Just asking, because I don’t know what happened to the annual plague, where I live (Central NY, very rainy). Haven’t spotted a single one and usually by this time of year they have already decimated my garden. Is it the wet weather? Are they just, I dunno, late this year?
I haven’t had any ant infestations, either.
Either we are lucky, or something has gone terribly wrong with the environment, or they’re just amassing somewhere in huge quantities before attacking.
Have you seen Japanese beetles, or june bugs, in your garden or flying around into your window screens at night?
I haven’t seen any of the smaller, more colorful Japanese beetles but there are plenty of june bugs. About two weeks ago, I noticed one of my 40’ pine trees was fairly well swarming with june bugs. I could stand out there listening to them softly buzzing and, being the bumbling clumsy fliers that they are, the many collisions with the tree branches was audible. A cardinal was also aware of the swarm and it was fun watching him hop around in the tree, cocking his head to and fro tracking and catching many juicy beetles.
(Suburban Maryland) I remember in the late 80s everyone had these things on their lawns and the neighborhood kids and I would get into them and fuck with the beetles, but after 1 or 2 summers they kind of just went away. I’m sure they are still around, but nobody is freaked out about them the way they were back then.
It would appear that all of the Japanese Beetles are committing hari-kari against my patio window somehow, and not making it as far east as Central NY. They are all carcases here in Cleveland.
Seriously - I’ve never seen this before. Little piles of them up against my window every morning. No idea why they are dying or where they are coming from, because I haven’t see any alive.
We’ve had the orange Japanese beetles (look like orange lady bugs) every year for a decade, but this year I haven’t seen many at all. Maybe the cycle has run its course, or they have moved on to orangier pastures.
Not yet. Usually by now all of my bushes are crawling with them. I don’t know if this will be a light year, or if they are massing outside of town, just waiting to attack.
I never even knew what one was until I visited back east in the summer time when I was in my twenties. They were astoundingly large. My friend fed them to her Jack Russell terrier. She snapped them up like candy.
I’ve seen exactly one Japanese beetle since I moved to Korea. I saw them all the time as a kid in the DC area, but now that you mention it, I haven’t noticed any there in years…
Maybe different areas have different infestations. June bugs are similar, I looked them up and there seem to be different sizes and colors. I always get the Japanese beetles, which are copper colored with greenish bits. All over my plants and creeping my window screens at night. Well, I’ll wait and see if the icky monsters show up.
Here in NJ I have not seen any this year. In 07 I think we had a statewide infestation. I would put out traps and if I forgot to check them everyday they would burst with hundreds of dead beetles. They covered the pool.
Huh…turns out we live in the same place so I can’t offer you any new information. I didn’t even notice the lack of june bugs until you brought it up. Good riddance. Crunchy bugs are the grossest bugs.
I remember seeing Japanese beetles every summer growing up up until around high school, when I stopped seeing them and started seeing lots of the above. No idea if they were related (like, maybe eradication efforts against the Japanese beetles caused a niche for another invasive species, or if the other one just “pushed out” the previous.)
Huh…well that’s where I live, and like I said, I can’t remember seeing any in a while…I’d say over ten years.
But IIRC, you’re in southern VT, right? Things are always a bit “iffy” down there.
None on my raspberry canes yet, but they usually don’t show up in MN until mid-July anyway. Last year my next-door neighbor put up traps, which attract far more than they kill. :smack: I asked him not to do that this year. Hopefully that will keep the numbers down.
