Dogwood
01-16-2007, 10:23 PM
Japanese Beetles are a constant problem in the Northeast and I am getting tired of attempting to rid of them on my clients properties.
In real life, you never do get rid of them here, but you can control the damage and make a profit doing so.
A little knowledge about the critters:
Japanese Beetles feed on most plant species. The adults (and hungry) Beetles are with us from the beginning of June until October. They love sunny days and are active mainly during the daytime. Females only live for about 40 days but like to lay eggs under your lawn just before they die. Even if you attempt to treat your own lawn for them, they will find your home. In the spring the grubs move up and mature, ready to eat all the leaves off your trees and plants.
Spraying packages:
In late May or early June we should start trying to contain these hungry buggers and respray every ten days until the problem is under control. Malathion works best here, some use Carbaryl which is the same. The same chemical will treat most other pests as well.
This adds up to 12 sprayings over the active months from June until October. This also adds up to profit.
Malathion is very cheap and quick to apply if you have a good sprayer. I spend about an hour at each home and give the plant material a nice spraying. Thats $65 per hour plus the additional cost of material which normally is under $10 per treatment. Thats $900 per season and if you have 25 customers that want their plants to look nice all season it equals $22,500 in gross profit. We are pretty established here so you can come way down on the price and still make some nice money.
Be sure to wear a respirator for your safety and let the customer know that you are going to be spraying.
Any comments on how else to deal with the Japanese Beetle would be appreciated.
In real life, you never do get rid of them here, but you can control the damage and make a profit doing so.
A little knowledge about the critters:
Japanese Beetles feed on most plant species. The adults (and hungry) Beetles are with us from the beginning of June until October. They love sunny days and are active mainly during the daytime. Females only live for about 40 days but like to lay eggs under your lawn just before they die. Even if you attempt to treat your own lawn for them, they will find your home. In the spring the grubs move up and mature, ready to eat all the leaves off your trees and plants.
Spraying packages:
In late May or early June we should start trying to contain these hungry buggers and respray every ten days until the problem is under control. Malathion works best here, some use Carbaryl which is the same. The same chemical will treat most other pests as well.
This adds up to 12 sprayings over the active months from June until October. This also adds up to profit.
Malathion is very cheap and quick to apply if you have a good sprayer. I spend about an hour at each home and give the plant material a nice spraying. Thats $65 per hour plus the additional cost of material which normally is under $10 per treatment. Thats $900 per season and if you have 25 customers that want their plants to look nice all season it equals $22,500 in gross profit. We are pretty established here so you can come way down on the price and still make some nice money.
Be sure to wear a respirator for your safety and let the customer know that you are going to be spraying.
Any comments on how else to deal with the Japanese Beetle would be appreciated.