps when I was collecting Metrius contractus in Polk County, West Salem the other day, and I noticed that there were a few jays taking beetles out of the trap and eating them. You guys may need a new trapping method! I found a few living ones that day also, and I went back to put them in the trap, but as soon as I was at the end of the street, I heard the jays, and saw them fighting over the traps contents. And, seriously, I think a new method is needed.
