Toad Abodes for Your Yard

Why would you want to have more toads in your yard? We are in the middle of summer and in the height of bug season! My yard has seen almost 5" of rain this week and I expect to see a rise in mosquitoes in a couple of weeks. I've already battled or tolerated Japanese beetles, leaf hoppers and spider mites this summer season. I don't use chemicals in the yard because of my wildlife habitat. My backyard birds, fish, and dragonflies are a big help. But do you know how helpful toads can be in the fight against unwanted insects? 

After reading this you may want to consider encouraging a toad or two to take up residence in your backyard or garden. One toad can eat up to 10,000 insect pests over the course of the summer. Toads like damp, shady areas and need shelter. If you want to attract a toad, you should provide a good home, or “toad abode” for it. Toads need water, too, so you should leave a tray of water near their abode. Line the toad’s home with leaf mold or leaf litter.  Don’t bring toads from elsewhere and put them in your yard (or let loose pet toads). You can find toad abodes at garden centers or online.

You can make your own toad abode using a broken flowerpot or half-bury a large flowerpot on its side in a shady spot. Or arrange flat rocks with a toad-size space underneath. Situate your toad abode in the shade--say, under a bush--and in the dampest spot in your yard, near a gutter downspout, air conditioner drip or in a low spot that collects rainwater.

Japanese Beetles!!!!

There is hardly a gardener out there who hasn't encountered a Japanese beetle. The adult Japanese beetle is a shiny, metallic green with copper-brown wing covers and it’s about 3/8-inch in length. Not all metallic green or copper beetles are Japanese Beetles To be sure of what you’re dealing with, you can look closely at the underside of the beetle and you’ll also see 5 small, white tufts under the wing covers and an additional tuft at the end of the abdomen.

Japanese beetle,  (species Popillia japonica), an insect that is was accidentally introduced into the United States from Japan about 1916, probably as larvae in the soil around imported plants. Japanese beetles are known to feed on more than 200 species of plants, including a wide variety of trees, shrubs, grasses, and nursery plants. They are gregarious insects, often feeding in large groups upon a single tree. A swarm of Japanese beetles can denude a peach tree in 15 minutes, leaving nothing but bare branches and the fruit pits. Keep in mind that the adult Japanese beetles are only around for a little over a month, so don’t automatically reach for the sprayer unless they become a serious problem. Some years are better than others.

Efforts are being made to control the spread of this pest. Poisonous sprays control the adult beetles but differ in the length of their protection against re-infestation. Several of the beetle’s natural enemies—species of parasitic wasps and flies that in Japan were found to prey on the larvae—have been imported into the United States, where some of them have become established. Of even greater promise as a biological control is a disease-inducing bacterium, Bacillus popilliae, which causes milky disease in larvae; its use has reduced Japanese beetle infestations in some areas.

Least Toxic Japanese Beetle Controls

There aren’t many natural controls for adult Japanese beetles. Birds aren’t partial to them and although some predatory wasps and flies have been imported, their population isn’t large enough yet to control the Japanese beetle problem.

The most effective natural control is to go into your garden with a jar of soapy water and knock the beetles into it. Japanese beetles feed in groups, starting at the top of plants, so it’s actually pretty easy to fill a jar with them.

Insecticidal soap will kill adult Japanese beetles only if it is sprayed directly on the beetle. It does not have any residual effect, meaning that beetles that aren’t sprayed directly won’t be harmed.

A word of caution about the pheromone beetle traps. They will attract beetles, but you’ll probably wind up with more beetles coming into your yard than you would have without the trap. The original intention of the traps was to track when and how many Japanese beetles were in the area, not as a means of eradication.

Finally, if you have repeated intense infestations, you should check your soil in late summer to see if you have a large grub population. Lift a 1 sq. ft. section of turf. If there are more than a dozen grubs in this small area, consider treating your lawn with some type of grub control. However, not every garden that has a Japanese beetle problem is associated with a lawn full of grubs. The beetles can hatch in your neighbors lawn and find your tasty garden with very little effort.

