The past few years I have had luck treating the trees and shrubs in my garden with a systemic used in the soil applied in early spring or late winter. The past two years have not seen any signs of them till last fall. The raccoons and birds have done a good job keeping the larvae stage of the grub out of the lawns and pastures. If you see 1-2” tiny mounds in lawn areas you have grubs. Milky spores is a naturally occurring bacteria and is a biological control agent used to target and kill Japanese beetle grubs during larval stage of the beetle causing a disease that spreads through the soil. It has to be injected under the grass roots every few inches to be effective.
When I was in Germany my sister-in-law and her daughter were filling their compost pile with coffee grounds. Well, it turns out, after I googled it, that June bugs (Japanese Beetles) love to lay their eggs in coffee grounds. One morning I came outside to see a hatch of June bugs covering about a square meter on the second floor wall of the house. I got bombarded with them flying from the compost to the house !! Hence, I never put coffee grounds in my compost pile.
Flying insects in swarms like Japanese beetles can be overwhelming. Have had similar issue . The terrifying flight of the yellow jackets chased me in the house after running over a nest with the tractor. I use a systemic to keep the Japanese beetles from attacking my trees in the garden.
Been there, done that with the yellow jackets. Our farm hand, Sqeeky ( that's his nickname !! ) was bushhogging the east field and I got the not-so-bright idea to bring him a gatoraide. I just missed him as he passed by the gate so, I walked out there waving to get his attention when zap, zap, zap !! Walked right into a ticked-off group of yellowjackets. Needless to say, he didn't get his gatoraide right then !!
Well as everyone knows those YJ are a nasty bunch. I couldn’t out run them on my tractor. When took my sweater off I had them in places I din’t know I had. I swelled up something awful. However , have survived many other interactions in the garden/pastures, with insects and critters. It’s always something.
Please be watchful of ticks !! In 2022 I was putting in my shade garden and a tick crawled up my pant leg. It was a tiny seed tick and I never noticed it hidden in the back of my right knee. The next day, when I got in the shower, a full grown, but not engorged tick was crawling down my leg. Needless to say, I got Lime disease, human Parvo virus, and Epstein Barr, or mononucleosis, as it's called, all from one tiny seed tick. Now, I tuck my pants inside my socks so ticks can't crawl up my leg anymore. I'd rather have the yellow jacket stings !! I was sick for ,18 months !!
Annie what a story and so many horrible diseases from ticks. Even mice turds can cause hunta virus - pulmonary syndrome. My biggest fear are the young bob cats in spring. Always hanging out to snag the quail that hatch in spring.
Oh come on !!! you had to post "(thats his nickname)" ?? Like when he was born , and his Mom was holding him in the hospital bed, and the nurse came in and said "what are you gonna name him?" And the Mom said, "I was always fond of the name Sqeeky" And the nurse said "thats an odd name Mrs. Clean"
I had a lot of Bobcats when I was on our farm just south of here. In spring when they were in heat, they'd scream from down back in the sinkhole and you would swear you had just stepped on a cat's tail right there at the barn. They snatched four of my barn cats !! I had a little flamepoint kitten with blue eyes show up and when I took him to the Vet, the Vet said: "This cat is part wildcat !! He grew to 16" at the shoulder and do not touch him if you aren't me. He would swat you so fast and hard that you wouldn't even know you were bleeding.
