Monday, July 18, 2016

Update on My Japanese Beetle Trap Hack

In THIS post last Thursday, I showed you that a raccoon was using the collection bags on my Japanese Beetle traps as a convenient source of snacks ... ruining the bags in the process.  I reworked the traps by replacing the plastic bag with a half-gallon milk jug.  

Is this new container catching beetles?

Mugging for the camera, as I was out with my trash bag to empty the beetle jugs.


Yes, it is ... just as well as the bag did, I think.  After two days in place, and each of my three traps was half full of beetles.  

What about the raccoon?



The game camera captured one raccoon photo last night, an action shot.  The little guy looks frustrated to me.  I see no damage to the trap ... so far.

Beetle season is definitely waning, as I'm finding fewer and fewer of them during my morning trips through the garden to hunt them out and drop them into my bucket of soapy water.  

I can't wait till they're gone.

19 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Me, too! It's nice to have at least one thing around here that works as I hoped it would. :)

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  2. I can't wait either...though I have to admit the season was a little lighter than last year. Could it be that the deer cleaned all buds off of roses under 6 ft tall? Might be. My rhubarb has holy leaves though. Hate those buggers!

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    1. This season has been a bit better than last year, but it's still nasty. Last Monday we had a spike in beetle population, and each of my three traps filled up that day. Ewwww. Since then, numbers have been declining.

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  3. I used your trap hack and it is working GREAT!!! A milk jug or large water bottle is soooo much better than those bags and cheaper, too. Thanks for the tip. PS I gave you a shout out on my blog.

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    1. Hi, Jan! I'm really glad that you tried this AND that it's working for you. Now I'm off to see what your blog is all about. See you in a minute. :)

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  4. Replies
    1. As they used to say on "The A Team" ... I love it when a plan comes together!

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  5. Yay, you outwitted the rascally racoon.

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    Replies
    1. Outwitted him for now, at least. I hope the beetles are gone by the time he puts together a Plan B.

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  6. loved seeing the little varmint all frustrated!!! left a comment on your post from Thursday- hope you have a solution for me:)

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  7. Glad it worked.
    Maybe you could leave a treat for Rocky away from the jug before he returns to it again?
    LOL!

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    Replies
    1. Still working, and Beetle season is appearing to be winding down. Fingers crossed!

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  8. I'm astonished that there's anything a raccoon can't get into.

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    1. The raccoon could defeat this, but I think he's just not willing to bother. My camera hasn't captured any more pics of him, so he appears to have moved on to easier pickings.

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  9. I hate, hate, hate Japanese beetles!! This is my first summer of having them invade my yard. Gonna have to give this a try.

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    Replies
    1. Sorry that you have JBs ... I hate them, too. If yours are bad enough to warrant trapping, you can stick with the standard trap bags if you don't have varmints tearing them up. It's so much easier to toss a full bag than it is to deal with the stinky chore to dump and rinse the milk jugs. For me, it's been a necessity to keep the raccoon at bay.

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  10. That trap idea is so brilliant ♥

    summerdaisy.net

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