More Toxic Controls, to be used with Extreme Caution

There are several insecticides labeled for use on adult Japanese beetles, including:

Bayer Advanced Garden Multi-Insect Killer Concentrate

Carbaryl (Sevin)

Neem extracts

Orthene

Ortho Bug-B-Gon Garden & Landscape Insect Killer Concentrate

Orthene Turf, Tree & Ornamental Insecticide

Spectracide® Bug Stop Multi-Purpose Insect Control Concentrate

Spectracide® Triazicide® Soil & Turf Insect Killer Concentrate

These sprays will kill on contact and also have some residual effect. Keep in mind that these sprays will kill more than just the Japanese beetles, so use them only for extreme infestations. You will want to avoid these products if you have a wildlife habitat of any kind! And again, Japanese beetles are only a pest for a little over a month, so don’t over react. 

Always read and follow label directions when using any pesticide and Good Luck!

Backyard Pest

Its that time again! Who doesn’t hate the Japanese beetle and the destruction it leaves in its path? The adult Japanese beetle is a little less than 1/2 inch long and has a shiny, metallic-green body with bronze colored outer wings. Both as adults and as grubs (the larval stage), Japanese
beetles are destructive plant pests. Adults feed on the foliage and fruits of several hundred species of fruit trees, ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, and field and vegetable crops. Adults leave behind skeletonized leaves and large, irregular holes in leaves. The grubs develop in the soil, feeding on the roots of various plants and grasses and often destroying turf in lawns, parks, golf courses, and pastures.

This highly destructive plant pest of foreign origin was first found in the US in a nursery in southern New Jersey in 1916. In its native Japan, where the beetle's natural enemies keep its populations in check, this insect is not a serious plant pest. With favorable conditions in the US the beetle infestation has grown to become a serious plant pest and a threat to American
Agriculture.

During the feeding period, females intermittently leave plants, burrow about 3 inches into the ground—usually into turf—and lay a few eggs. This cycle is repeated
until she lays 40 to 60 eggs. By midsummer, the eggs hatch, and the young grubs
begin to feed. In late autumn, the grubs burrow 4 to 8 inches into the soil and remain inactive all winter. This insect spends about 10 months of the year in the ground in the larval stage. In early spring, the grubs return to the turf and continue to feed on roots until late spring, when they change into pupae. In about 2 weeks, the pupae become adult beetles and emerge from the ground. This life cycle takes a year.

No quick fixes can rid homeowners of the Japanese beetle once it becomes established. However, scientists with the USDA, ARS and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have developed an integrated pest management (IPM) program for homeowners based on field experiences. The program combines biological, cultural, and chemical strategies. It will be effective if homeowners are willing to monitor both adult and larval beetle populations closely and implement this program with neighbors and their local agricultural or horticultural organizations.

IPM attempts to manage pests, not to eradicate them, while at the same time exerting minimal impact on the environment. IPM uses biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical controls to keep pest populations below levels that cause economic damage. Because tolerance to
the presence of insect pests varies among individuals, the choice of control methods will reflect the management objectives of the user.

Why Follow an IPM Program?
Here are a few reasons:
■ Automatically and routinely applying pesticides can be counterproductive, economically wasteful, and environmentally unsound.
■ The Japanese beetle is here to stay. Therefore, we must learn to “live with” or manage this insect pest while attempting to minimize its impacts.
■ It is not necessary to eliminate the beetle in order to protect your trees, plants, and lawn.
■ It is hard to predict when and where Japanese beetle populations will increase, and there is no guaranteed control formula to follow. Intermittent monitoring and appropriate planning are necessary for adequate management of this landscape pest.

If you battle this pest from year to year you may want to do more reading. Start with the attached links:


For more information on the beetle check this Clemson Home and Garden Link: http://entweb.clemson.edu/eiis/pdfs/to5.PDF
For more on IPM see this link : http://entweb.clemson.edu/pesticid/saftyed/PestIPM.htm